Well Michael, I'd certainly look into the high-speed circuit. It's not that much trouble to pull the main nozzle plugs and double check it. Even though it has a .150” hole drilled in it, this is just a plug that I'm talking about to hold the nozzle in place, not a jet. I wouldn't start re-drilling any jets, you could really be asking for trouble there unless you have a source for spare Carter W-1 parts to replace them with.
These W-1 carbs do perform well just as the carbking, Jon H. has been posting here over the years. So just make sure ya got all the proper parts in the proper places and you won't believe how well that 216 runs with a W-1.
On that ignition if you’re methodical and just follow a few simple steps, like plugs clean and adjusted to .035”, a good wire set with no corrosion, a good cap and rotor the same way, i.e., no corrosion, the points adjusted .018”-.022”, a good coil and the timing set at the ball, there isn't any reason that it shouldn't be a reliable vehicle. I check my valve lash every thousand miles or so and more often right after a valve job, .008” and .014” good and hot.
My '50, 216 has 62,000 miles on it, 10,000 that I put on over the last couple of years. I routinely drive it spring to fall at 55-60mph on 100 mile trips almost every weekend to shows. Yesterday morning we took a nice trip up old state route 23 here in north central Illinois. On some short stretches we were running along at 65 mph, with my 4.10 gear that calculates to right around three grand and the engine sounds nice and smooth.
Good luck,
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
