Dan,
Not recently, but I`ve had similar carb troubles with the Bugeye and
Midget over the years. Different causes each time:
1. Sticking piston. On the 1098 this was due to over tightening the
screws that mount the dashpot to the body. Don`t know why, but this somehow
distorts the dashpot travel way. Put your finger in the throat and see if the
piston lifts and falls freely. It should hit the bottom with a distinct click.
If not, loosen the screws a tad and see if that helps. If not, go to step #2.
2. Jet not centered. On both cars, this caused the piston to bind as
the needle rubbed the jet hole. Similar symptoms as in #1. Also, this resulted
in the jet not returning when the choke was released. The jets looked like
they went back, but still could be pushed further home by finger pressure.
Only a little binding has a bad effect.
Oiling the jet shaft while it was exposed, choke out. was only a
temporary fix. Follow the manual procedure. It`s been a long time, but I think
all it took was to loosen the top nut while holding the piston down (maybe I
used a pencil or something through the filler hole, top of dashpot) then
tightening the nut. I never took the carb off the car.
3. Malfunctioning needle in the float chamber. This caused richness,
then flooding, then gas everywhere. A Holy S...condition. Fix was easy. Again,
follow the manual. The grose jets have worked fine.
Finally, while fooling with the carbs, which is best never done unless
all else fails, my plugs would load up with carbon, making an accurate
adjustment impossible. Might be good to keep a fresh set of plugs handy. After
it`s fixed, an Italian tune up will clear the soot out. Warm up the oil, then
wind it out, kissing the red line, in third. All kinds of stuff will blow out
the exhaust. Or maybe the engine will blow...
Bert Shirey
60 Bugeye/ 66 Midget 1098
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