Question on rebuilding Stromberg carb

[ScottFromNH]

Hi Guys.

I have a question. I have a 1973 Spitfire 1500 running a single stromberg carb. I am getting ready to rebuild it as the car was sitting for the last 10 years and think it really needs it.

Besides the rebuild kit I am getting from VictoriaBritish website is their anything else I should be replacing at that time. Not sure about the needle valves and stuff like that since I am already in the carb to rebuild it?

Any suggestions would be awesome

thanks

scott

 

[Brosky]

Fuel filter and it wouldn't hurt to pull the fuel pump off and take it apart to clean what is surely dried up and ready to flow to the filter or newly rebuilt carb if it is unfiltered.

Of course you would want to get the tank cleaned out was also so you don't undo all of your efforts up front.

 

[ArcticOne]

May not hurt to get a backup needle, just in case.

And find out where in your town you can get o-rings at. Although the rebuild kit has them (and lots of them for various carbs) I found that I needed to get one locally as its easy to damage them.

jb

 

[70herald]

Take the carb apart before you order the kit and see what kind / level of wear and tear there is. if the butterfly doesn't close fully or the throttle shaft is worn, you are looking at a much bigger job than just replacing the rubber bits.

 

[ScottFromNH]

Hey Guys thanks for all the input.

I have already changed the fuel filter, fuel pump and cleaned and resealed the gas tank.

The car actually runs pretty decent the only reason I am thinking it needs the car rebuilt is that when I fill up the damper with oil it only stays in their maybe a day and then its empty again so I am guessing that the diaphragm is dry rotted?

I will look at picking up a new needle valve at the same time since I am already in there I would like to just have to do this once. and also see if I have a local store around that does o-rings.

 

[70herald]

A damaged diaphram will cause the car to stop running or if only a small tear it will run erratically, so that is not your problem. I suspect that you just expect to see more oil in the top of the carb than is supposed to be there. It only needs a few drops. Any more and it just gets pushed out.

 

[ScottFromNH]

oh I didnt realize that. Thanks for the heads up maybe I dont need to rebuild it. Is there any good test that I can do to determine if it needs to rebuild or just run it and see how it goes?

 

[Brosky]

It looks like it's time for another trip to the Buckeye World of Carb Rebuilding.............look down this list until you see carb rebuilding parts I, II, III and download the pdf files.

Buckeye Technical Data

 

[ScottFromNH]

Thanks for the link I am printing it out as I type

 

[sail]

Thats good information. Armed with that rebuild kits usually come with one page instructions which run you through the steps.

 

[tdskip]

If you do get a rebuilt kit make sure to get the bypass diaphragm replacement - it is often missed. Not sure if the VB kit includes them.

 

[DrEntropy]

If the oil is being sucked that fast, the O-ring in the needle adjustment screw is likely FUBAR. That's the only point where it could be sucked thru as described.

 

[70herald]

Forgot about that o-ring, I have one of the non-emissions controlled carbs. even fewer parts to worry about. Just don't stand behind my car when I pull the manually controlled choke

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol:

 

[ScottFromNH]

Hmmm now that makes me think I should.

Ok I guess I wonder what the opinions of others are. Would you rebuild the carb or just run it like it is?

The car starts and runs, the manual choke seems to work good and I can shut the choke completely off and the car seems to idle good. I haven't been able to drive it yet as it is a Fred Flintstones car right now (floor boards are gone)

the car did sit for 10 years in a shed that was only 3 sided so the elements have gotten to it.

Right now the car is up on blocks having the sheet metal fixed and I have a set of headers coming in to get rid of the broken exhaust manifold. I really dont mind spending the 100 bucks to rebuild the carb if it needs it, however I dont want to make things work.

This is my first restoration so I guess I am just too new to know with out asking

 

[sail]

Well, it does run and if it doesn't leak sounds like you have plenty of other stuff to do.

 

[DrEntropy]

If it has sat for that long, it'd be the right thing to do to rebuild the carb. Just take your time and if you run into a snag there's usually someone here to answer any questions fairly quickly.

 

[70herald]

If the car sat for 10 years you are going to need a new diaphragm in the near future one way or the other.

Likewise the O-rings are going to be dried out and probably leak in the near future, especially with todays nasty stuff in the gas.

Since the engine is currently running, I recommend that you take out the carb, give it a good looking over, replace the gaskets, o-rings etc and put it back. <span style="text-decoration: underline">DO NOT touch anything else on the engine!</span> you don't want to put the carb back in, have a problem and then start wondering if it is the carb, distributor, fuel pump, flux capacitor, or whatever else.

 

[ScottFromNH]

Thanks for all the input guys. I am just going bite the bullet and buy the rebuild kit with a needle valve(maybe a gross jet instead) and rebuild the car now that I have it in the garage so that when the car is done I don't have to worry about it.

 

[Brosky]

I don't think that you'll get much support here on the Grose jet. I could be wrong, but let's see what happens.