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Stromberg - at the end of my rope (long)

To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Stromberg - at the end of my rope (long)
From: trunnell@mindspring.com
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 13:20:34 -0500
Hi all,

For the last two years I have been battling a problem with my car that has 
reduced the fun of owning it by at least 50 percent.  I have asked for advice 
on this problem before, but I hope that someone will have a new insight.  My 
problem in a nut shell is that my car runs very badly at idle and seems to 
suffer from a vacuum leak that causes it to run very lean.  Unless the needle 
(B1DL) is set to full rich the car will barely idle at all.  I have tried in 
vain to find a vacuum leak using carb cleaner and the carb has been rebuilt by 
both myself and Apple hyd.  I believe that the carb is original to the car, 
however the brass tag is missing so I cannot be certain.  The rest of the car, 
ignition, compression etc. is new or rebuilt and seems to function well as far 
as I can tell.  Using the colourtune plug the color is orange, but if I adjust 
it until it starts to turn blue the car will start to miss and stop running.  
If I hold my hand over the mouth of the carb to choke off the!
!
 airflow the idle jumps up, indicating to me at least that there is a vacuum 
leak or the carb is just too lean.  On the vacuum gauge the manifold vacuum is 
about 18" at idle jumping to 21" when I manually block the carb off. I have a 
spare intake manifold that I am going to install this weekend to see if that 
makes a difference.  Has anyone had trouble with the intake cracking or 
becoming so porous that it causes this kind of problem?  I also plan to block 
off every vacuum outlet coming from the carb to eliminate every possibility of 
a leak.  I hate to let this thing beat me, but a weber is becoming more and 
more attractive.
Thanks for letting me rant, any advice is gratefully appreciated.

Glenn Trunnell
'76 Spit

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