I recently purchased a 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Special. It's powered by a 261 Straight 6 out of a 1954 1 ton Chevrolet truck. I drove it to work and it ran great. On the drive home, about a mile from my home it started running rough, and actually quit running as I was turning in my driveway. Now it will crank and run with the choke halfway out but runs really rough. If I push the choke in it will not idle at all. I disconnected the fuel line at the carb and it was getting fuel. The fuel/air mixture screw on the carb has no effect at all when I adjusted it. I screwed it all the way in and backed it out 1 1/2 turns. I even backed it out a few more turns but it still had no effect. Could a bad fuel pump cause this problem.
Wow a couple possible issues come to mind dirty gas, vacuum leak, cucked up carb and electrical issue sounds like the pump is working
Empty tank? Seriously! Fuel delivery problem somewhere. Nothing magic here, Chris. Welcome aboard. Ben
If its pumping gas at carb then its in the carb. Unless pressure is low. Doesn't take much pressure though. If you get it running can you spray gas down carb and keep it running with choke open ? Could be stuck float. Tap on the float bowl and see what happens. I would rebuild carb if you haven't done so.
***uming it's a Rochester Monojet, check the two big phillips head screws that attach the float bowl to the throttle plate. It's not uncommon for them to work loose, creating a vacuum leak. You may have to remove the carb to tighten them properly. And maybe replace a couple gaskets between the bowl and thottle plate and the carb to intake manifold.
inline chevy sixes were notorious for the intake bolts and carb to intake bolts coming loose and causing a vacuum leak. just an old man thinking outloud Tom
The carb halves can loosen up too, but I suspect something like a tank full of crud, pull the carb apart to see what is inside.
Dirt, water, partially plugged filter, partially plugged filter on the pickup tube in the tank, carb full of ****, plugging the jets. All possible causes. Not an ignition problem. Pulling the choke to make it run will not make an ignition problem go away. If this car has been sitting a long time, I would go through the entire fuel delivery system. Get rid of any old gas, too, and blow out the lines, all the way back to the tank. Remove the gas gauge sender in the tank and check for rust holes in the pickup tube and the condition of the filter screen on the end of the tube. Clean the carb and blow out the p***ages in the body.
Don't know if that uses a ballast resistor but I had two MoPars that drove me nuts because of bad ones
I just got done doi I took off the carb today, took it apart, and gave it a thorough cleaning. The fuel / air mixture port in the carb was stopped up and the float was sticking. I blew out the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump and the line from the pump to the carb. I also added Heet to the gas. It will idle now but it's still a little rough. I have the fuel / air mixture screw almost halfway out. If i screw it in any further she will start cutting out and choke down. Per my Daddy's advice, I'm going to put a new fuel filter on the carb and also install a new fuel pump next week. My Daddy is 82 and back in the day he used to build the 235's and 261's. He said they called the 261's V8 killers back in the day !
Welcome to the HAMB from SE Tennessee. You've got a nice ride there. Sounds like you're on the way to getting your problems solved.
I got the old 261 running good. The distributor clamp had loosened up and threw the timing off. I also purchased a turn signal kit from Vintage Auto Garage and installed it. Now for wheels and tires. I'm partial to the old steel wheels with baby moons. Maybe 15 x 7's on the front and 15 x 8's on the back. What are yall's suggestions on tire size front and back ?
205's front, 225 =15's on the rear, will work,..6" rims front, 7" on rear, bout as big as will fit.....that's what I had on my 49
I don't know how familiar you are with these older Chevy I-6s, but even when everything is working as it should the distributor can still appear to be loose. When the vacuum advance is actuated the entire distributor housing rotates to advance the position of the points, as opposed to moving just the breaker plate like the later model distributors do. With the engine off you can easily grab the distributor cap by hand and rotate the entire ***embly several degrees.
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