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Frustrated $1k at Bromley's and car still flooding

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Old 05-12-2006, 12:13 PM
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DSchaefe
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Default Frustrated $1k at Bromley's and car still flooding

will try to keep this short and on point. My 72 LT-1 has been a frequent visitor to Bromley's Performance Corvettes in Chandler AZ over the past few months. I went to him on recemmendation from someone on this forum. We have rebuilt the front suspension, new steering box, new MSD ignition, and loads of work on the fuel system. On the fuel system alone we are now at the magic $1k mark. The car will run great for a tank or two and then start flooding itself at idle, fouling the plugs and blowing all kinds of smoke. The carb (original Holley) has been rebuilt, the choke has been removed (he hacksawed it off - not cool -had no idea he would take a hacksaw to my carb), an in-line filter was added and the gas tank was drained and cleaned - all in the past 3 months and to no avail.

I really didn't want to flame any mechanics here. They have a tough job working on these old cars. He did a great job on the suspension and steering... and I have been patient... During these vistis to Bromley's I also had my front fender cracked because he put on tires that were the wrong size/rubbing (I didn't even get out of the parking lot) and paid to have my original distributor rebuilt with a pertronix points eliminator, the distributor still doesn't work, thus we went to a new unit from MSD (= more $$$). On the new MSD, he didn't even give me the extra springs & bushings they include in case I ever need to change the mechanical advance.

I called Doug at Bromley's today to see if he had any ideas... his suggestion was to replace the carb... (isn't a rebuilt carb supposed to be as good as a new carb, obviously depending on the skill of the one doing the rebuilding...). So in my opinion he isn't standing behind the $1k of fuel system work already done, just blaming it on an old car. He basically said it wasn't fair that he would get the blame for an old car not running right just because he worked on the carb, and my reply was, yes it is your problem when it only runs right for 3 weeks! The only solution I would have accepted at this point is some kind of refund so I can go elsewhere and that is not something he was willing to do.

Any ideas on where in the Phoenix area I can take my car to get it running properly?
Old 05-12-2006, 12:43 PM
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CC_Coyote
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Default Carb Issue

I had a simular problem with my 69. I replaced the plastic carburetor fuel bowl float with a metal float and the problem was solved.
Old 05-12-2006, 04:03 PM
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Sounds like float problem. Put after-market carb on it and see if it still has issues.
It sounds like a carb issue. could the accelerator pump be stuck open.
If they did not replace float or needle and seat do so and report back
Old 05-12-2006, 04:05 PM
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usd2sing
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really sounds like a float sticking prob, maybe the arm is bent too far or the needle seat has some debris or its damaged/marked...
try and clock/rotate the needle....might work....i used to have to do this every 3-4mo in my old dual carb'd (4bbl x 2) 440 '69 roadrunner.

needle and seats are way cheap...
floats are also inexpensive depending on how far u go with them..

FWIW.
good luck
Old 05-15-2006, 03:22 PM
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OK so I have a borrowed Edelbrock 750 on there now. I need to retard the timing a bit as it is fully advanced now. Pulled all of the plugs and cleaned & regapped them. So far so good.

Now that I have taken the Holley apart myself I understand better what was going wrong. The secondary fuel bowl was full, the needle was stuck forcing the float to sink. I am going to go with an Edelbrock permanently as soon as it arrives from JEGs.

Doug Bromley agreed to look for a date coded carb housing (not sure if that is the term) so we can get my Holley back to being operational and coded/matched to the car. All of the bowls, jets, etc are OK so only need the main piece. I plan to keep it in case I ever sell the car to a NCRS type. He was reasonable on the phone today - we discussed the work he did on the car and why the Holley is not as reliable as expected. As I said in the original post, he did a full new front suspension and steering on the car that turned out great. He did stand behind the crack in the fender and had it repaired. Just frustrating that it happened at all. Hoping we can resolve the Holley now.
Old 07-25-2006, 10:08 PM
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Well here is an update... Doug found a place that would restore my original carb to new. He agreed to pick up about half of the bill. I thought this was a good offer considering the basics of the carb were 34 years and almost 100k old. About 6 weeks later, I received the carb back and it looks great. They welded new metal on the air horn so that the choke could be re-mounted. Unless you knew the history, you would never guess this carb had been damaged. All of the parts were restored and replated. All of the choke parts are new and work great. I'll be storing it in a box for now rather than remounting it on the car. If I ever have the engine rebuilt it will go back on.
Old 07-26-2006, 02:42 PM
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OK so the first clue should have been the hack saw
Old 07-26-2006, 06:51 PM
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"OK so the first clue should have been the hack saw"

Not sure what this means
Old 07-27-2006, 07:27 AM
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Looks like alittle help from forum members helped to resolve your issue.
God Bless the Corvette Forum
Old 07-28-2006, 11:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Rob'sC5
Looks like alittle help from forum members helped to resolve your issue.
God Bless the Corvette Forum
Its nice to know that there is good in this world of ours
Old 06-10-2017, 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by DSchaefe
will try to keep this short and on point. My 72 LT-1 has been a frequent visitor to Bromley's Performance Corvettes in Chandler AZ over the past few months. I went to him on recemmendation from someone on this forum. We have rebuilt the front suspension, new steering box, new MSD ignition, and loads of work on the fuel system. On the fuel system alone we are now at the magic $1k mark. The car will run great for a tank or two and then start flooding itself at idle, fouling the plugs and blowing all kinds of smoke. The carb (original Holley) has been rebuilt, the choke has been removed (he hacksawed it off - not cool -had no idea he would take a hacksaw to my carb), an in-line filter was added and the gas tank was drained and cleaned - all in the past 3 months and to no avail.

I really didn't want to flame any mechanics here. They have a tough job working on these old cars. He did a great job on the suspension and steering... and I have been patient... During these vistis to Bromley's I also had my front fender cracked because he put on tires that were the wrong size/rubbing (I didn't even get out of the parking lot) and paid to have my original distributor rebuilt with a pertronix points eliminator, the distributor still doesn't work, thus we went to a new unit from MSD (= more $$$). On the new MSD, he didn't even give me the extra springs & bushings they include in case I ever need to change the mechanical advance.

I called Doug at Bromley's today to see if he had any ideas... his suggestion was to replace the carb... (isn't a rebuilt carb supposed to be as good as a new carb, obviously depending on the skill of the one doing the rebuilding...). So in my opinion he isn't standing behind the $1k of fuel system work already done, just blaming it on an old car. He basically said it wasn't fair that he would get the blame for an old car not running right just because he worked on the carb, and my reply was, yes it is your problem when it only runs right for 3 weeks! The only solution I would have accepted at this point is some kind of refund so I can go elsewhere and that is not something he was willing to do.

Any ideas on where in the Phoenix area I can take my car to get it running properly?
this is a 12 yr old post but it comes up today when googiling and is still being addressed today Bromleys moved to Tempe three yrs ago I have worked as Dougs shop foreman for the last two yrs having 40 yrs exp on corvettes as well as an extensive background in mechanical and electrical engineering and would like to invite any and all to drop by 800 N Miller Rd and check us out

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