<VV> Carb mystery

[kevin nash]

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2020 23:38:07 GMT
From: "Brian" <bmoneill at juno.com>
To: VirtualVairs at corvair.org,    fastvair at yahoogroups.com
Subject: <VV> Carburetor mystery--Update
Message-ID: <20200320.193807.23466.3 at webmail03.vgs.untd.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

First of all I want to thank everyone who gave comments and advice the best I have ever seen to a question posted on the net.  I took every one of the suggestions very seriously and followed up on them.  Here is what I have found so far in no particular order.

Idle circuit-- every passage on the idle circuit was scrupulously clean I found absolutely no restrictions.

Venturi cluster-- all the Venturi clusters are also scrupulously cleaned and again no restrictions.

Idle siphon tube-- the idle cluster siphon tubes were also cleaned and again no restrictions.

Adding gas== it was suggested to pour gas in while the engine was running and see if it had any effect.  Was very difficult to do because the engine dies so quickly but I did try by adding gas and spraying starter fluid.  No effect the engine still dies very quickly regardless of throttle position.

Old gas-- this problem was replicated while the engine was on my run stand which has its own fuel tank to which I recently added fresh fuel.  So I sincerely doubt that old gas is an issue here.

Carburetor base== one of the comments said that I should check the base of each carburetor to be sure they were flat I did and they are perfectly flat.

Carburetor insulator and gaskets== I am using paper gaskets on both the top and bottom of the insulators.  The insulators and paper gaskets have been opened up to match the size of the carburetor.

Throttle plate-- another comment suggested being sure the throttle plates are completely sealing the carburetor.  I checked and they are and there is no leaks from the throttle shaft on the base of the carburetor.  As a precaution many years ago I added the rubber O-ring kit on all the throttle shafts.

Vacuum gauge-- it was impossible to get any kind of reading on a vacuum gauge because the engine dies so quickly.

Bottom line to all this I am still absolutely baffled.  I'm very thankful for everyone who is weighed in on this problem.  I'm hoping against hope that it will be some simple thing.  The fact that these carburetors worked for years and then suddenly didn't work with absolutely nothing being done to them is completely baffling.  Again many thanks to all.




Okay, you’ve tested most of the reasonable possibility’s and everything you’ve done suggests that theres nothing wrong with the carbs. There can be something “wrong” with the gas though! Not bad gas, not old gas but gas that is now different enough that maybe it’s not evaporating well enough, or something like that. It depends on where you live but the gas may have changed and or the weather might be different.
Big carbs are a lot closer to the edge of simply not working, and perhaps adding in different weather and gas formulations may have pushed them “over the edge”.
There’s a relatively simple way to test this. Reduce the diameter’s of the venturis and the throat of the carbs, temporarily, just to see if they work like stock ones do. This will speed up the air and cause a larger pressure drop, causing the venturi’s and idle circuits to have a stronger signal.
 Maybe a plate with a extra small hole in it sitting on top of each carb, functioning as a choke? The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps the float level needs to be raised? Does anything change if the float level is raised 1/8”?
Kevin Nash
63 Turbo, daily driver, port fuel injection,
Baddest cooling fan on the planet!