Engine suddenly running terrible

[ourkid2000]

Good question but I'm betting on them just sealing with epoxy and not doing the extra stuff.

I'd like to think even the crap repair would hold up more than a couple weeks. To cause what I've got going on would be something pretty catastrophic.

[ourkid2000]

So I just did a cold start on the car today and it was acting up immediately. Can barely get it going. Putting my hand over the choke area or closing off the choke almost fully seemed to bring the RPMs up and the engine would run slightly smooth,

This is unlike the last time I started it when it ran pretty good at first and then it slowly got worse and worse.

I took Cliff's advice and had a look down through where the secondary rods are and I could see the fuel level was just a little below the gasket. I have no idea if this is too high or not. It's not overflowing or anything like that.

Seems weird that it would have a fuel level problem that is somewhat intermittant? Or is that something that can happen?

Just for good measure, I put the old points and condenser back in but it made no difference. Was easy enough to try just for troubleshooting.

[Cliff Ruggles]

I'm betting that the bypass plug "O" ring has already failed.  Every single one that comes in here leaks at that location.

If they "dabbed" JB Weld over the bottom plugs it's also going to leak.  100 percent of the early carbs that come in here leak right thru that garbage unless it was repaired in the manner Kenth mentioned.

In any case you are finding out why I quit doing those decades ago.  They are problematic and flaws in the basic design that are difficult if not near impossible to correct.......

[ourkid2000]

Ok thanks for that Cliff.

That would be pretty unfortunate about that plug though. It literally has about 10 mins of run time on it......if that.

I've got a good selection of testing tools. What would be a good way to test the carb for leaks in that area on the bench?

[ourkid2000]

Well, I think I'm making some headway with this.

When the carb arrived from the rebuilders, it came here to Canada from the USA. I guess Customs wanted to make sure there was nothing nefarious in the box so they poked a big ol' hole in it. Like say, with a screw driver or something of that size. Anyway, when I had opened up the box I noticed that the hole was punched straight through to the top of the carb and the vent hole was plugged solid with cardboard. A hole in one right? A perfect straight shot right to the vent hole.

I was pretty pissed at this and I actually popped the top off the carb to blow out the cardboard. I didn't go any further than this.....I saw all the dry cardboard sitting on top of the gasket so I used some compressed air to get rid of what I saw and put it all back together. When I installed the carb, it ran great so I figured I got it all. I guess not.

Look at all the boogers of cardboard I found in the float bowl. There's bits of it everywhere too that don't show up well on the camera, all over the top of the float and stuff. This is a real downer, but par for the course for me and my luck these days. Pretty sure this is causing my problems?

[77cruiser]

Wonder if you have some dirt that plugs an idle tube.

Maybe

[ourkid2000]

Disassembled the carb today and cleaned it out. Blew out all the passages and ran thin wire through everything.

Runs like a champ again! Just so crazy that this happened. Oh well, at least I learned a few things.