# Depressing



## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Alright guys I have been posting a lot here lately and today got everything bolted on and running. I changed all the fluids, got it timed, rebuilt my carb and pulled out of the drive and it was running very cool. I started all of this because I had a hesitation problem, which is still there and nothing I did changed it a bit. I totally cleaned and rebuilt and tuned my carb, timed it correctly, fixed two large leaks and it's doing the exact same studdr that it was before. I finally got it fired up today and it sounds great but whenever I accelerate it just sputters like it wants to go but nothing. I'm at a loss. On the flipside I completely tore into my engine and learned A TON that I didn't know about prior.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Overall I am thinking that it's a clogged fuel line now.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

fuel sock may be clogged up inside the tank so when it sucks under load it starves....


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Needlez that sure sounds like an acclerator pump problem --- but then I don't remember what all you've done already. What kind of carb is it?

Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

So far I have completely rebuilt the carb with a trick kit and tuned it to the specifications manual. I pulled the distributor and put in a new set of springs and shimmed it to take out the endplay. I put a heli coil in the oilpan and replaced an o-ring in the transmission to fix some leaks. Installed a kickdown and cleaned up the terminals. I had tons of gunk in the secondary side of the carb and the jets were totally clogged with old crusty fuel. I assumed that was it when I saw it, but now I believe it's the actual fuel lines?


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

It's a bit confusing if it's old fuel as I had driven the car quite a bit this summer and never had a problem. It never sat for more than a week or two at most.


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

After it hesitates, does it take off and run good? If so, then it's the accelerator pump, actuate the pump and make sure it squirts fuel out of the squirters. There is a check ball under the squirter that was seized on my buddies, and he couldn't get the car running without starting fluid, freed it up and problem went away. It would be nice to borrow a known good carb and see if it goes away as part of trouble shooting.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

NEEDLEZ, I've never seen worse looking stuff than in the pic you posted earlier on another thread. It looked like tar in your carb. You might be looking at dropping the fuel tank, checking the sock on the pick up line, and blowing out/cleaning out your fuel lines. That crud had to come from somewhere. Gas evaporating doesn't normally do that. I had stuff similar to that tar stuff in the bottom of my 1915 Ford's fuel tank.....than hadn't seen fresh fuel for decades. I managed to clean it all out and reuse my 90+ year old tank, though. Good luck, and keep posting.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

This is my Saturday so I will play with it again tonight.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

I pulled the pump nozzle and it is a size 31. I never sprayed any carb cleaner down in the hole where the nozzle would go. Do you think that would clean out any of the gunk or should I step it up in size? It's currently a 31.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Well the only thing is I have not had a problem with anything in the past 3 years and havent touched a thing on my car other than changing the oil. I just assumed if it was that bad it would have caused problems quite a while back. I do have an air compressor at the house so I have the tools to clean it out so I might as well.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Really glad I paid the extra money for the trick kit right now at least I have the cams and nozzles to play with.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

After all of the pics I've posted it will be funny when you see the actual car all cleaned up. I'd be expecting death on wheels.


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

Stock, working accelerator pump should be fine. Take the nozzle off and make sure the check valve underneath is free and not clogged.
Love to see some pics. Check for vacuum leaks, make sure your plugs look grey, not white or black. Post a vid of the problem, and we'll see if we can help.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Hey Needlez --- after seeing the photos on your other thread I'm still betting you've got a problem with the accelerator pump. Remove the air cleaner - then with the engine off lean over the top of the carb so you can see down it, and open the throttle by hand - slowly and smoothly. You -should- see a nice steady stream of fuel squirting in as you open the throttle ---- a stream, not just a "spit" or sputter --- and it should continue to stream throughout a "good bit" of throttle motion. If that's not happening, then that's going to be your problem. Pull the carb apart again, give it another good soaking/cleaning - making sure to blow out every passage you can find with compressed air (be careful not to blow chemical or gunk into your eyes).
Double and triple check your float levels/adjustment too. If they're "too low" it can result in the pump not producing a full shot.
Remove the pump squirter and make sure the check ball underneath it isn't stuck.

Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Wow guys I'm a dumb%[email protected] I pulled that entire carb apart and put every piece into a gallon bucket of carb cleaner and replaced all of the gaskets. I did it to everything but the main block and set everything up, but I never touched the main block other than clean the block itself. I just pulled out the accelerator pump nozzle and the little bullet looking piece that went uner it and shot some carb cleaner down there. I'm just proud I was able to pull the distributor and carb off and get them back on and have it running with no leaks . Alright so I have the carb off now and the nozzle and bullet piece out so what would you guys say from here? I did purchase a trick kit that came with quite a bit of pump cams and different nozzles so I'm ready to take this on. I will try what you said bear and let you know.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Best advice I can give is to put it on and give it a "shot"  while you're looking down it. Much easier to observe what it's actually DOING than it is to infer what it might or might not be doing while looking at a pile 'o parts 

You could do the same thing with it off the car though, just make sure the fuel bowls are "full" (to the float level), make sure the carb's more or less level, then work the throttle. It should behave the same off the car as it does on.

Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

When I pull the throttle back I can't see any fuel squirt out of the nozzle  I guess I will have to tear it down and spray the actual block of the carb with compressed air. Is there anywhere in particular I should focus or just all of the tunnels on the block carb.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

You did this with both bowls full of fuel, right? If so, then congratulations! You just found the problem. Now all you've got to do is figure out what's causing it. Judging from the photos I saw, I'm betting on a plugged passage. I'm the farthest thing you'll find from a Holley "expert" so I can't tell you exactly where to look, but you might try working from the nozzle "backwards" using a small piece of fine wire, or maybe a pipe cleaner, to see if you can work your way through the passage and dislodge any gunk that might be in there.

Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Ya Bear I drove 5 miles to the filling station and back and the problem started up again. If I let the car sit it won't do it at all the first 4 or 5 miles but then it just starts all over again. I did check the nozzle with the bowls full of fuel as I could see it in the sight plugs. I am just afraid if I spray it full of air then I might damage the power valve or pump diaphragm. I don't know enough but they both looked like sensitive pieces. You know what I'm spraying it I don't care anymore the worst thing that could happen is I buy another one.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

I figured out what tunnels led to that nozzle and blew it out pretty good. I could fill the air coming out after a while and when I was done I sprayed some more carb cleaner down there. I am gonna go fire her up and see.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Unscrew the plate and remove the bottom of the accel pump along with the diaphragm - also unscrew the power valve - the goal here is to strip it down to just bare metal so you can get to all the passages and try to clean them out. If you've never had the accel pump apart with the diaphragm off, then it's also possible you've got a ruptured diaphragm. Just keep plugging away at it until you're able to get that nice stream of fuel from the pump. There's a cause there somewhere and it will make sense to you when you find it.

Good luck!
Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

I found that I also didn't have the little red umbrella gasket seated properly and got that corrected. I was just scared to pull on it too hard and break it but it's pretty strong. I think it would normally be lubed with something but I didn't know.


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## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

Accelerator pump circuit has nothing to do with the power valve. Accelerator pump is the front right pump, and the center squirter up high in the carb. Make sure it's clear and the stumble should go away. You should def dissassemble the entire carb and make sure everypart is nice and clean.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

Ya I realized it when I pulled it all apart. I have blown air completely through it with carb compressed air. I think it might have done the trick as I couldn't initially feel air coming out of the nozzle, but after a while was able to so I'm assuming it was clogged but I'll find out tomorrow for sure.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

NEEDLEZ said:


> I found that I also didn't have the little red umbrella gasket seated properly and got that corrected. I was just scared to pull on it too hard and break it but it's pretty strong. I think it would normally be lubed with something but I didn't know.


If that's the part I'm thinking about, that could have been your problem. I think that thing acts as a one-way valve into the pump cavity, allowing fuel in on the "suck" stroke of the pump but closing shut on the "push" stroke. If it wasn't all the way in then it would have had a tendency to stay open all the time, allowing the pump to "blow" back out into the fuel bowl instead of up and out the pump nozzles. Man I'm really digging into the memory archives here to fetch that -- like I said I'm really not a Holley guy.

Bear


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

All I know is that I have taken this carb apart so many times in the past week that I have no fear at all of ripping into it now. I don't know the name of the umbrella piece but I read online that it definitely has to be seated and mine wasn't. It just didn;t feel natural and I was scared to break it. I'll know the next time. I have so many parts for holley and have taken this one apart so many times I just don't think I could use anything else now. I will be back tomorrow for sure and I WILL get this car running solid again! I still want to blow out the fuel lines regardless so that might be a fun winter project if everything is running fine after today.


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## NEEDLEZ (Oct 21, 2009)

OMFG I unhooked the vacuum advance and figured I would give that a try and it hasn't hesitated once!!!! I took it 30 minutes 1 way with not even a single problem. I will have pictures tomorrow as it's dark here now. I guess I will have to play with the timing and I can't believe unhooking a piece of tubing turned my car from a POS to a great ride.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Whatever it takes, give her what she wants!


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Too much advance will kill your top end. These distributors have a plastic bushing around the vacuum advance rod that limits the amount of vacuum advance...it's common for them to be missing in action after many decades. With the vacuum advance connected, your total timing at about 2500 rpm should be about 40 degrees or less for the engine to run without surging/bucking, etc. Get your distributor taken care of, dial the vacuum advance in, and it will scream. Running without vacuum advance will casue it to run hotter and use more fuel during normal driving.


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