The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Carburetor...rebuild or replace?

Hey guys, I just got my truck home from Washington...it has sat for 3 years, only being started up on occasion to keep the battery charged. It runs, but sputters and wants to stall upon takeoff, but once going, it's fine. Idles good too. My guess is the carb is goobered from old gas and sitting around. The seals on it are seeping out fuel as well. I was gonna get a kit and rebuild it, but is this worth the money I'll save, or should I just stuff it and buy a whole new one?

The truck is a 61 Apache 10 with a 235, single barrel.

I would get rid of all the old gas. Stale gas can cause valves to stick. Kits are relatively cheap. Why not give it a try?

What crenwelge says is true. Get fresh fuel. Carbs are not hard. Give it a try. From your discription, I would suspect a vacuum advance problem. If you rev the engine at idle, does the distributor move? Any other vacuum leaks? Have fun with it and let us know what you find.

I don't think that you will find a "new" carb. They would all be rebuilds. They are pretty simple to rebuild. I always look for bargain ones at flea markets because it is nice to have spare parts on hand.

51 bolt, the distributer does move when engine is revved at idle. As far as I know, there's no other vaccuum leaks...not much else on there that is run with vaccuum. I believe the tank was pretty much empty when I got it, I put in 20 liters of fresh premium, only to find out the fuel gauge doesn't work. Now I'm second guessing myself, ha ha...could I just syphen it all out?

After you run out this tank of fuel, try the lowest grade regular that you can get from a name-brand station.

Premium fuel will not run as well in a low-compression engine as regular; and it is a wee bit more expensive.

Jon.

Good to know:)

Well, had a close look at it today, turns out the throttle kicker has the top piece broken off, and the spring is missing. No wonder. I don't think the rebuild kits come with these parts, so I'll likely buy a "new" (reconditioned) one. Napa actually still carries them.

What kinda carb is it?

if you need parts i have a box of carbs to get parts or a whole carb from if you need it.

jaime

It's a single barrel Rochester, the stock carb for this engine. I have a buddy looking into getting me another one, but if any of you guys have one you want to part with, let me know! Always nice to have options:)

Jaime, a whole carb would be what I'm looking for, as the existing one has a few missing pieces and is leaking fuel out almost all the gaskets. And it has a loud sucking sound all the time, like it can't hardly do it's job. Probably because of how it's set up with the missing parts...it's set up to run as it is, but likely not properly.

Ok, a co-worker of mine really thinks I should "update" my carburetor. I don't know if I will keep the 235, so I wasn't gonna go overboard on upgrades on it, just wanted to get it running better. He says that I can put a two barrel on the stock intake. I always thought that with the 235, it was either you do a single barrel, or a two carb setup. Is my friend right? Have any of you installed a two barrel on a stock 235?

Langdons sells/sold a 2 barrel conversion that I am using now. Works fine for me. There is an adapter that you need to mount it.

Is it worth it though? Does it make much of a difference to the performance? Single barrels are easy to find, Napa still carries them. Part of me wants to go that route and be done with it, but I'm a bit curious about an upgrade.

Not much performance to be had. Runs good though.