From: jws@billy.mlb.semi.harris.com (James W. Swonger)
Subject: Re: Carb questions
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 21:17:03 GMT
Organization: Harris Semiconductor, Melbourne FL
Keywords: junkyards, prices

In article <lcgngbINNa24@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> bhhardy@cs.utk.edu (Barbara Hardy) writes:
>
>-- Hm! Well....Wonder if I cna just order from Holley? I'd gladly pay
>$200 for a new carb if that would solve all my problems (AND make the
>world a better place.)
>
 I don't know whether Holley sells direct. However, there is a good chance
that one of your local AutoZone/Pep Boys/Discount Auto Parts type stores
can order you a 5600 Holley for a reasonably small markup. Your Chrysler
version may have some "special" characteristics. However the nice thing 
about Holleys is that things tend to interchange pretty well. You may be able
to get a generic one and transfer the Chrysler-specific pieces.

 Another option is to look for a place which specializes in carbs, maybe a
racing carb shop, and see if they can give yours a going-over. It's hard
to know beforehand who to trust, however. 

 Option #3 is to just buy another identical carb from a junkyard and 
swap. If things remain exactly the same, you either have quite a coincidence
or other problems.
>
>So anyway, after that I took it to a mechanic I trust pretty ok, and
>he redid the timing, and checked the seat on the carb, and said it
>looked ok. He also said that with a car that old that the timing marks
>on the flywheel weren't going to do me much good, and that I should
>retime the engine soon by "feel." Anyone else ever do this? I suppose
>I am just afraid of smashing my valve covers to bits if I got the
>spark to weirdly distributed. Or piston heads? (Really doctor, I can
>*see* what's going on, I just can't tell *you*! :-)

 The flywheel marks ought to be accurate enough to get the car to run.
The marks will always tell you where the crank is. While the distributor
may wander with age, the timing light will still tell you exactly when 
it is firing. What may change with age is the engine's favorite set of
operating conditions. Less compression may want more spark advance, 
or too much carbon buildup may allow you less, etc. I typically set 
my timing by ear after getting it ballpark-right with the timing light.
You move the distributor around between the point where it runs smooth
and slow and the point where it runs fast and misses. More advance
usually means more pep, but you want to back off if it pings under load.

>
>-- Also, I forgot to mention that sometimes when the engine is
>semi-warm, I often have to hold the accelerator all the way to floor,
>which means I'm flooding the carb, right? to get it to "catch." Which
>then results in a big cloud of most environmentally-unfriendly
>grey-blue stuff, much bigger than normally the case when I start the
>engine.
>
 Sounds like you have a bit of an oil control problem. You may also have
too rich a mixture. This may be due to the choke being somewhat misadjusted.
Typically the carb will cool off before the block, so its choke thinks it
should be closed. Wide open throttle at cranking tends to give a leaner
mixture; it is the recommended -cure- for flooding.  
>
>-- OK, sounds easy enough.... Um, why does the engine require so many
>vaccum hoses (Mine is a nightmare! There are places too, that look
>like they *should* have a hose, but don't. Go figure. I sketched 10
>for the carb rebuild)? My friend has a VW van and boy was looking at
>his engine a treat after fooling with *mine*! And is vaccum in general
>required for the carb to get the right air-gas mixture going?
>
 Most of that vacucrap is the last gasp of the mechanical age of engine
control, and is a sort of emissions Purgatory (when working) or Smog
Hell when not. In truth, your car could run pretty well without any of
it. But that Wouldn't Be Nice, you see. Vacuum advance for the ignition,
that's OK, improves gas mileage some. PCV, fairly benign, though an
occasional cause of mixture error as the valve goes out. EGR, an easy
way to lose 50HP on a V8 by neutering the mixture and recirculating
useless (but capital-E Evil) pollutants. Then we get into all the little
bazoozies and vacuum biscuits that get hung on to handle unusual cases,
and before you know it, your engine's performance now can be ruined by
any member of a cast of thousands, most of whom are cheaply made, but
expensive (time) to track down and (money) to buy.

 But back to cases. The vacuum hoses are not necessary to get an 
air-fuel mixture going. They may modify it (particularly if allowed
to suck air). The key to finding vacuum leaks is to be methodical.
First look for any vacuum ports, tees, etc. which look like they
might have had a hose on them once. Cap them with your finger. If
they're drawing air, plug them. Once you think you've gone over the system
this way, make some caps from hose with a screw in one end for a plug,
and start pulling hoses from the carb base, the intake, etc. one at
a time and capping them. Listen to what the engine is telling you.
-- 
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