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Crypty's dead carbs

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Years ago, GM came out with what looked like a Bakelite plastic float to eliminate the solder joints cracking on the two halves of the floats in their 4BBL carbs. This worked well after they eliminated the bad ones that were porous and took on fuel like a sponge.

My point and I do have one, is that if you have this apart again, check the float by submerging it in water to see if it will stay under, or float to the top. You may have to keep it under for a while, in the event that there is a hairline crack in the solder or if the float metal is taking in fuel and allowing it to be too heavy.

You can generally hear the fuel sloshing around in the float when it takes it on, if there is a hole somewhere.

Only a few grams will cause it to be too heavy and create the flooding.

Not a definite answer, but worth checking in advance, before reassembly.
 
:(Hi Tinster;

Man; I really hate to come across another thread about your TR!!

I just simply feel bad for You: I would have Sold that thing on ebay a long time ago & Let someone else figure out what`s "Haunting" this Car!!!

If you persist; Why not take your carbs off the car & send them to "Joe Curto": He`s the "Best of the Best" when it comes to SU`s and Strombergs: Explain your situation and perhaps he may return your carbs and tell you there is absolutely nothing wrong with them! All it can cost is the shipping: https://www.joecurto.com / Ph: 1-718-762-7878 / Fax: 1-718-762-6287: Stop screwing around and contact him:

Best Wishes;

Russ /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/nopity.gif
 
Russ,

I don't want to downplay your idea, but Dale is stuck in Puerto Rico and the things that we do quickly and get quickly, just don't happen for him. Delivery is in the range of weeks, not days, as we enjoy here stateside.

Joe Curto is good, but he will be checking the same exact things that we are all talking about here. Dale is capable of doing that and I believe that he will fix his own problem sooner, rather than later.

I'm sure that if he lived in New England or Penn, he would have the carbs at TRF or Curto or Palya in a heartbeat, but such is not the case.
 
I sent photos to Jeff Palya and he is pretty sure
it is a float issue. I've made adjustments to the float
hinge mechanism and hospital cleaned everything while the
carb's bottoms were off.

Carbs are back on the car but not tightened down. Night
school tonight and then tomorrow I'll hook up gas and
see what happens.

PS: ALL hoses I installed are OEM identical inside diameter.

thanks all, I am hopeful for an AM launch!

d /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif
 
Brosky said:
My point and I do have one, is that if you have this apart again, check the float by submerging it in water to see if it will stay under, or float to the top. You may have to keep it under for a while, in the event that there is a hairline crack in the solder or if the float metal is taking in fuel and allowing it to be too heavy.
Click to expand...
Er, but we're talking about a TR6 here. They never had brass floats. Not sure what the British call it, but they are a closed-cell foam, very similar to the nitrophyll floats that GM et al used to use.

And even if they are fuel-logged, they will still float in water.

When I went through this on my Dodge motorhome, the @#$ floats would work fine when cold, but sink when they got hot (like from that old 440 pulling a big hill). Went through two rounds of new floats, both of which failed within a year, before I finally managed to source some brass ones and never had a problem again.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any brass floats for ZS carbs.
 
BryanC said:
You need to measure the fuel pressure.
Click to expand...
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif
JIC you don't know, Tinster, most vacuum test gauges will also read fuel pressure. Although they are less common these days, you should still be able to find one at Advance Auto or other local auto parts store, for not much money. Vacuum gauge photo
 
I agree with Brosky, this aint bottle rockey science. Tinster can do it. I gave one suggestion,I will try another. Put another washer under the needle valve seat. Bend the tab up until it hurts. The idea here is to shut the flow off,really off. Now..work backwards until you start to get some flow,dont be paranoid about the exact degree of height,if you are off a bit on the weak side,chances are you will never know it,cause you probably never going to run the TR6 hard enough to ever drain the float bowl..... The wheels will fall off first.

If this doesn't work,then something else is leaking.
 
One more suggestion, then I am going to start drinking again. Get a plastic bottle like one of those squirt your self in the mouth kind.Rig up a fuel line to it that doesnt leak,cut the bottom off,fill with a couple of inches of gas,connect fuel line to carbs hold bottle upright upright,start car. If carbs arent leaking,then maybe you have to much fuel pump pressure.

OK now the big question,is property expensive down there?
 
Dale,
Bently manual states that pump pressure should be
Minimum 1.5 psi
Maximum 2.5 psi
I had the same problem last year. The rear float was sticking and spewing fuel from the same place as yours. Fixed it once with a few taps of a dead blow hammer. reoccured a week later so I took the carbs apart. They were spotless inside, obviously recently professionally rebuilt. (DPO was not mechanically inclined) The floats were set incorrectly and the needle valves were installed without the gaskets. Installed new gaskets, reset floats and no more spewing fuel. Phil
 
I have 175 Stroms on the 4a, so things could be different.
I would re-read what CRISIS had to say above...I had this problem once a life time ago and CRISIS rings a bell.

Have you aligned the linkage between the two carbs..so that they are operating in sync.

Have you taken the diaphram, piston, and needle out and cleaned.

Have you re-seated the needle...the 6 guys can help...use a coin, watch the piston, when it moves, back it off 3 turns.

Again, the TR6 guys know the procedure.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Er, but we're talking about a TR6 here. They never had brass floats. Not sure what the British call it, but they are a closed-cell foam, very similar to the nitrophyll floats that GM et al used to use. [/QUOTE]

Randall,

My point exactly, but perhaps poorly explained on my part. That is why I suggested weighing the floats to see if one was heavier than the other. And it will only be off a small amount and cause a large problem.

The floats will still stay on top, but if one is absorbing moisture, it will be submerged a bit.

BTW, Dodge's weren't the only ones with that same problem. Many an Olds 98 with a Q-Jet would flood gas all over the engine when those foam floats became gas soaked. This was if you could get it started because they mainly would just shut the engine down with raw fuel.
 
On second thought...why not just ship them back to the rebuilder and have him test them. No rebuilder in his right mind would charge you (maybe shipping)to confirm the integrity of their workmanship. He would probly lose 5k from this forum alone. You could confirm the carbs and work backwards. Fuel problems on TRs are resolvable.
 
Brosky said:
My point exactly, but perhaps poorly explained on my part.
Click to expand...
Oh, OK, Paul. Sorry bout that.

I guess it was the part about looking for a crack in the solder that threw me off /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

Tinster, if you are able to weigh the float accurately, let me know and I'll weigh one of mine too.
 
Dale, since they were working, chances are whatever happened in the first cleaning probably caused the leak, now it is just a matter of figuring out what that might have been. The float not moving freely certainly won't help.

Now what we know:
1. Carbs worked
2. front carb still works
3. rear carb is leaking.

now since the front carb is not leaking, I highly doubt that the fuel pressure is to high since that would affect both carbs. Pressure will be equal throughout the system, excepting the drop in pressure across filters. Given the fact that you have 5 filters in the system even if you did have a pump that was putting out more than 2.5 psi the pressure at the carb is lower than that.

So that leaves us with some reason that the carb keeps on filling.

Hopefully, tweaking the hinge solved the problem. If not, I think the next step is to find out if the rear float is in fact "gas logged" I would put each float in a small amount of gas and see what how high up it floats. They should be identical, but if not, then bingo, we know were the problem is. If they are identical (ie one of them could have been replaced with a different revision in the past) you could also weigh them with an accurate scale, to make sure the rear on isn't heavier.
Finally, the valve itself, could have been damaged by crud / cleaning or whatever. I took a look at my spare last night, and while blowing into the gas line hard, the lightest pressure applied on the valve shut it off totally. As someone else pointed out, this mechanism is just like the file mechanism in a toilet bowl tank. if the valve / or float are not working properly the tank keeps on filling.

One other thing, you could swap either the valve or float from front to back and see if (when) the problem moves. They are identical.

What I KNOW that you don't need are new carbs / or rebuilds.
Yisrael
 
"Houston- We have a problem."

Moss Motors informs me their fuel pumps are defective
and put out 8 psi. causing carbs to flood. Moss has taken
the product off their shelves and has no replacement
available at this time. Return the pump for a store credit.

BLARGH- now I have NO FUEL PUMP for Crypty.

TRF seems to carry the same defective pump as Moss.

So the attemped launch of Crypty is canceled until a working
fuel pump can be obtained.

d
 
Have you checked with NAPA?

As an aside: A crack/leak in a float will NOT allow water in unless it's visibly HUGE. Immerse the float in MILK to check for a crack.

Really.

Gasoline and milk are similar enough in characteristics. Water will not propagate thru a crack where gas or milk WILL.

Just another Helpful Hint from yer ol' doc. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
 
Tricky, Doc, tricky! I never knew that interesting fact.
 
I think that you would if the floats were made of a two piece tank type. On the older GM versions that I mentioned earlier, the gas was slowly absorbed into the foam material and I'm not so sure if you would see any bubbles, as it might take a while.
 
There'll be bubbles, 'stream' or *intermittant* depending on the size of the crack/leak.

If you're quick at cookie dunkin' you could get two eaten before you taste th' gas, too.
 
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