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Hi guys, I believe the Carburetor on my 1966 is the correct one for a 66 L72? It's stamped 38861-E1 & List 3247. I can't make out if there is a date on it. Pics below. Anyway, the reason I am posting is I am getting fuel leaking onto the bolt valleys (for lack of bette terms) on the intake manifold on the fuel inlet side. I have done a search but not finding much information. I'm thinking I will pull the fuel delivery lines off the carb and remove the carb and inspect it. I don't know when or if it's been rebuilt. Are they fairly easy to rebuild and where would be the best place to purchase a good high quality rebuild kit? Another hint I can share is that when the car sits for a while, IE; two weeks ofr so, I have to crank it quite a bit to get it to start. If I drive the car and it only sits for a day or two it fires right up. I really want to get the fuel leaking issue fixed, so I would really appreciate any input/advise you guys can share.
I have a carb rebuild kit, but have yet to use it, so I cannot say anything regarding difficulty...... as for a recommendation on where to get one, I was told Mike's Carburetor Parts.....
I ordered a kit from them, and had it quickly..... with you in Washington as well, I would guess it would be the same for you......
Gary - Other than the background, it looks like we used the same Vette for our Avatars ;-).
If your #3247 has some stamped numbers under the List #, that should be the date code. Three digits for an original production carb, 4 digits for a service replacement.
The one on my 66 Bigblock is a service replacement, pic attached.
I've bought rebuild kits for Holleys from Summit and from Rockauto. I typically like to use the Reusable Blue Holley Gaskets for metering blocks and float bowls and those I've bought separately, usually a pack of 10.
Yes, they are pretty easy to rebuild, just make sure you take your time and have a nice clean place to work on and a few small plastic bins, for screws, nuts/bolts, etc...because they have a tendency to roll away.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
H the reason I am posting is I am getting fuel leaking onto the bolt valleys (for lack of better terms) on the intake manifold on the fuel inlet side.
It's not totally clear to me where the leak is, but I don't see any evidence of fuel leaks in the photos. It's always a good ideal to have some spare parts on hand like a carburetor kit. but don't tear into it until the leak is better defined.
[QUOTE=Vet65te;1605131958]Gary - Other than the background, it looks like we used the same Vette for our Avatars ;-).
If your #3247 has some stamped numbers under the List #, that should be the date code. Three digits for an original production carb, 4 digits for a service replacement.
The one on my 66 Bigblock is a service replacement, pic attached.
I've bought rebuild kits for Holleys from Summit and from Rockauto. I typically like to use the Reusable Blue Holley Gaskets for metering blocks and float bowls and those I've bought separately, usually a pack of 10.
Yes, they are pretty easy to rebuild, just make sure you take your time and have a nice clean place to work on and a few small plastic bins, for screws, nuts/bolts, etc...because they have a tendency to roll away.
Mike T - Prescott AZ [/QUOTE
Thank you Mike, that was very helpful. Oh and yeah, love our Avatars! Here's a larger one
That carb looks freshly restored. The leak may just be from bowl or accelerator pump cover gaskets shrinking up. Tighten the bowl screws and the accelerator pump cover screws and see if that takes care of it. These carb bodies are not high strength steel so when I say “tighten the screws” I don’t mean with gorilla strength - they will strip out. Just snug them up firmly.
See the vent on top of the front primary bowl? That’s an additional fuel bowl vent in addition to the brass tube one sticking up at the front of the choke horn. Makes for flow through ventilation to evaporate the fuel in the bowl in a matter of days, although even the ones w/o the top vent evaporate out fast too. That’s in large part due to our crummy, volatile modern gas.
I like to prime the front bowl with a ketchup squeeze bottle through the vent on the front of the choke horn until I see it dribble out in the throat. Then 2 or 3 pumps of the throttle and it fires instantly. A less precise method is to just squirt a little gas in the front primary bores, pump the throttle while spinning the starter and it will fire, although if really dried up it might die and have to be repeated.
Does it leak while running? I had an issue with mine when I bought it. Turned out the secondary bowl float was toast and when you turned the car off a bunch of fuel tan into the secondary and leaked out. I sat and watched it for 10 minutes while running, no gas, turned it off, saw vapor come out of the carb and then found that issue.
Garry, this is the rebuild kit I recommend. I’ve done several and it comes with the proper gaskets and ALL the parts you need including detailed instructions. Plus, all the parts are made in the good old USA. The generic kits are missing some parts you will need to do a complete, quality job.
Garry, this is the rebuild kit I recommend. I’ve done several and it comes with the proper gaskets and ALL the parts you need including detailed instructions. Plus, all the parts are made in the good old USA. The generic kits are missing some parts you will need to do a complete, quality job.
That carb looks freshly restored. The leak may just be from bowl or accelerator pump cover gaskets shrinking up. Tighten the bowl screws and the accelerator pump cover screws and see if that takes care of it. These carb bodies are not high strength steel so when I say “tighten the screws” I don’t mean with gorilla strength - they will strip out. Just snug them up firmly.
See the vent on top of the front primary bowl? That’s an additional fuel bowl vent in addition to the brass tube one sticking up at the front of the choke horn. Makes for flow through ventilation to evaporate the fuel in the bowl in a matter of days, although even the ones w/o the top vent evaporate out fast too. That’s in large part due to our crummy, volatile modern gas.
I like to prime the front bowl with a ketchup squeeze bottle through the vent on the front of the choke horn until I see it dribble out in the throat. Then 2 or 3 pumps of the throttle and it fires instantly. A less precise method is to just squirt a little gas in the front primary bores, pump the throttle while spinning the starter and it will fire, although if really dried up it might die and have to be repeated.
It looks like a relatively new/fresh 3247 replacement carb, (many of the recent ones did not have any date stamps whatsoever). I agree, don’t tear into it until you identify the source of the leak, worst case (other than stripped threads) would be somebody warped the carb body by over tightening the bowl screws, in which case you’d have to have the body machined/trued-up (many were damaged due to over torquing, but if I’m right and it’s a new replacement carb, odds are it’s not been fiddled with/abused-damaged).
Thank you ALL who replied, I got helpful & good information from each of you! I will try and locate where the leak is coming from before I tear into it. Hopefully, it will just need some gentle tightening of some of the components.
I have found on my L-72 that the steel fuel lines tend to loosen at the carburetor end where fuel enters the fuel bowl. You may find your leak there. If so make sure that you use a high quality tubing wrench to tighten them so you don't round off the tubing nut. (Don't ask me how I know)
Regards,
RC
I have found on my L-72 that the steel fuel lines tend to loosen at the carburetor end where fuel enters the fuel bowl. You may find your leak there. If so make sure that you use a high quality tubing wrench to tighten them so you don't round off the tubing nut. (Don't ask me how I know)
Regards,
RC
I had that very thing on the secondary fuel inlet. I'm suspicious on the primary now too! Thanks!!
66 L72 Carburetor
