Hello fellow H.A.M.B.ers! I will try to keep this short and sweet. A good friend and I are building a T speedster which I know many of you are familiar with: The car runs a hopped up T motor with a nasty cam, big valves...the works. We are also running an aftermarket (Ansen or Zephyr can't remember) downdraft intake with a Cyclone 2-barrel adapter with the standard footprint for a Holley 94 or Stromberg 97. I had a good 94 in my stash, so I ordered a rebuild kit, went through it, re jetted it to .060 and put it on the car. The speedster ran like a ****d ape with this set up for a long time, then started having issues: it was hard starting or just wouldn't altogether, no fuel at all shooting from the accelerator pump discharge nozzles when you open the throttle and when it did get fuel it would intermittently start dripping from the Main Nozzles in the center of the barrels when fuel pressure was applied with either the electric fuel pump or the hand pump. I pulled it apart and went through it again. The carburetor was mostly clean save for some sediment in the bowl from the tank, so I broke it all down and cleaned it again thoroughly. Now it's worse then before... Installed it back on the car and put fuel pressure to it and as soon as the bowl is full...it starts pouring out of the Main Nozzles, filling the barrels with table s****s of raw fuel. I thought we might have a fuel pressure issue (too much to be specific) so we installed a fuel pressure regulator.......NO CHANGE. It still just keeps pouring out no matter what. ...What am I missing?
The regulator we have is a 1 to 6 psi unit. I have it dialed down to 1 psi right now. How much is "very little"?
Note I am NOT a 94 expert. Take the float out and put it underwater to check for bubbles. Make sure the float level is set. Is the float needle a br*** one or the newer nylon. I think the br*** ones work better. Check that the powervalve is not junk. What kind of pressure reg are you using. Some don't work very well at all. That would be my checklist.
Adding to the above, why are you running huge #60 jets, when #51s are stock for a 94? The 94s can tolerate higher fuel pressures up to 3-4 psi, unlike 97s.
Floats are fine and don't leak.. I did check the floats. I am using the br*** float needle and the power valve is new, but will most likely pull it out and block it off. As for the reg, I just picked up a cheepy Offy unit... what is a recommended regulator? My 94 had larger .054 or .057 jets in it when I pulled it apart so I left them in....but the T ran like ****. It seamed to run way better with the larger jets, but I could always put them back to the original .051 size and see how it acts. Float level was checked and is spec.
Ahh...take a look at the power valve some kits supply the new ones which won't seat right and are pretty much wrong. I wouldn't block it off, ****ster on the hamb here can set you up with the proper PV, if that ends up being the problem.. Look around in the links in my sig. There should be a thread about the power valves..
Just went though some similar problems with my set up. I suspect the 4 little black gaskets under the 2 nozzle bars-especially the 2 on the float bowl side. (You probably reused yours just like I did because they looked good).Replacing the good looking gaskets with new ones cured the seepage problem from that area. Check the needle & seat by removing the carb top & setting up a fitting so you can use your breath to blow air through the needle & seat. Close the needle valve by pushing up on the float & shutting off the air. Do this several times to make sure the needle valve is not sticking intermittently. Float level is critical. Too high & you get the intermittent drip you describe. "Setting the float" is only a starting point. Start with an ACCURATE 1 11/32 drop ( carb top upside down, float up) I made a fixture to measure it. Turn the carb top right side up & set the float lower level at 1 7/16. If you have new nozzle gaskets & you still get the drip, reset the float to close the needle valve & lower the fuel level in the bowl. Put in a new (or at least different) needle & seat to see if that changes anything. Clean the accelerator pump p***ages both in the carb body & inspect the pump piston leather. One final check worth doing is checking the p***age in the long br*** air idle tube ( in the center of the carb between the nozzle bars) Take a twist tie from a loaf of bread or garbage bag, strip off the plastic & insert the wire into the small opening to make sure it is clear. I have made suggestions that may cost you some money. Good place to buy parts is Mac Antique Auto Parts (macsautopaarts.com) complete gasket set is their part number 21A-9502 @$4.95, Needle & seat ***embly is PN 78-9904 @$3.05, power valve is PN 78-9904 @ $9.75. Use the part numbers to easily find the parts and order on line. I went into this extreme detail because I spent hours & hours solving this problem and want to p*** on some helpful hints and maybe save you some grief.
All of this I have done, but will crawl back over them again. I did replace the gaskets...I don't care if they look great or are new, If I didn't put them in, I'm replacing them. The needle and seat do seal and don't hang up.....had that problem before, but corrected it. Will go back and check the float level again to be safe and do have a few extra floats to try. Cleaning out the tube is a good one and I did it before....but will re-check to make sure it is clear. We'll see how it goes this weekend.
Well good news! We got it running like a champ! Pulled it apart and checked everything out, all looked okay. Ran a cleaner through the air tubes...clean. When we checked the float level however....it was WAY off...Not sure how it got that way either. Reset it back to 1 11/32".....and added a bit more for good measure, re***embled...and it fired right up with no problems! We had good weather yesterday so Chris and I ran the heck out of i all day with no issues, so I think we got it! Thanks for all of your help with this, we appreciate it greatly! ...exactly the reason we love the H.A.M.B. Clayton and Chris.
The Jalopy Journal
