1959RedConv

The car was stalling out when stopped and had some minor gas leaking on the front carb--along with some other problems. See "Valve Cover Problem" in another thread for more info"

The mechanic disassembled the front carbeurator cleaned it--he said he "boiled" it--not sure what that means and then adjusted the linkage and tuned the carb to prevent stalling out. Worked okay for a couple of days and then when I tried to start it one morning it took a long crank and was running "rough". Black fumes coming out of the exhaust.
And now... it will not stay running without giving it enough pedal--and runs rough. Was idling okay the day before--and no black smoke.

Now the front carb leaks gas after you turn the ignition off--where indicated in the photo. Leaks for about 5 - 10 seconds--on both sides--same area.

A couple of questions. Any ideas why the carb started to leak? Are these Carter carbeurators? And is this the 270 HP configuration. No one seems to know for sure.



See pictures below for carbs in question.

Dual Quad setup.


Close up of carb in question.



Close up of carb in question with arrow showing leaking area.



Top view of carb in question.


Other side of quad set up. Front carb leaking in the same area.

ghoastrider1

First off, black smoke ALWAYS indicates to rich for the engine, at that moment. Sometimes its ok, like when your trying to haul ***. NOT ok at idle or part throttle.
Back in the day, it was normal to see a SMALL amount of fuel leakage, after a decent drive.They did not leak from where yours seems to be leaking. Yours doesnt come under that heading.
Boiling the carb used to mean submergeing the dissmantled carb into a bucket( whatever) of a carb cleaner solution. It sits for a time, then cleaned and reassymbled. Please forgive my horrible spelling, justn to damn lazy to hit correct spelling thingy.
Just my opinion but me thinks machanic should redo carbs. Floats set to high? idle jets( screws) worked loose, ? Choke stuck closed? paly with the idle ajustment screw and see if that helps..if you know what your doing...at least kinda anyway. Fuel leaks are ALWAYS an important safty issue, specially in plastic cars.

L78racer

those are not even 2x4 carbs- they look to be '63 or later 250 hp carbs. most likely the floats are not set properly or you have a needle and seat sticking causing flooding. they can be made to work but not like the real thing. these will be very rich unless setup and jetted accordingly.

Frankie the Fink

Yes they are both Carter WCFB carbs and your air horn on the one carb looks like 6-1672 so it immediately disqualifies them as 270HP carbs (at least the rear one). Its off a '63-'65 Corvette single carb setup and has been cloned to be a rear carb in a dual quad configuration (nothing wrong with that of course). I find it quite interesting as you have the only other C1 Carter WCFB dual quad setup I've seen with a PCV valve plumbed in besides mine. I have also never seen an electric choke wired up to these carbs on a C1 (again very interesting). Your front carb (the one closest to the radiator) is also off a single carb setup as it has the shaft opening for the choke plate sealed up (looks like JB Weld) in the upper air horn. Likewise the choke mounting holes on the base are similarly sealed up. Real front carbs on dual quads have no provisions for a choke. (see YELLOW arrows in the picture).

These carbs are best maintained by somebody that knows their way around them. Two issues immediately come to mind...if your guy 'tweaked' the floats you have to be EXTREMELY careful to properly center them in the bowls...there is minimal room for error here and they have been known to 'hang up' on the sides and get stuck (flooding the carbs). SOMETIMES a sharp rap on the side of the float bowl with a plastic screwdriver handle will 'unstick' the float(s).

Also your choke may not be pulling off now. Start the car up cold with the air cleaner off and watch the choke on the rear carb...it should pull off from fully closed to 1/2 closed pretty quickly and (since its summer) fully open in short order (2-3 minutes I would think).

Finally (no offense here) you are a little confused....your photo showing the leak is the REAR carb. The carb with the choke on it is the REAR carb on Corvette dual quads... If that is where the leak is the carb will have to be gone into again to fix it... You should also get a rubber cap and cap off that vacuum fitting in the picture (see the RED arrow) as was done on the front carb.

Finally you are missing the U-shaped brass vent rails that go on top of these carbs over the air horns (there are TWO on each carb) see the GREEN arrows....the little round vent caps at the top front of these carbs (about the size of a dime) appear completely closed as well -- they should be open with no accelerator pedal applied and be pulled down when you blip the throttle see BLUE arrows.

These carbs need some 'tough love' by somebody that knows what they're doing my friend...

1959RedConv

Thanks for the info guys. And... yes I meant the rear carb--not the front that is leaking. I can see that the front carb previously had a choke and that it is now sealed off. Not an original dual quad setup carb. I kind of figured that, but no one could tell for sure.

Where exactly on the carb would I rap the float bowl--can you draw me another arrow? I want to be able to drive it somewhat safely back to the mechanic to have him continue the work. He is suppose to be one of the best around the Portland, Oregon area--but... you never know. Very spendy at $90 an hour. I'm surprised he hasn't commented on the stuff Frankie has pointed out... ?? I will point out these comments to him...

I know the car has different parts to it--not for show or judging. I want it as a driver. Someone mentioned that it had a 327 short block with a 283 manifold setup, with a 350 Turbo Hydromatic...


Frankie, from the below pictures can you determine which is the correct linkage/cam set up when cold? The "cam" item with the large screw is set differently in both pictures. It appears to be sticky.

1959RedConv

FYI-- I checked. The little round vent caps on the front of the carbs are open. Blue arrows.

How big of a deal are the u-shaped brass vent rails that are missing?

narlee

The WCFB carb guru in the Portland area is Gary Hodges.

http://www.garyhodgesramjet.com/3001.html

Is this who did the work for you?

1959RedConv

Thanks narlee, I will get in touch with him after the holidays and get a second opinion on everything.

narlee

Hope it works out for you. I don't know if he will balk at the random carbs in the set up but he knows them and should be able to fix you up.

Frankie the Fink

Yes - I've heard of Gary Hodges and he can certainly get you straightened out...the brass vent tubes are not a huge deal but they are calibrated to provide the proper venting so I'd consider putting them on. The dime-sized vent caps are also supposed to be set to a certain height and I can tell that yours are too tight. You can take the plastic end of the screwdriver and tap 2 or 3 times on either side of the downrod from the choke plate on the linkage side of the rear carb at the main body of the carb. HOWEVER, its more likely your choke is giving you grief.

Your very first picture above shows how the carb should be on a COLD engine just after you blip the throttle to "set" the choke. You can see the choke is closed and the idle screw is up on the fast idle cam.

And don't let anyone tell you that 'clones' can't be set up to run perfectly. I am running Buick carbs on my 270HP car and they run just as well as my "real-deal" 270HP dual quads (which are completely restored and will sit on a shelf for some future owner).

Be advised if you run the car overly rich for an extended period you will foul the plugs and, even worse, dilute your oil with raw gas..

knockbill

nice write up, frank,,, lots of good info,, another way to tell 2x4 carbs and singles, the dual setup carbs have 15/16" bores and teh singles have 1", at least chevy carbs, the numbers are cast into cores, between teh bores... were your buick carbs a dual setup? did you set them up?

Frankie the Fink

My Buick carbs are both front carbs that were cloned over by an expert (not me) and made to run as 270HP carbs would with proper springs and counterweights....they rock. I bought them off eBay in May, bolted them down adjusted the idle speed and haven't touched them in two months...

knockbill

sounds good,,, i've been collecting wcfb cores for years, i hope to build a set of duals.... i guess your buick carbs are 1" bores...

Frankie the Fink

Yes Chrysler and Buick both are 1" and so they do flow a bit stronger than the smaller bore carbs...

knockbill

thanks for the info,,, i guess they have to be jetted a little smaller...

Frankie the Fink

I would assume so...all I can tell you is that these clones have the car running the best it has performed in the 5 years I've owned it and my engine vacuum is a rock steady 18...I couldn't get much over 14 with the real 270HP carbs...

Frankie the Fink

I'm still researching what I have as clones (these are bigger 'mutts' than I thought):

Front: Air Horn - 6-1143 (rear carb off ???) Body - 0-1132
Rear: Air Horn - 6-1273 (rear Chrysler off 2X4) Body - 0-1228
Bases: Both bases are the "thick"versions numbers not visible when installed.

The bodies do not match the air horns.
The rear carb is right up against the shielding so I moved my PCV to the front carb -- which
is how RPO-242 is supposed to be for dual quad C1s anyway...so its all good.

1959RedConv - note my vent cap height and brass vent tubes.

Funny thing is I had to take off my 1/4" phenolic spacers under the base to accommodate the clone "thick" bases for hood clearance and guess what ?

No percolation! This setup rocks so have no fear that properly configured clones will not run properly.

tach drive 61

frank can you post
a good photo of Pcv plumbing setup on your engine

Frankie the Fink

Its really quite simple now...it is exactly as RPO-242 (pictured) shows. I put the adapter on the crankcase hole where the road draft tube used to go (next picture) then ran a hose from that to the PCV valve that is screwed into a vacuum fitting at the base of the carb (either carb will work). You HAVE to run a vented oil filler cap after doing this setup if you aren't already.

I made the vacuum fitting also accommodate my hose for my vacuum advance. The wire loom for the passenger side spark plug wires is welded to the road draft tube so the plug wires hang free with that gone. I got a passenger side wire loom (to match the driver's side) for a '63 Corvette and used that to secure the wires.

knockbill

well, i don't know what engine you are running, but if you had them professionally set up, and the engine is bigger than a 283, i'm sure it likes the bigger carbs,,, regardless, its good to know i may be able to build a dual carb set up for my car, from non original carbs,,, thats what i had planned to do all along...
thanks again for your forum input,,, you help a lot of people out....
john