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6

69tr

Jedi Trainee
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I have rebuilt the carbs and did a tune up on my '69. The car has the original carbs with no mixture adjustment. The car was running fine and I was tweaking the timing.

The engine sputtered and quit and would not start back. I put the timing back where I started and it still would not start. I made all the normal checks (spark and gas to the carbs, plugs etc). The plugs seemed to be fouled with gas. I removed the carbs and there was there was gas at the intake manifold. I removed the carbs and reset the floats. (they seemed to be close)

The engine had not been run for about a month after the carbs were rebuilt and installed. I am going to install the carbs this week and try it again.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Pete
 
Any dirt or sediment in the fuel filter or the bowls when you took them off?

If it was sitting for a while, you may have pulled some junk into the carbs that settled at the bottom of the tank.
 
How old are the soft lines/couplers between the fuel pump & carbs? If they are more than about 5 years old, it may be that they don't like ethanol in the fuel, and are showing their distress by shedding bits into the fuel. I've seen that happen even when the outside looked fine. New soft lines (which IMO are consumables anyway) plus cleaning the float valves should do the trick.

Don't forget the other soft sections back to the tank. The bits they shed will be caught by the filter, but they should still be replaced at least every 10 years or so, IMO.

Also, I would suggest before you install the carbs, blow into the fuel inlet and lift the float with your finger. It should take practically no pressure at all on the float to stop airflow through the float valve.
 
The bowls looked clean. I did look for any sediment ect. while I had the bowls off. There was a little bit of varnish or something in the bowls. Like I said, it has only been sitting for about a month.

I previously took the tank out and cleaned and sealed it and changed the fuel filter. It seems to be getting sufficient fuel to the carbs.

The needle valves seemed to be free but that might be because they came loose while I was taking the carburetor apart. I sprayed some carburetor cleaner into the orifices while I had it apart.
 
Oh, Geez, from your header, I thought you were talking about Hurricane Katrina. Bad flashback....
 
Check your floats. Mine had new floats, 175 miles and one of them was so full of fuel there was no air bubble in it. removed three times before i found it. The car ran great the day before. The next morning it would not start, fuel running out thr rear carb. They where the white floats and only one side filled up with fuel.
 
Also, recommend that before you crank it over, remove the spark plugs(and the distributor cap, or primary wire) to help releive any possibility of hydrolock... Then crank it over a few seconds, then reassemble.
 
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