The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop carb???

I'm working on my new 49 3600. It has a 216. I have drained the tank(had BAD gas), cleaned out the tank valve, blew out the tank and the line from the tank to the pump. The pump has a glass bowl. Cleaned the brass mesh and bowl out. Has an A/C filter? just before the fuel line enters the carb. Just a glass bowl. Set points and timing, cleaned plugs and tried to start. It will run for 30-45 seconds after a liberal dose of ether, pick up and run then slowly die.If I work the throttle linkage, I get no squirt of gas when I pump it. I can see a few very small particles of rust ot dirt in the glass bowl before the carb. The air cleaner was lying in the bed when I bought the truck and the carb is VERY dirty. I am going to chase down a carb kit(CarterW-1?) and try to clean up the carb. I'm wondering if I need to buy the gal bucket w strainer of carb cleaner? It seems that the glass bowl in front to the carb doesn't filter anything, so I'm going to look for a clear filter the same length. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated as I've never touched a carb before.
Dave

You shouldn't be getting any junk past the filter on the fuel pump. Does it still have a screen in it? Also, check the flow on the pump. I stick the fuel line in a pop bottle and have someone crank the engine. Can't recall how much fuel should flow, but a good pump will fill up a 2 liter bottle in a couple of minutes. When I replace the pump on my 52, the pump warranty was no good if I didn't have a filter before the pump. If you do that and use a canister filter with rubber hose, seal the connections with Permatex Hylomar. Even with all of that, it sounds like your carb probably is full of junk and needs cleaning.

>> A/C filter? just before the fuel line enters the carb. Just a glass bowl.

This is a stock location for a fuel filter, the filter is simply missing. I know that you can get from NCA or Filling Station, and perhaps NAPA if you knew the part number.

However, if you have a questionable gas tank (i.e. dirt and stuff), by all means put a in-line filter before the pump and leave out the stock filter.

>> A/C filter? just before the fuel line enters the carb. Just a glass bowl.

This is a stock location for a fuel filter, the filter is simply missing. I know that you can get from NCA or Filling Station, and perhaps NAPA if you knew the part number.

However, if you have a questionable gas tank (i.e. dirt and stuff), by all means put a in-line filter before the pump and leave out the stock filter.

Now I recomend getting the carb kit. But if you are really careful you may be able to disasemble and reasemble with the same gaskets. More the likely you have a bunch of varnish and junk in the carb. A can or 2 of carb cleaner should do the trick.

It sounds like the inlet port on the carb is gummed up or blocked in some way.
If this is a Rochester B model carb there are 4 screws to take the top of the carb off (note which way the lever is on the side of the carb facing the cab).
Carefully lift the carb top up, flip the top of the carb over and pull the little pin which the float hinges on. Note which way the float sits and the rubber tipped needle(sometimes solid brass)is attached.
Clean out the orifice at the inlet of the carb. make sure the little orifice at the tip of the long port pointing up from the center of the upside down carb top is clear as well.
Sometimes the fuel plunger (still in the carb base with the spring and rod sticking up gets dried out and will need replacing.
Carb kit is good idea.

Small update. Took off carb last night, It turns out is is a Rochester, at least it says GM and not Carter. I'm still soaking the outside, but the linkage does not look like the Carter linkage in my manuel, looks like the Rochester. There is not a tag on the carb, are there numbers stamped someplace, or do I assume it is a Rochester and order the kit?? The threads on the inlet to the A/C glass bowl and the inlet to the carb had some red stuff like gasget sealer? smeared on them. Both the glass bowl in front of the carb and the glass bowl on the fuel pump have small pieces of white floppy material floating in the gas. The brass screen in the fuel pump appears to be intact. I think I'll pull the tank. I have the tank that was in my 50 which ran and I'll clean it up and install. Mechaniac's description sounds very likly.

If you buy a kit for the Rochester one bbl at a parts store, you will get a one size fits most kit, which will include everything except the proper accelerator pump. I would recommend contacting Jon, aka Carb King at http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/

His website shows that he has the proper kit for your carb, and is very good at identification.

The red stuff on the threads is some sort of sealer, I believe it was done at the factory. I've never used andy of it when putting one back together.

Ok, talked to carb king.( I had e-mailed him yesterday) He suggested trying the local carb kit till I see how the rest of my project turns out. He assured me that by soaking the original leather accelerator pump in light oil that I could probably bring it back to life. I discussed the small white particles floating in my 2 glass bowls and he said that it was probably deposits from the inside of the fuel lines and that they would be filtered out. My A/C glass bowl before the carb is missing a paper element!! I'll try to find one at my local parts store.

I've used the repair kit from my local NAPA dealer which does include the accelerator pump.

Rebuilding this carb is simple, just take your time, place the removed parts in a logical order (where they can't roll or fall or otherwise get lost!), clean the orifices w/ carb cleaner (wear latex gloves for this step !), adjust the float, and reassemble with the carb kit parts.

Unless you can see that you're getting a good flow of fuel, checking this is a good idea as well.

Good Luck!

A couple more questions. As I started cleaning up the carb I compared it to the "B" off of my 235. If you are looking at the carb from the front where the fuel inlet is, then towards the back on the right side on the square part just below where the choke shaft is there is a hole in the side of the carb about 1/8-3/16" dia.It looks like it belongs there, but there is not one on the bigger carb. On the botton flange that bolts up the the manifold on the bigger "B" there are 2 small holes, on the smaller "B" there is only one. I suspect that that is the difference between the 216 and the 235, but I'm concerned about the hole in the side. Is it supposed to be there?????

Update:
Got it to run, carb seems ok. After 45 min of running and a short test drive, it doesn't pull very well. I replaced cap, rotor, wires, points, and condensor. Doesn't run much better. I attemped to adjust the valves, all the exhaust were tight and the intake's were loose. All the new plugs were dark and sooty. I need to ck dwell and timing, so I'm looking for a timing light and dwell meter. By the way I tried a product from Kano Labs (the Kroil people ) called exorust. You dilute it with 3 parts water and soak rusty parts for 1/2-3 hours. It pulled the rust off of my master cylinder, some brackets and bolts in about 45 min. Worked well.

Sounds like you're getting there. If the timing IS off, this could certainly be robbing your engine of power. Let me know how it goes after setting the timing.

Good Luck!

when cleaning your carb make sure that you use saftey goggles when spraying out the passages.

Mike R. (experience talking here_ )