I seem to have a new development but not in a good way. I was unable to work on the truck at all last year so I started again this spring. This time I was unable to keep it running without throttle at all and after a few minutes it just quit. It didn't start up right away and the battery died so I had to enlist some help to push it back in the garage. I would be able to start it after letting it sit for a while but it would quickly die and after a couple tries, it gives me nothing.
I opened the carb up again to see if there was debris and noticed that I had the wrong checkball in the power piston bottom. It was pushed in and stuck but I was able to get it out by holding it with pliers and whacking it a few times. I though "This is it, problem solved!" after putting the right checkballs in the proper holes. Nope, it is doing the same where it will start, run rough for 30 seconds or so and shut down and give nothing after a couple tries. I tried screwing in the idle screw to help keep it running without my foot on the gas but it wouldn't stay running. I saw gas leaking out of the throttle plate and was thinking it must be a vacuum leak but after doing some research it sounds like this is most likely a flooding issue. I checked Mikes Carburetors where he had some info for these symptoms and from there started checking the floats. Oh, When I was putting the carb back when I found the checkball issue I also remeasured the float drop and it was off so I set it to the measurements for a 1958 which I am sure I did a year and a half previous.
I opened it back up to see what was going on inside (getting good at the removal process) and it had gas in the bowl and looked fine. I found my old float and tried it as it was at least able to idle with it but still, the same issue. Starts for a few seconds and thats it. I have some pictures here with the new and old float measurements, does anything look off on the new? There was plenty of gas in the bowl if that means anything.
I again opened it up and made sure the jets are clean and no debris in the inlet. I saw in the carb rebuild diagram that the inlet should have like 4 or 5 other parts in there including a screen but mine doesn't have anything inside, is this normal? I blew into the inlet and it seems like the needle valve is working. I also checked to see if the carb was squirting and honestly didn't see anything. I should see something down the hole in the "No Squirt" picture right? Would this be a bad pump? The one from the rebuild kit is what is installed but I had to order a new kit after tearing the gasket so do have another I can try. Does anything stand out to the experts here? I am getting very frustrated here!
Could this be a fuel delivery to the carb issue? I'm going to try the pump test tomorrow, taking the hose off the inlet and running the starter with the line in a bottle to see flow but is seems like it is getting fuel...
