I have to have my idle up higher than I'd like because when I come to a stop it starves for fuel and idles down too low. 1953 belair/235/carter yf. I was going to take that carb apart and maybe see about bending the float a bit so it stores more fuel in the bowl or something but figured I'd post the **** on here first so many someone else can give me some more ideas. I've never torn into one of these carter yf's before. I have a scheme of it somewhere but I lost it. It's just like it's starving for gas when I stop. Also just to get it started I have to turn my pump on (electric) and pump the pedal a lot just to get enough fuel in there to start her up. Then she's fine as hell until I brake and it's like it's sloshing the fuel forward and not getting any. Think maybe if that's the problem I could cut out something from sheet aluminum so it doesn't slosh far, kinda like the way ya do an oil pan for drag racing so the oil doesn't stay at the back of the motor. All ideas welcome and appreciated, thanks.
Something to check before you blame the carb... Do you have power brakes? If so, what happens if you hit the brakes with the car sitting still? A bad diaphragm in a power brake booster will cause idle problems with the brakes applied. Simple to check it out though.
the brakes aren't power and the brakes themselves don't effect anything, it's only the action of coming to a stop. Thanks though.
Just FYI - my flatty with 3-97's and T-10 trans does this, too - I'm interested in what folks think. I can get it rolling, push in the clutch, roll at 1000 rpm idle, and when I hit the brakes it'll starve for gas and try to die . I figure I have the float levels set too low...? In the meantime, I became the master of heel-toe driving.
Alright, I'll jump on this thread too. My 235 3-speed '54 with Power brakes will die when I come to a stop BUT: It only happens after it's warmed up It doesn't do it when I press the brakes at idle It doesn't do it when I'm backing up Running the idle higher doesn't help So I've pretty much ruled out vacuum issues and I'm suspecting a) crud in the tank or b) crud in the carb. I drive it every day, but not terribly far. So it hasn't been top of my list. I've tried the heel and toe stopping and found the modulating brake technique to be less awkward.
points? I've had motors seem to run pretty good til you punch the brakes and then have to heel/toe them - points were weak/out of adjustment.
Only happens when its warmed up... Your choke is running strong while its cold. Doesn't do it when I press the brake at idle... Do you mean in or out of gear? If its while in gear it sounds like when I first learned to drive a stick and would stall the engine due to the load of it being engaged and lower RPMs. Only things I can think of.
I think a lot of people forget how important a dashpot is. I didn't have one for a long time and I had the same problem on my car. I didn't really understand what it was for. A dashpot is a little diaphram with a plunger that is situated so that the throttle contacts it when it closes. The dashpot is a kind of cushion to keep the throttle from snapping shut and suddenly starving fuel. When the throttle closes, the plunger on the dashpot pushes on the internal diaphram and a tiny air bleed allows it to compress slowly making the throttle close gently the last fraction of an inch. Yours may be bad, missing, or needs adjusting. If it never had one, it might be worth adding.
Seems this post is rather popular. Same deal as with screwtheman. Carb and engine, brand new. The ignition system is all MSD from the distributor to the coil to the wires to the 6AL. Manual trans, and the clutch is fully disengaging from the flywheel so that isn't the issue either. The brakes don't do it, it's the action of stopping that it tends to starve for fuel. I believe it's the float levels but as I said I wanted to make this thread in case someone else fixed a very similar problem and knows a bit about it. Also as with screwtheman, it doesn't do it in reverse, or taking off, it doesn't do it when braking from reverse and another separate although related problem is that when I try to go over 55MPH it cuts out because it's starving for gas. I could just say **** it till tomorrow when I put the dual carter yf's back on. Thanks to some fellers on here I have 3 of them coming in the mail tomorrow so out of 4 I'll have, I should be able to make a couple good ones.
sorry, triple post here, someone else said maybe it's the choke, gotta say no to that one too but thanks again for trying here. The choke is definately not the problem.
I'm not real familiar with your carb, but from my own experience, I had a simular problems on my 6 banger Falcon, and on my 302. The idle adjustments (fuel/air mix) on the carb was out of whack. Once that was adjusted right...no more stalling & I could bring the idle down.
My first thoughts were vacuum/brake related but as that is not applicable in this case i'm with Frank, a throttle damper would cure the problem & would be easy to adapt should you not already have one........they are normally adjustable & quite often are just out of adjustment. Kev.
Possibility, the fuel line being pinched when braking? Does sound like a low float setting though. jerry
saw a feller mentioned possibly the air/fuel mix. my plugs were kinda white so its a lil lean. ill screw in the air screw one turn and see
Thanks to all that this helped and here's some info for those that needed it as well. It was 100% float issue. I bent the float way way up, threw it back together and squirted gas everywhere so I bent it back down just a bit, no leaking, and no more idling down too low. So if you're having this issue, and it's on a carter, it's cake. Take out those top bolts with it still mounted on the intake, pull the top off, bend the float and put it back on. If it squirts fuel everywhere, you went too far.
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