Carb Problem

Just got done doing a head gasket on my Edsel. It has the straight six 223. Started it and it is running terrible. The float is way too high and just doesnt seem to be shutting off the gas flow. When I did the head gasket, I unbolted the intake/exhaust from the head and let it roll over a little and sit against the inner fender. Would this have caused any problems? How does the float shut off the flow? Am I missing a piece somewhere?

I took the bowl off and there aren't any pieces laying in there. You can see the line on the float where the gas level should be.





Thanks ahead of time for any input!

 

Check the float needle p***age by removing the float and clean it out. All it takes sometimes is a small piece of crud to keep it open enough for it to flood out.

 

Rolling the carb over should not have caused the problem. The float "Floats" up and pushes the needle into the seat to shut off the fuel flow. If the fuel does not shut off it is usually caused by one of three things.

1. Float has a hole in it and does not "Float" anymore.--replace float.
2. Needle does not seal in the seat--could be trash in the seat--try cleaning it out or replace needle and seat.
3. Float is hitting the top of bowl before it cuts the gas off--try adjusting the float level--hold carb upside down and bend tab that pushes on needle until float is about level.

A good carb kit will come with a needle and seat and a set of instructions and usually a guage to properly adjust the float.

 

sometimes just jarring a carb will knock a little dirt loose, a rule of thumb is to never turn a carb upside down if your not taking it apart, when a float sticks on me the first thing i try is tapping lightly near the needle and seat with a small hammer, this usely gets whatever is stuck in the needle to pop out, lucky you can see if it works.

 

Well, I took an air compressor and blew out the seat and fuel line going into it, and that didnt do a thing. It just seems like the needle is too short now for some reason.

I will try bending the tab a little, but what I don't understand is that it just started doing this, it was just fine before I did the head gasket.

 

you pulled the cover off and removed the float? i'm not sure how your's is setup but some neddles are all metal with the seat having a rubber seal in them, some have a metal seat with a rubber tipped needle, it is possiable to blow out the rubber seal in the seat and then they can not shut off the fuel flow, my other thought is your float has a hole near the top and tipping the carb allowed fuel to enter the float causing it to sink, it's not so easy to tell if your float has fuel in it unless it's really full.

 

Those 1904's can be a bother, there isn't a hole in the float (it'd sink to the bottom); there isn't trash (float wouldn't shut fuel off and fuel would come out the vent); as somebody else said, the rubber may be missing from needle-doubtful; what it is the float tab neds a bend. No matter how scientific this gets you gotta fix things with pliers.
If you want to sell that or any other gl*** bowl 1904s give me a pm, i need a few more. Thanks, oj

 

Ive never seen the gl*** bowl before- That is freakin cool!

 

If you blew it out and you're confident there is no trash in it. Sounds like you need a new needle and seat. Just to make sure on the float, take it out and shake it and listen for any fuel inside. The float won't usually come with a kit so rule it out first. Could still be the float adjustment but that would be fishy if no one has been messin with it. Not likely that it bent itself.

BTW that gl*** bowl is bad ***. They should have put those on everything.

 

So I adjusted the tab with some pliers. The float now submerges in gas without shutting off the fuel, so that wasn't the problem. The rubber on the needle is fine. I am going to take the seat out of it and check it next.

I did get it to shut the fuel off when I adjusted that spring, I put it on top of the tab instead of under the tab, but it was so tight it wouldn't let any gas in....Definantly wasn't made like that, seems like it would fall off eventually.

Again, thanks for the help guys! Hopefully this winter I will be able to start a project thread on this thing instead of a "how do i fix it" thread!

 

i have had brand new floats fill up with gas and be damed if you could get it to come out, i would of had to drill a hole i'm sure, it was a fat round model-a float and i couldnt hear any gas sloshing around in it, put the old float back in and it ran fine, i may be a little off but i think your float should only be in the fuel 1/2 way, guess you dont have a pic of the fuel bowl when your car was running right? no washers or spacers are missing from under the seat? you have to fix this thing and not keep us all hanging..lol

 

I am very much so determined to fix this thing lol. And I will let you all know whats wrong when I know.

Yeah, the float was only submerged half way. I am going to have someone come look at it soon, as it has me beat at the moment...

I took the seat out and checked it out and also the needle. There is definantly nothing up there stopping it from sealing. I can get it started, but it is just choking itself out when I let it sit at idle and misfiring a little when reving. Maybe I will sink the float in some water overnight and see if I can hear it sloshing in it then...

The best picture I have of it before it started running like ****.

 

how goes the battle?

 

Well, I got a new seat/needle/float and that didnt' work.

Then the bowl cracked so I had to locate a new one of those. Thank you Ebay.

Then I made a new gasket for the bowl, and also replaced the aluminum/steel gasket between the seat and side of carb with a rubber o ring.

Still no luck. I can get it running if I am holding the gas about 3/4 of the way down, but as soon as I let out, the bowl fills and it chokes out. There is also a misfire when I have it running, possibly because its getting too much gas?


It has a plastic fuel cell in it right now, junk from there is not likely.

As far as I know, the fuel pump is a stock replacement. It looks like it was replaced before I bought the vehicle. Fuel pressure seems unlikely becasue it ran fine before.

 

I think I am going to try replacing the fuel line that runs between the pump and the carb. The line that goes from the pump back is new. When I did the head gasket, that line was obviously tweaked around, maybe I am getting junk from the inside of it clogging up my seat.

 

I'd get a new fresh Holley and call it done. At least it would let you rebuild the original one at your leisure. 6-banger carbs are obscenely easy to rebuild.

Bob

 

Did you have the pump off during the head gasket work?

I am not familiar with this engine but often there should be a thick insulating gasket between the pump and the engine block, if that has been left out the pump will be closer to the cam and the lever will move further than it should on each stroke . This cause HIGH fuel pressure which will overcome the float and needle /seat.

 

Never touched the fuel pump.

Where would I go about finding a rebuild kit for it?

 

So I've got the car running! But it has a major timing issue. Plugs are brand new and I just gapped them correctly. Tried adjusting the distributor. It runs best spun all the way in one direction, but will not spin any further. Could my timing chain be bad? Something else maybe?