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Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:10 am

What fun. Over the weekend I put in a new set of oil cooler seals to fix up a leak problem. Instead of pulling the motor, I did it the "hard" way While I was at it, I installed some missing tin (8,11, & 19) In order to get the metal fuel line through the tin, I had to put some bends in it.

When all was done, the SB doesn't run right. Idle is horrible and it usually dies. Running it seems to be surge. There is hesitation when the accelerator is pushed. Adjusting the carb (only a couple weeks old) has no effect on either. Is it possible the bends I put inthe fuel line are causing this? Choking off or reducing the fuel supply?

TIA!

Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:19 pm

Did you bend the metal line by hand, or did you use a tube bender? If you bent it by hand, it could very have crimped up and be causing flow problems. Otherwise, just look at anything else you might have disturbed when doing the last work - something knocked loose? Connection not tight? etc...

Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:21 pm

Yeah, I'm a loser and bent it by hand. :(

Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:26 pm

If I had to guess, I wouldn't think a kinked hard fuel line would give you symptoms of 'surging' and 'hesitation' when the accelerator is pushed. The fuel lines' job is to fill the carbs float bowl. Once full, it should idle good and respond when the pedal is pushed. Plus, the kink would be evident.

I'd start looking elsewhere. Did you remove the plug wires to get at the shroud better? When you removed carb, did you put the electromagnetic idle solenoid wire back on the coil in the right place? Did you bump your distributor?

Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:42 pm

I don't think so. The only thing electrically that was disconnected were the choke, idle cut off (checked it), and generator. I even cleaned up the generator connections before putting them back on. The only part I missed when putting it back together was the generator strap. I turned the motor over a couple times without it on, but that reattached it right after.

Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:52 pm

Since you removed and jostled the carb around, could the float be stuck?

Just tossing out ideas.

Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:59 pm

Possible. I will have to try that out too.

Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:03 pm

Cobey, I did this same procedure before and ended up pinching a spark plug wire when I reinstalled the fan shroud. The faulty wire wasn't firing giving very similar results that you talk about. I'd double check all wiring if I were you.

Mon Oct 18, 2004 8:30 pm

Did you take the mani's off, If so make sure you got them tightend all the way.. My car did the same thing. To me it sounds like a vacume leak.

Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:58 pm

<grumble grumble> Okay, went back through the whole thing. New plugs, new wires, checked valves, verified wiring, checked the floats are floating, check the inlet valve at the top of the carb, checked the timing, check idle cut off solenoid, and....notta. Thought maybe the choke, so I let the motor warm up with my foot on the gas. Nope. Took the air clener off and made sure the buttrfly vavle was open. Pulled back on the accelerator cable and got a hiss and puff of smoke when the gas went down the manifold.

Damn.

Will only stay running if I have my foot on the gas. Tried adjusting the idle up a bit, it improves.slightly but just stops improving if I keep turning the screw.

So, what next? Fuel pump? When I had gotten it run (from cold motor) The idle was way down at 800-900RPMs even with choke and idle cam up several steps. Is it possible my new seals are cutting off oil flow and the pressure is killing the motor? Help!

Thanks!

Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:12 am

Did you check for crud in you' carb?
When you had it apart something may have got into the carb or mannifold, worth a check. Carb-kits are just about $10 and mani' seals are just a couple of bucks more.
Hope this helps.

Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:09 am

Hmmm. Thinking. When taking everything apart, the rubber fuel line that attached between the metal line and the pump tore. I replaced it. There is filter between the two (metal line & pump). I'll check those out. When the carb was removed, I strapped rubber cover over the intake to make sure nothing fell in.

Is it possible the accelerator cable is involved? I never paid mch attention to it before.

Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:56 pm

No expert at this, so don't bash me for stupidity. lol I'm mainly body work.

My bug was hesitating, and there was an extra gassy smell at acceleration. Turned out that when I ran the gas line, I had forgotten to put a clamp on the hose where it attached to the tank. Put the clamp on, and it all stopped.

Just showing, that it's usually the little things that get you. ;) Look for something obvious, if you've gone through all the detailed stuff.

Wed Oct 27, 2004 9:04 am

Ah, back from Houston, now I can get back to work on the bug. :)

Hmmm... Clamp. Pretty sure they are all in, except the one where there PO has double clamped the line to the filter.

This pronblem is making me go bald...

Wed Oct 27, 2004 9:23 am

Cobey wrote: Ah, back from Houston, now I can get back to work on the bug. :)

Hmmm... Clamp. Pretty sure they are all in, except the one where there PO has double clamped the line to the filter.

This pronblem is making me go bald...

i think we already established this, but i'd imagine it's not a problem with the fuel line itself, because the car would still be able to idle for a while without your foot on the gas until the bowl ran empty... i had a problem with it dying while i was driving it... i ended up replacing the gas tank, fuel pump, rebuilding the carb, etc. and found it was just a hole in the fuel line that was sucking air. as long as the car was running at idle, it'd be able to keep the bowl full, but when i drove it around a bit and the bowl emptied out, the bugger would die off.

here's a thought but is probably a stupid one... you've been around here a lot longer than i have so i'm sure you're not retarded, but is it possible that your filter is clogged? that sounds like one of those dealies when it won't push enough gas through unless you've got the pump running really hard.

like kaostrife said, the stupid shit will get you every time.

Wed Oct 27, 2004 9:29 am

LOL, yes, I am that retarded. I just ask a lot of questions. ;)

I'll give the filter (3 months old) and pump a check as well. I reset the accelerator cable, following the manual, but haven't had a chance to try and fire it up yet.

Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:29 am

Did you knock the power wire off the fuel cut off solenoid? The car will run under heavy throttle but won't idle at all.

Fri Oct 29, 2004 2:12 pm

sounds like a vacume leak to me too. Get a vacume gauge at Sears or someplace and read the instructions, vacume should be high at idle and drop when the carb is opened to accelerate. Low vacume would indicate a leak- thus the poor idle and and sounding like a lean condition. Also any black smoke out the tail pipes? smell lots like gas? that would be a rich condidtion and usually the car will die and not start for a while until the gas evaps. If no gas,smoke thing, check for vacume, lean condition. If it is a dual port, you may have cracked the rings around the manifold ends. this would cause vacume leak and lean burn. You can also get a propane torch and turn it on very slight and while the engine is running, put the nozzle around the manifold seals, ends, carb base etc...if the idle changes you have a leak. no change would happen if there is no vacume leak, change means leak, sucking in air not thru the carb, unable to adjust fuel/air mixture that way.

Fri Oct 29, 2004 2:25 pm

Thatnks for all the helpful hints folks. I'm going to hunt for air leaks. Perhaps I bumped something hard enough to shake it loose.

Sat Nov 06, 2004 4:20 pm

Okay, nothing so far. I even swapped out the dizzy to see if that might be the issue. Once it has been running a minutes or two and the choke opens up, it starts running rough. If I give it steady throttle, it will run for 15-20 seconds and then die out. If I keep on feathering the throttle I can keep it running.

Thoughts?