Haven't ever removed one of these before... Looking for any tips on NOT dropping anything down in, while navigating around the choke plate and horn. I planned on using light pinch on a needle nosed vise grip and lifting straight up...just worried about the lower gasket and whether or not that little needle down inside is going to come out...or if gravity pressure from the fuel system is going to push it up and out...etc. Thanks in advance.
Fully, loosen the screw until all threads are free. Use needle nose plyers and grab the nozzle. The gasket normally sticks to the nozzle. If not, it will stick to the carburetor body, that's fine. The backflow needle will not move from the body, unless the earth turns upside down..............! Mike
Alright, alright...laziness be damned. I can totally see it going wrong if I don't just take it off. Thanks.
This is a no brainer , the damage that could be done , is not worth not spending the extra effort to do it right .
I have swapped them many times without pulling the carburetor…but it only takes one screwup to regret not taking it off.
Removing the carb and working on it on the bench is a hell of a lot less stressful than working on anything down the throat on the engine. A lot less expensive when that screw you can't find is on the bench under the carb rather than stuck to the top of a piston too.
I've swapped them while still on the engine but it does make ya nervous, maybe stuff some Charmin down the holes.
That picture reminds me what I did years ago. I was swapping a new rebuilt quadrajet in My daily and it was running great and smooth Until I took off down the road and then bam bam. Turns out when I took off the old carburetor the bottom screw in the middle of the q jet dropped in the intake and it sat there until I went down the street. New valves and cleaned up the piston.
Remove the return spring & wire the throttle closed ( back off the idle screw) ,easy peasey for you faint of heart fumble fingers . A small pen magnet is very helpful .
You're overthinking it Man... Just swap them out and be done. Like has been said, if you do drop a gasket or the screw a small magnet will get it out, just don't open the throttle and everything will be fine.
Would it be possible to loosen the 4 bolts that hold the carb to the intake and slide a thin piece of a manila folder between the intake and carb base so as to block anything that might fall in the engine? You could even cut off the ears of an old carb gasket with the openings closed off with tape.
Thanks for all the responses. I'll probably take the carb off when I do this. I know how things usually work out for me!
I got to tell ya...I have changed them dozens of times without issue in the pits during testing, but if I had my druthers.... I would have been much happier taking the extra 2 minutes taking the carb off, so as not to have any issues! God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
Zip tie / wire blades closed if "Nervous" Needle nose Phillips.. Hold your mouth right ! Remove or not ( carb) We all have different ways to do,
This year I changed nozzles on two of my vehicles dozens of times trying to correct some tuning issues. Only once did I drop the washer. Pretty easy, you just use one hand to keep the blades closed and grab the washer that is on the blades with a tool in the other hand. Taking the carb off to change a discharge nozzle is the epitome of overthinking a basic task unless you don't have steady hands.
That is a 500 Cadillac piston and the marks were from a screw out of a Quadrajet. I don't remember what screw though.
This is exactly why I keep my car rotisserie ***embled and ready ... drop something down the carb? No problem ... drive car onto rotisserie, couple of straps, spin ... "plunk" ... all good again I feel so blessed to be able to p*** my knowledge onto others
Figured I'd check back in...Funny story. I made an ***umption about which model carb that I had...and bought size 28 nozzles to replace the 25s that "the list" said it would have. I took the carb off, busted out the needle nose Vise grips and unscrewed and pulled it off. It's a size 31. So, on a hot tip from the Holley website, I thought about enlarging the hole with a drill. The smallest bit I had was 1/16" or .0625"...or the equivalent of a size 62. TWICE what I had. Nope. Had to wait a few more days for size 35's to show up and swapped one in last night. It's annoying that they are sold in pairs when vacuum secondaries only need one. More spare parts, I guess.
good to see some progress made, even if it's one step forward and two back One of these days you'll find a good excuse to buy one of these sets. And a pin vise.
This only works with steel gaskets. I think I'd push the car to the rotisserie instead of driving it.
I always changed em in place. Most times the gasket stays on 1 or the other part. If not it comes out safe enuff with the screw as a guide. Last comment, isn't the gasket composite like paper or the like? If it fell in (the only thing that can almost) the engine would eat it without the slightest burp. Just sayin...
Anytime I work on nozzles or air bleed jets I simply cut up old rags into small pieces and stuff each venturi full so if I drop anything it can't fall anywhere but the rag. Easy to grab the part and once it's done just pull the rags.
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