Who wants my car?

[Adelard of Bath]

Well just got done hanging out in the garage for a few zero degree evenings in the garage rebuilding the carb on my *wonderful* 84...and a little test drive indicates.....that the first sucker (did I say that outloud?) that offers me 200 bucks is going to be the proud owner of a heap of rust with no frame left, shot tranny, shot rear end, shot front end, and a carb that STILL doesn't work right...but the guy who sold it to me said the air conditioning is super cold! like I am going to test that when it is zero outside.

Actually the only thing stopping me from parking it at Walmart right now with a big "$200" or even 100 painted on the windshield, is that the state of Minnesota hasn't sent me the title in the mail yet. So possibly after I sleep on it, maybe I will see about tinkering with it again....

Just in case some carb-master is feeling my pain, here is what it does:

When I set the choke (pump once) and crank the key, it fires almost instantly....my brain says "good!" But then 0.5 seconds later you notice that it is running very rough...then it dies shortly thereafter...then after about 30 seconds of cranking and doing everything imaginable with the gas pedal (this time it worked to pump like crazy) it starts....then after a number of seconds barely running (foot on pedal ALOT) it will smooth out but the idle will be low.

Remember that detail, in theatre we call that "foreshadowing"

So I let it warm up. Take it out....notice that it wants to die whenever I push the gas, which I assume to be the standard "accelerator pump not working" but when I remove air cleaner and check, there is indeed a nice stream of gas shooting smoothly out of the side of the primary barrel when I actuate the throttle.

And then after my "test drive" the idle was super high, like 2k...when the engine was toasty warm.

So I dunno what that's all about...all vacuum lines were very closely labeled and put back in the correct spots, replacing/cutting any that were loose or old-feeling. All jets were nice and clean with compressed air, clearances checked properly, vacuum diaphragm things checked for operation and leaks, none found.

It doesn't help that I think carbs are so archaic, so 19th century...way more complex than injection and have so many things inherently wrong with them such as manifold wetting upon throttle opening (carb engineers say "lets fix that with an accel pump!" yeah way to work around problems rather than solve them) and of course, the opposite effect when you close the throttle...Bosch invented FI back in the 1930s, my 79 Volvo has four point injection.

Again, super cheap car to any takers.

[takza]

All I can say is....that you work on cars about the way I do. If things don't go right....I get bummed out. And 3 days in zero weather and no go would just about do it.

The high idle hot might be that adjustment on the front of the carb...the one that you have to remove the air cleaner to get at...I have to back mine way off....can't adjust it by the book.

Then the regular idle needs to go up?

As far as the vac lines....if someone has messed with them...they could be way off....need the diagram?

I'd plug the vac line at the EGR till you get the carb straightened out.

I have a carb rebuild in my future.....dost this fortell a dim future?

[Adelard of Bath]

Thanks Takza, its not just me....I was actually very happy about the carb rebuild, I got it all together and installed and I thought "gee, that was not as annoying as I thought it was going to be" then of course it screwed me over.

I guess that is how alot of projects go though? hee hee

Well I rebuilt the carb cuz it was acting very bad when I was trying to get on highways and stuff, worked great at "normal" speeds and zipping around town...so I think that BEFORE i took it apart, the vacuum lines must have been just fine. And I am 100 per cent sure that they are back the way they came off....so that is good.....it probably is some kind of adjustment, I will have to see about them, and I will disconnect the EGR like you said...if I find it that is la la la! I know what they look like from other cars and I will see if that crazy Chilton's manual shows anything about it.

Luckily it is warmer today...wee! 20-something? that will be nice

[Thereminator]

Adelard,you did set you timeing(8% BTDC is good) before all-of-this...right? These carb set~ups tend too run "sloppy" even when set correcty. I would replace all Vac~lines(silicone high~heat from Napa?) first and check the base~gasket for leaks.

[Adelard of Bath]

Check timing? Who, me? hee hee ummm....no? I can and will do so, but let me just say that the whole "dying when I press the gas" is much much much worse than it was before I removed the carb. I will go out there and get it running and check for leaks...somebody also suggested to me that perhaps I inadvertantly didn't get the float set right, despite my best efforts, and it is either letting way too much gas into the bowl or not nearly enough...I dunno, I have my doubts that such a thing would matter, unless it was COMPLETELY off one way or the other...like if it was completely filling the bowl that would be bad, and if it had just a tiny amount of fuel sitting in the bottom of the bowl that would be bad...but anywhere inbetween should run reasonably well I would think...but I will have to check it anyway. Luckily I cleaned the grime off the sight glass while I had it apart