Hi,
I am having the same problem as Christy, but not as severe. The carbs are pretty well balanced it seems, using the paper towel roll listening device method. I had it running pretty smoothly but it continues to worsen. I have looked for vacumm leaks and sprayed WD-40 around the intake to try to detect them. Nothing. I closed off the vacumm line to the interior of the car, thinking that the the front seats (coupe) may be leaking. Nothing. Now I am thinking that the diaphragms need replacing. Any logic to this? Could this be the problem Christy is having? My car idles, but when I put it in gear it wants to stall. I can manipulate the throttle by leaving it alone for about two seconds, then hitting the gas and it takes off. It stalls at stop unless I shift into neutral and then repeat the process. Carbs are clean. Vacumm idle controll adjusted properly. Floats check out fine. Any merit to this theory?

I don't think the secondaries would effect it that severely, I had one torn to shreds and it wasn't a huge difference.

On another note leaking front seats????? Were power seats vacuum actuated? With all the things they seem to try to run off of vacuum, they should have put a vacuum generator on the engine.

The seat back would lock in place when the car was in gear. The latch/lock is vacumm powered. Still can't figure out the leak then. It seems to happen when the car is hot, and you can tell a difference in shifting (trans modulator) and braking (power booster). I will keep checking and let you know.

Remember how reluctant I was to look inside that front carb?? I was SURE that it would all be perfectly fine. Well, surprise surprise!

We opened it up and guess what?? It was BONE DRY inside!!! I couldn't believe it!! It had all kinds of things wrong with it! First off, it had a stuck float! Second, the needle valve under the float was sticking as well, and third, the part where the fuel enters the carb, and is sometimes redirected to the return line, was clogged!!! I was shocked!!! No wonder that any adjustments didn't do anything to the carb! Geez!! Another wonderful discovery, was that the pump inside that carb IS in fact WORKING!!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!
So...now that carb appears to be in order. CTH had to leave again (boo-hoo!) and my job was to open up the rear and do the same to it.
I tore into it. The first thing I did (on a whim) was to hold the jet block in my palm upside down. I pushed the lever that operates the pump and got a shot of FUEL straight in my EYE!!!!!!!!! (ouch!) Woo-Hoo!!! The other pump works too!!!! Oh, the joy and pain of car repair!!!! NOW...I have a PAIR of kick-a** pumps!!!!! (I can't believe they work!) (I think possibly that not enough fuel had been sucked up into the chamber before, when I thought that they didn't work.) Which brings me to add, I now think it's a good idea to put fuel into the carb upon reassembly. That I didn't do before...I had put them on the car dry.
So...the place where the fuel enters the rear carb is fine. The transistion jet is fine. Oh...I had to ADD the o-rings on the inside edge of the atomizers. My carb didn't have them on before and CTH informed me that they were a necessary seal on that part.

So...As it was left, the car does not like to accelerate. I haven't tried to start it up since my re-do of the rear carb. I'm certain that the carbs need to be further ADJUSTED, a job that seems to be neverending...and my car needs some new gas!

Chris...did you do the tiny o-ring job on your carbs? They are a vacuum leak zone.

AND...I forgot to mention....CTH showed me how to install an inline gas filter!! So far, my gas looks pretty clean (meaning no chunks of rust!).

Guys...it actually looks like this car CAN RUN!!!!! I am soooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do ya think??
~Christy

Congratulations, Christy on your discovery of MUCK in the fuel system. I am sure that I have a bunch in mine, too, but I just filled the tank before the latest round of pulling my hair out trying to diagnose the problem. I need to clean everything out again before I go any further. It's just hard for me not to drive the little beauty and put things off for another day! What O-Rings are you speaking of? Where are they? I don't recall seeing any...duh.

Chris...

The o-rings are the TINIEST part in the rebuild kit. I don't know about you, but I have SO MANY parts left over in my kit. They are tiny black, rubber o-rings.

Where they go, is in the second layer down on the carb. That is the layer with the float and jets..etc.
When you look down into the barrels, these PREATOMIZERS are in the center. (If you have a diagram, that is what they're called). There is a large bolt on the SIDE of the carb, that when unscrewed, make the part removable. The end towards the center of the carb is the end where this tiny o-ring fits on.

I didn't even take this part out the first time I did these carbs! Then I eventually took it out to check for an obstruction. MY part didn't HAVE the o-ring on it BEFORE, so if it wasn't for CTH, I would have never known that there was supposed to be one there!

Hope this helps!
~Christy

I didn't go down that far either; that's probably why I didn't see them. I need to get a couple of kits and do these things right. I think before that I might as well go ahead and do the engine work that I have planned. New rod bearings, oil pump, timing chain and gears, tensioner, and a rebuilt distributor. I am currently gathering these parts together. Where did you get the rebuild kit?

I personally have doubts about the need for the o-rings, but CTH da man!

Best price on rebuild kits is Partsouth. You can find their contact info on the web at http://www.partsouth.com. Nice folks.

Christy - you need to drain your tank, put some carb cleaner in it, let it sit, then drain it out through the line to the fuel pump. Then refill with fresh gas. Idea - use your feminine wiles to get your husband or your dad to do it.

We will get this guy working!

Chuck

Oh Chuck...I don't know! Do you REALLY think it's necessary?? All of the fuel looks really clean to me! PLUS I am soooooooo lowwwww on the gauge, that it's practically on E anyways! When it was on a quarter of a tank, I dumped 3/4's of a bottle of carb cleaner in it!!!

So...after reading that....this is probably the perfect time to drop that plug...huh.

Well, I know I can't get Paul to do it...Dad...maybe....hee hee!!!! I think I could possibly do it, but the bolt is probably really crusty!!!! I don't think I need to do it. I've got this new fuel filter......If I start seeing chunks, I'll just change the filter and THEN I'll consider doing the tank job.

More thoughts on this are welcome!

~Christy

Oh...and about the rebuild kit.....I have mixed feelings....I bought a "major" kit and I used about 25% of the contents.....AND the gaskets are WAY thin and cheap. I think you should get the nice Solex green gaskets from MB....(I think they provide a better seal)...I'd remove the mixture screws and see if they're jacked up. If so, I'd order those from MB too. Mine were BROKEN!!! (AND I wasn't satisfied with the replacements that came with the rebuild kit). But...I am a novice, so my advice is only my two cents....I just think that these carbs are very well made machines. Most parts don't need replacing. For instance, in my case, the aftermarket needle valve under the float was sticking and my original Solex part was a way better part, so I reused IT. You can tear the entire main part of the carb apart (excluding all the diaphram containing parts) equipped with ONLY new gaskets to use upon reASSembly. I'd check out those mixture screws (if you haven't already) since the point can become broken or squished (squished when one jams it in the wrong hole----OOPS!)....but again....only my two cents!

~Christy

Well, I did change the mixture screws. On one of my boneyard outings, I found a 69 250 with no motor, but the intake/exhaust/carbs were in the back seat. I took a few handfuls of parts from this setup. Then I hid the rest under the back seat!(I am going back for more) The boneyard man wanted around $100.00 for the whole assembly but only charges me around $5.00 for a handful of parts from it. It is a pull-your-part yard and they have flat rates on parts. They don't care if you take parts a-part, though. So I pulled the old screws out and they were brass, they had no points on the ends, just flat stubs like from a Ford Truck or something! The new(old) screws just glided right in and the mixture was infinitely better. Since then it has gotten bad again. I think I better start at the back (fuel tank) and work my way forward this time. Clean the tank, strainer, replace the rubber hoses, check the hard fuel lines. You would be surprised, Christy, how much MUCK can get past the fuel filter and into the bowls!!!

That second pass through pittsburgh on the way home from denver was just too short, but we got really good stuff done.

Like Christy said, we figured out what was wrong with the front carb. When I left on Saturday, ANY adjustment to the front carb had ZERO effect. ALSO, almost any adjustment to the rear carb just made things worse. So, we chose to take the front carb apart. Good choice, considering what was wrong. Christy got it all back together again and we had time for some adjustment work before I had to leave again.

The good news, was that the front carb could not contribute on the adjustments. The bad thing, was that the rear carb could still was very touchy and not very happy.

I agree with Christy, that now is not the time to play with the gas tank. Other than maybe putting 5 or 10 gallons of super-unleaded in. But, even that can wait as long as the car runs and that rear carb refuses to be adjusted.

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

The other thing that has me concerned is that the fuel return valve (on the front carb) seems to be leaking sometimes, and the linkage to open and close it has no effect. How much does this contribute to running conditions??? Carbs, carbs, carbs!!!

Chris...

Next trip to the boneyard, REMOVE that part on that carb in the back seat and SEE exactly how it works...(or do it on YOUR carb).

The lever that operates that valve on MY carburetor doesn't work right either! At one point, we TAPED the "TIT" IN, as to NOT return any fuel....for testing purposes...I think if it's NOT pressed IN, the fuel WILL return to the tank...the lever should be pressing it in....

In response to an earlier post....you mentioned LISTENING through a paper towel roll for the variations in sound from your carbs. If you are practiced at that then disreguard...but we had my car idling and I was so excited and said "Boy this sounds GOOD!"....and the response was "Wait until you hear what they are SUPPOSED to sound like!"...meaning that the carbs weren't fully balanced yet...
To me.....this car sounds GOOD even when it's running poorly!!

~Christy

Hey Christy,
All of the sudden this page got real fancy! I did get the fuel return valve off of the boneyard carb and I will let you know how it works. I have decided to go back there tomorrow morning and get the gas tank too. I must remember I am dealing with a 30 year old tank from Virginia, and it will probably be easier to clean out the AZ tank.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!
Christy, I just bought a Hella brand digital engine anylizer on eBay for 20 bucks! There are more where this came from. Check it out under "Hella" on eBay motors. I think this is a good deal for a new meter and the guy's feedback is excellent. Now I can get RPM's, Dwell, Voltage, Ohms, etc. and maybe have a better idea of what I am trying to accomplish.