Dan I had very similar problems when I rebuilt my carb on a non-running manual
'76. Used started fluid just like you and it ran on that and stopped.
It was a mixture of timing (you can't set until the engine runs but until it
runs you can't get the light on and set it) and mixture. I had rebuilt the carb
and put it back the way it was originally. Make sure needle is in correctly and
caught on the thread and set it flush or a little bit into the bottom of the
piston ( that was another of my problems - PO did not have needle caught on the
thread and I copied, so it was so over lean it would not get any gas or
adjust). A little rich will always help starting. If you can smell the gas then
you know it's getting fuel. Other problems were vacuum line not correctly
connected (but since you have a '78 less likely problem) as my egr valve was
connected to the distributer vacuum line by PO - wrong! Manual choke opens the
line to disable egr on starting but the distributer is separate! Also my plug
leads were all one out on the distributer (I had assumed PO had them correct!)
Moved them all round one and it started. I found that it was a good idea to use
the timing light to check that all of the leads showed that a spark was getting
to the each of the plugs. I used the timing light when just cranking the engine
to get a rough timing set.
Alan
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Dummer, Dan Dan.Dummer@BestBuy.Com
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 11:20:25 -0500
Subject: Choke conversion
List,
I have a 78 Spit that is suffering from carboration problems that I believe
are choke related. It has the original water choke on the carb, and I am
thinking of converting it over to a manual choke. I was going to do this
for diagnostic purposes, to verify that my carborative (is that a real word
?) problems are truly choke related. I have tried holding my hand over the
front of the carb to induce a choke, but that isn't working for me.
Maybe I should back up a step here, and describe whats going on, to make
sure I haven't overlooked something before I do this. My Spit was
delivered to me mostly in boxes, and I've been building it bit by bit over
the last few months. I have it to the point now where I have compression,
and spark (thanks to a new Crane ignition and coil) and I can get the car to
fire and run for 3 seconds at a pop by using starter fluid. So I do know
it is capable of running, if I could get the fuel into the cylinders. So I
took the carb off, actually it was off originally. And I rebuilt it, new
gaskets, new diaphragm, etc. Completely soaked the thing in carb cleaner to
make sure every passage was clear of varnish, and crud. Then blew through
each passage with compressed air to remove the cleaner. Nice bright, clean
carb now. Should work right ? Nope. Take it off again, double check to
make sure everything is pointed the right way inside, nothings loose,
nothings forgotten. The passage way from the float bowl to the idle jet is
clear (I can see through it). Still no go. To my way of thinking, to
achieve an idle I need that passage to be clear, and I need some amount of
air mixture though it. If the gas passage is open, that leaves the air
mixture as the source of my problem..... That leads me to where could the
air mixture go bad... The rough idle setting (yes, a new O-ring), but
unless I have it actually running, I can't guess where it needs to be
properly set to. (I've tried turning it in, out, and everywhere in between
with no effect).... Or... it might be the choke not properly working... or
something else I have completely over looked (hint hint... jump in here with
magical answer... yes you....) Which brings me back around to my original
question, can I ditch the water choke (which I don't trust) with a
mechanical choke ?
Cheers,
Dan
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This message has been posted from Mail2Web http://www.mail2web.com/
Web Hosting for $9.95 per month! Visit: http://www.yourhosting.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|