carb rebuild has commenced. tore it down and am soaking it in solvent over night. will spray everything out real good and reassemble tomorrow (garage temp/humidity, and mosquito level pending)
if i can remember to slow my roll ill try to snap a few quick pic's.
straight out of the solvent tank
top half rebuilt
fully rebuilt and installed. plus new fuel filter. waiting for gas vapors to dissipate before i start it.
the only thing i found that was fishy was the idle jet seemed partially clogged. so that would explain why it wouldn't idle.
ok, just fired it. it idles a hair over 800rpm at default carb settings after it warms up. it feels a little "soggy" off idle, could be a timing issue. idk. it's 85 degrees with 50+% humidity and i have no shade so ill mess with it more later
so i reset the timing. attempt to adjust the accelerator pump and stripped the threads on the arm and jacked up the bolt. so i grind the protruding threads off the arm, rob the bolt off my old carb, find a nut that fits the bolt (shockingly i actually had one). attempt to put the bolt through the accelerator pump arms, and drop the F'ing thing. i heard it hit engine tin. can't find the F'ing thing. so i slammed the decklid shut and am calling it a day.
also, judging by the fullness of the fuel filter iv got a bit to much fuel pressure. so iv gotta stack some gaskets under there tomorrow.
to add injury to insult, there's also a rather large asian tiger mosquito after me. and the bites from those things are next level suck! painful welts that itch like all hell.
Seems you're getting closer.
Fingers crossed you'll recover that bolt.
If at hand may be try a telescopic magnet pen to scan the engine bay.
As for the mosquitos...
Have you ever tried one of these electronic zappers?
I ran one many years ago but with poor results.
iv been told that mosquito's aren't attracted to the zappers. there's another type that runs on propane that is proven to work, but i don't have one and am to cheep to buy one.
if that actually happened id be drinking Tobasco by the drum! i would single handedly be responsible for the extinction of mosquitos.
in other news, i found that damn bolt. it was in the second worse place it could have fallen. behind the crank pully. i had to bend the tin and fish it out with a magnet on a flexible grabber claw.
also added gaskets under the fuel pump to lower the pressure.
right now im cussing at the distributor nut. between the alternator fuel pump and magnaspark distributer there is no room to get back to the nut. i got the washer on, but the nut keeps wanting to go on crooked and im not in the mood to cross thread. ...yet :evil: ...
alright, after several weeks of being distracted by a mini bike engine i finally "fixed" the accelerator pump arm situation. somehow they got bent and were hanging the throttle open a bit so it wouldn't go all the way to full idle. i managed to no shit, hammer the nut off between the throttle shaft and generator. it was to big and wouldn't fit between the two. so i found a path of least resistance and vented some frustration. removed one arm and straightened it out in the vice, then use plyers to straighten out the other one cause i didn't want to remove the accelerator pump linkage. then put it all back together with a robbed throttle shaft nut (cause the original German nut was smaller and thinner) and now it's all back to working properly.
so now i have to take a stab at adjusting a carb that's probably not jetted properly. i think i may have to break down and buy some kind of air fuel ratio meter or something. don't really want to add a bung in the exhaust for a gauge but it may come down to that.
and on a side note. i think the distracting mini bike engine is "finished" i think all it needs is a carb tune as well :roll:
so i bought is a thing. it isn't seat upholstery, but it is interior related.
say hello to my new little friend. a Vintage Speed Black Mamba Sport Shifter. (Ron Lummus Racing is a vender if you're interested. they have other styles as well). haven't installed it yet (was run out of the backyard by mosquito's) so ill install it maybe Saturday morning. but you can tell it's a well made piece. it's buttery smooth.
and sense im hell bent on keeping my shift knob (always wanted an 8 ball shift knob and it was the first mod i did to the car back in high school). the shifter has a M8X1.25 stud for the knob, so i made an adapter out of delrin.
Nice!! 8-)
That shifter looks amazing. I know I've seen pics of it before but never knew where it came from.
installed! aside from maybe needing some minor adjustment.
i haven't driven with it yet. but, super easy instillation. it's smooth. reverse is easier to find with this than the stock shifter. it's ergonomic as hell, it's in a very natural/comfortable spot. the throw is noticeably shorter than a stock shifter, but not to short. i looks bad ass and matches my window cranks. 2 thumbs up on this one!
lets play a game. it's called WTF size are these jets. only hint i can give is that the one on the left if the screen is visibly larger.
edit:
alright enough fooling around. i just ordered main jet and idle jet kits so i can have various sized and diel it in.
jetting without a way of reading the AFR sucks!
apparently the jet i took out that i thought was a 127.5 may be a 137.5 :? (just eyeballing it) cause i put a 127.5 main jet in it and it's now very hesitant off idle (want's to die) and coughs out the carb. but it will hold about an 800rpm idle. so its cooling off and im going to throw a 135 in it (the original jet fouled the plugs so im assuming i need to go smaller) see where that gets me.
still have a 55 idle jet in it.
i guess the good news is that after sitting for about 6 weeks it started.
edit:
135 main is better than the 127.5. but it's still not coming off idle, smaller flat spot and a coughing out the carb when it does. im not messing with it until i get new spark plugs. i should be able to read new plugs. maybe that'll help.
also thinking i should set my accelerator pump back to 0. it's advanced a notch.
and i upped the idle to a 60 cause why he hell not.
I'm definitely not savvy enough to tune a carburetor without the help of AFR. I can handle timing without assistance like a light but I can't tune a carb for shit without a gauge to help.
after some thought i did some digging. a few "diagnostic tests" later and i have reason to believe the intake manifolds are leaking where they bolt to the head. spray carb cleaner in there and the RPM seems to change slightly with a noticeable level off.
also picked up new sparkplugs last week.
but frankly, yesterday i put a pretty a good half round cut on the side of my right index finger right on the end knuckle (oozed blood for like 9 hours) which is going to make doing any work absolute suck. so idk what im doing this weekend. sucks to, the weather is actually halfway decent. 70 degrees with 71% humidity. dew point if 57. so it's not bad if you're attempting to keep things at an even keel.
I'm not joking, I have always kept a bottle of superglue for cuts big and small. Seals the cut right away and it's durable as hell. I've used it ever since the corpsman sealed me up with some in the military. It works pretty great.
iv done that lot of times over the last 25 years. i heard super glue was accidently created by a guy trying to invent "liquid skin". but do to this cut being rather deep and on a joint, it would just crank and i would bleed all over everything. not to mention it would still be rather tender. iv bumped and banged it on stuff all weekend and cuss every stinking time.
alright new spark plugs are in, i can't get the damn #4 plug wire to snap on. the ghetto way iv got the coil mounted is preventing me form getting any leverage. ill deal with it tomorrow, im pissed off, i had to fight off mosquito's while i changed the plugs. damn those blood sucking bastards are vicious.
im seriously wondering if the idle speed screw is still out of whack. it wont adjust via the directions in the manual. im seriously thinking i should just set the volume control and bypass screws to base setting and then just crank the idle screw in until the damn car idles at 850rpm. then try adjusting it.
also wondering if the accelerator pump is spitting bubbles. :? which reminds me, i need to reset it back to 0.
weather, mosquito's, and motivation pending ill mess with it some more tomorrow.
At times I'm a bit envious of you guys there in CA.
But then gave it a second thought when reading how bad you consistently cuss out these mosquitos. :)
And I salute you for your seemingly endless patience & endurance with this "balky" carb.
I would have trashed that thing ages ago. :D
Good luck with that bypass screw Sir.
you think i rant about mosquitos you should hear me about our politicians :P
the carb should be good. i bought it used from a reputable source who took it off a perfectly running bus cause the owner wanted duel carbs. and i had it on my old engine and it seemed to work ok. the issues i had back then was that the long block was junk. the carb actually worked fine.
im also still wondering if the problem isn't the carb, that it's the ignition system not having enough power cause of the who knows how old generator not cranking out enough juice.
im very close to snapping and just ripping the generator off and replacing it with an alternator and ripping the single carb off and replacing it with duel webers and an electric fuel pump. iv spent so much time and energy seemingly for nothing that its starting to feel like im trying to make chicken soup out of chicken shit. i was hoping to have it running reliably 4 months ago and be redoing my seats right now. :x
alright, finally got the damn #4 spark plug wire snapped on. so the plug job is finished.
figured what the hell. popped the valve coves off and checked the valve lash. 4 that were way to tight. 2 that were a little to tight. and 2 that were spot on. so i gapped the valves.
also reset the accelerator pump to 0.
it does idle smoother. but it still wants to idle at like 500rpm :roll:
idk, ill double check the timing tomorrow. maybe try smacking the carb with a rubber mallet, try old the "old guy trick" (put your hand over the carb with the engine running so suck out any debris). look for vacuum leaks. maybe take it off and throw it at the wall. idk.
CIP1 has a no name 34 pict 3 for $90 that i am trying to talk myself out of buying. i mean hell it can't be any worse right?
All German but may be helpful. Loads of specs...
https://www.ruddies-berlin.de/solexPICT.htm
hi, im your host Frustrated Ass Randy. and on todays show of WTF is Going On we have a 34 pict 3 that now idles at 850rpm with the base tune on the carb after taking out the idle jet, blasting it out with carb cleaner and attempting to blast out the hole it goes in with carb cleaner. seems to respond to tuning although not well. but still coughs out the carb when giving it gas from an idle. if you roll in slow it'll rev up fine. if you hold it at any kind of RPM (about 2000+) for any length of time it doesn't want to come down. it drops to around 1200rpm and hangs there for a second, then drops down to around 1000rpm and hangs there for a second, then drops down to 850rpm.
it also appears the accelerator pump may have a dead spot just off idle .
and if you spray highly flammable carb cleaner down the carb when the engine is idling, yeah, it dies. :?
so as of right now i seem to have fixed one issue and gained another. progress i guess? ...maybe...