New Carburetor, Flooding
 

Hey guys,
so I got my new holley carb put on today
all went well, installed, tuned, did the timing
then realize the fuel pressure was too high
put on a cheap fuel regulator, set it at 3 1/2 cuz it kept stalling at 4
it's been driving okay for the past few hours

if the same problem arises, what should i look for?


on a lighter note, the carb brought my '74 350 back to life

Did you remove the sight plugs to see that the float bowl levels weren't set too high to begin with?

i have the holley carb,
where you cant adjust the float from the outside

Then do you have the model 4165/4175, Quadrajet replacement?
I change my question slightly...Did you remove the float bowls to see that the float levels weren't set too high to begin with?

600 cfm #80457-S
naw i didnt check the floats,
but i bought it from tw performance parts, they run the carb for an hour before they sell it, http://www.twperformanceparts.com/product/80457-S

glad to say the carbs running good now
i set the fuel regulator to 3 1/2

You might want to keep a watchful eye on it for a while. The recommended fuel pressure for your carb is between 5-7 psi. If it's overflowing at only 4 psi, then I would be concerned about the integrity of the needle/seat or a possible bad float. Or, you could have a small piece of crud stuck to a needle. It sounds like it's practically teetering right on the edge of floodation (made up word, but it works).

alright guys,
stalled three times on my way to work
a three mile drive
severe surging
couldnt go faster than 20 mph
what the???

maybe another bad fuel regulator?

Or not enough fuel pressure (see my post above), and the fuel supply can't keep up with demand. If that's the case, the surging/stalling would be from the engine running until it empties the bowls, stalling out momentarily, then running again after fuel gets back into the bowls, doing that over and over again. Your fuel pressure is set too low. If the carb is leaking/overflowing with the pressure set to where it's supposed to be (5-7 psi), then something is wrong with the carb. What kind of regulator do you have, and do you have an inline pressure gauge?

no inline pressure gauge, but i have a cheap $30 fuel regulator, that shows 3-7, in half increments.
tomorrow i have class then i have to drive my father to and from surgery.. guess ill be using someone else's car.. ahhh

i work with a guy thats pretty smart when it comes to old carburetor engines, hes said the surging is most likely from the fuel delivery, and i should by a more expensive fuel regulator, or even buy a cheaper fuel pump that wont pump as much pressure

You're using a mechanical pump, I presume? What brand is it? A lot of them are rated at 6 psi, others are in the 8 psi range. If you have one where the psi output falls within the range of the carbs recommendations, you don't need to have a regulator.

i have a mechanical holley pump
when i had my car at the carb shop, she started spurtin gas everywhere
so they recorded the pressure from the fuel pump and it was around 9

she meaning the carburetor

holleys says -
"HI,
thanks for your e-mail
it needs 5.5 to 6.0 PSI
if it floods @ that PSI
it must have trash in the needle & seat
of float level set too high


To adjust the N&S take the fuel bowl off and hold it upside down & level
then bend the tang on the float so the float is level in the center of the fuel bowl.
this will get you back to a starting place.
Thanks for being a Holley customer
If there is anything else I can help with please let me know
Thanks Ricky"

but see, if I do this, the work I got done at the carb shop is pointless. I paid $180 for nothing? Should I call the shop and have them do this?

Can't say I'm at all surprised at the response from Holley, that's what it sounded like to me from the beginning.
You bought a new in the box carb, and it got shipped to you after it was run from the place you bought it from, correct? It's quite possible that the shipper dropped or threw the box around (not that that ever happens), and that could have tweaked a float or two out of adjustment or got a piece of crud stuck in the seat.
It's an internal issue of the carb, no fault of the carb shop the way it looks.
I think I just found delivery confirmation video of your carb being shipped: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxPa9Vc1v8Y

hahaha good movie right there
i called the carb shop and told them the problems still there,
I'm going to go by soon and they're going to take her apart n have a look

hopefully i dont get charged AGAIN since the original work they did didn't really do ANYTHING

i'll keep you updated, and thanks for the quick responses and help

soooo much crud in the needle and seat
cleaned her out, filled up my tank... drove amazing for 3 or so miles, stalled twice shortly after
holleys cant tank the low quality gas in southern california
im gonna return the carb, have a custom built rochester build for $350... masssssive secondaries
threw $190 down the toilet

Wait a second first....where is the "crud" coming from? And what kind is it, slime, chunks? You sure you're not getting debris that's inside your fuel lines or tank? A good small micron filter placed shortly before the carb inlet should stop the kind of crud that can gunk up the needle and seat. What you are getting isn't a problem that's specific to only a certain brand of carburetor. What are you using for a filter anyway, an old sock or window screen?

you can slightly see ONE of the TWO new fuel filters in this picture

http://i47.tinypic.com/zm1ilj.jpg

Keep the Holley, it's a good carburetor, and your crud issue isn't the carb's fault. You didn't say what kind of crap you're getting. It's possible you might have a lot of crap in the tank, or rusty fuel lines?
That filter looks like the Spectre brand like from AutoZone, or one like it. Looking up specs on that type doesn't turn up any particulars to the filtering capability, as much as I could find. Could be there's nothing to brag about, unless you know what that one is rated at?
You could use a filter like that before the fuel pump to keep any chunks from damaging it. And a filter like this 5 micron one right before the carb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1512/
For reference, one micron (micrometer) is one thousandth of a millimeter, and a human hair is about 50 microns.

the fuel lines were checked when we couldnt start the car (turned out to be a bad regulator)
The stuff in the seat was tiny debris, i could barely even see it, if it were dry it'd probably be a yellow powder...

now that you say crap in the tank, when we had the bad regulator, a mechanic at the carb shop pounded my gas tank repeatedly over and over saying i had no gas (i know i did)
he probably loosened a bunch of crud up, huh?
how can i go about cleaning out the tank?....

pulled off the holley, threw back on the carter
runs normal-like again
what carburetor would you recommend that wouldn't crap out just from a little bit of crud in the floats, and can take high fuel pressure (about 8.8)
what i have right now -
edelbrock intake,
headers, no cat, to dual flowmasters
holley fuel pump
shift kit in the tranny
i have a camshaft in the trunk, havent put her in yet

shipped off the holley today
peace, pos

[quote=bvans;389977
what carburetor would you recommend that wouldn't crap out just from a little bit of crud in the floats, and can take high fuel pressure (about 8.8)
[/quote]

Another Holley.

after that experience with a holley, naw
might get a 650 rochester
huggge secondaries

New Carburetor Flooding
 

A cosole with a mouse?Havent seen that yet, but Im not really in consoles anymore anyway.Well if thats the way I got little more to say then go get a console then :P

^ I couldn't agree more! Huh?