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I’ll be posting Part 2 to this thread as well. Figure it will just be easier that way.
I like rebuilding carburetors. It’s been years since I did one, and it was nice to get my hands dirty doing one. The Ford is running great now, in large part it’s due to this job. It’s funny how you can make the engine almost run like new with a few dollars and some time spent rebuilding the carburetor. What are your thoughts?
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Carburetors are gone about 25 years now. I would guess that most people reading this have little or no experience with rebuilding them. A properly rebuilt carburetor makes more of a difference in drivability than a tune up. Rebuilding can be a daunting job because of all the small parts. The last carburetors used with mixture control solenoids were in my opinion the worst ever made. They were a stop gap measure to meet emissions before fuel injection could be fully used across all model lines. Older non electronic carburetors are simple.The trick is to study the diagram as Eric did in his video, make sure you do a really thorough job cleaning, and don’t leave the check balls out. If your carburetor is in need of rebuilding you have nothing to lose by trying it yourself. Kits are not expensive. Its hard to find a carburetor re builder today, and if you do the price is outrageous.
This is a great video, but I do not share Eric’s enthusiasm about carb repair (or anything else about carbs)… I am glad they are dead and almost gone… I fully understand they still have some applications (Racing, small engines, etc…). But as one who cut his teeth working on them (and in the last generation to know anything about them), I don’t miss them one bit
Here is an analogy… An outhouse serves the same purpose as a modern toilet, but you won’t hear many people pine for the good old days of wiping with the Sears catalog pages in the sweltering heat or freezing cold of an outhouse.
I seriously don’t want to take away from Eric’s professional display of repairing/rebuilding carbs.. I just don’t care if I ever saw one again…
For general transportation, carburetors are wasteful, outdated and inefficient pieces of antiquated engineering that just dump gas into the engine and should be relegated to a dusty museum and stored behind glass in a very far corner which is only occasionally stumbled upon… Absolutely worthless in the modern world which demands improved vehicle mileage and fuel conservation of limited non-renewable resources…
I cringe when I see one and have to work on It… Looking forward to the day that they join the buggy whip and the tube TV as true obsolete relics of the past…
While the 1979 Fairmont (2.3L) may not be the most guilty of being a gas sucker (20mpg city/31 mpg hwy) it is generally accepted that this was a slow, underpowered sled (88 HP)….. (nothing personal Eric)… a majority of carburated cars of the 70’s were not that good (mpg wise)
By way of comparison, a 2000 Camry with a 2.2L (and non-VVT) got 20mpg city and 28 mpg hwy with 133 HP….The hwy mpg went up to 32mpg with a manual…
A 2014 Camry gets 25mpg city and 35mpg highway with a 2.4 engine that has 178 HP… (I suppose VVT-I isn’t a fair comparison)… But we must keep moving forward…
Whew… just had to get that out… but seriously Eric, this is a great video to show the young-uns how good they have it now…
JMHO
Karl
[quote=”ToyotaKarl” post=106117]This is a great video, but I do not share Eric’s enthusiasm about carb repair (or anything else about carbs)… I am glad they are dead and almost gone.[/quote]
+1Still great to see a rebuild done out on one though as stated as their are vehicle’s most want/have that still have them. I just get a “seriously?” kind of perplexed reaction anytime a friend goes lauding about them, and it being the good old days.
Bit like someone wanting a 65′ TV that’s a 400lb vacuum tube monstrosity in their home that you constantly have to fiddle with as opposed to a flat screen LED. Madness… 😉
Sure, they may not be for everyone but they’re defiantly good for a weekend ‘tinker’ session if you asked me. My affections for them stem more from their mechanical nature. Electronics are absolutes. If there’s a problem, there’s a solution. With carburetors, there may be an adjustment. Finding the right adjustments is part of the challenge for me. Makes me feel more connected to the vehicle.
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=106182]Sure, they may not be for everyone but they’re defiantly good for a weekend ‘tinker’ session if you asked me. My affections for them stem more from their mechanical nature. Electronics are absolutes. If there’s a problem, there’s a solution. With carburetors, there may be an adjustment. Finding the right adjustments is part of the challenge for me. Makes me feel more connected to the vehicle.[/quote]
You my friend, really need a standalone ecu, they are not absolute, they are outright fun, and they do what I tell them, every time.
a guy I know has quite a few hours of mapping, however, 49 mpg on the highway with a 2.5 subaru STI with 530 wheel horsepower, you heard that right.
varied driving is 31mpg.
truly spirited on twisty mountain roads are more like 3-7 mpg as there are only so much energy you can get out of fuel.You could probably just convert this old engine, make videos of it, and show it’s not rocket science, cause it’s rather easy to be honest.
As long as boost isn’t involved it’s something every guy who understands basics of engine can learn 🙂however, there are mint classics that should not be converted, ever!, Datsun/Nissan have a few that are godsent.
However, get such an engineering piece costs you more than a arm and leg. 🙁
Turn up the volume 🙂
Inline 6 carbed sound!going to rebuild my Holley 4160 on my 67 Vette once I see part 2; wish you would do a video on adjusting them and doing a general tune up on this relic. It’s not had a tune up in over 9 years and it is not used very much. Just now taking the time in my life to learn about this and I agree… I’m fascinated by the mechanics of it all.
🙂 I have enjoyed this video as it shows just how far our technology has come. I also miss the carburetor and the joys of a old fashioned tune up. A tune up used to be a very involved operation that took many steps to complete. Today’s cars take 1/5 the time to tune up compared to a car from the 60’s and older. Tuning or rebuilding if necessary, the carburetor was always the last step in a tune up, and when completed it made a car run like new.
Eric have you made a video on carburetor basics ? Most people who are not familiar with the concept of a carburetor may not know of the importance of vacuum to the whole process and why air leaks and loss of vacuum affected older cars so much. The modern Automobile has come so far in just 50 years, and to see such a necessary item like a carburetor being thought of as a square wheel. The carburetor was a device that was the best technology of it’s day and performed the best it could. Fuel injection is better and safer and more reliable delivery system for fuel, but it is evolving into different forms and will be obsolete some day soon.
To some people a automobile is a living device and as the automobile becomes more modern, there is a loss of this attachment to the car. When you work on your car you are bonding with the vehicle and helping it to live. When working on a modern car, you are not as connected to the life of the car as you are when you work on a older vehicle. Items like a rebuilding a carburetor makes you feel like you are making your car live better. Try getting that same feeling with replacing your fuel injectors or a mass air flow sensor. You are fixing a problem like a carburetor would have, but there is no connection personality to a modern fuel system, like a carburetor has. I guess you must be exposed to this idea to know how it feels. A hallmark video, Eric.Couldn’t agree more… Thanks !!
I get into the process of things and like to know exactly how things work. I’m late to this game on cars, despite the fact that I’ve had my vette for about 20 years. Never did any work on it myself but am looking forward to doing so, but it’s difficult process to start, when you open the hood an don’t know what you’re looking at and/or how it works. (and since my car is original, it’s probably ridiculously simple). Makes me wish I had taken basic automotive shop back in my high school days (too long ago to even think about). I’d appreciate that Hallmark video !!
[quote=”road2perfection” post=106198][quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=106182]Sure, they may not be for everyone but they’re defiantly good for a weekend ‘tinker’ session if you asked me. My affections for them stem more from their mechanical nature. Electronics are absolutes. If there’s a problem, there’s a solution. With carburetors, there may be an adjustment. Finding the right adjustments is part of the challenge for me. Makes me feel more connected to the vehicle.[/quote]
You my friend, really need a standalone ecu, they are not absolute, they are outright fun, and they do what I tell them, every time.
a guy I know has quite a few hours of mapping, however, 49 mpg on the highway with a 2.5 subaru STI with 530 wheel horsepower, you heard that right.
varied driving is 31mpg.
truly spirited on twisty mountain roads are more like 3-7 mpg as there are only so much energy you can get out of fuel.You could probably just convert this old engine, make videos of it, and show it’s not rocket science, cause it’s rather easy to be honest.
As long as boost isn’t involved it’s something every guy who understands basics of engine can learn 🙂however, there are mint classics that should not be converted, ever!, Datsun/Nissan have a few that are godsent.
However, get such an engineering piece costs you more than a arm and leg. 🙁
Turn up the volume 🙂
Inline 6 carbed sound![/quote]Thanks for the insight. I have a plan for this car that will be revealed in a future video. It does not involve a stand alone ECU. Perhaps at some point I’ll do a build using one, but the Ford isn’t it. Going old school with this one. I feel once you understand the basics of the mechanical systems, it’s much easier to understand what the electronics are doing.
Thanks again for your input.
[quote=”ddeiulio” post=106310]Couldn’t agree more… Thanks !!
I get into the process of things and like to know exactly how things work. I’m late to this game on cars, despite the fact that I’ve had my vette for about 20 years. Never did any work on it myself but am looking forward to doing so, but it’s difficult process to start, when you open the hood an don’t know what you’re looking at and/or how it works. (and since my car is original, it’s probably ridiculously simple). Makes me wish I had taken basic automotive shop back in my high school days (too long ago to even think about). I’d appreciate that Hallmark video !![/quote]
Once you get over the fear, and invest heavily in your tool collection, it will start to come easier. It might even be fun.
Eric, That was a very good carb rebuild video IMHO. I might have removed the power valve piston and spring before cleaning but that’s just me. I also would have measured the length of the accelerator pump rod but shorting it will give a longer squirt of fuel. I’m surprised the car didn’t have a bad hesitation without the check ball and weight.
I have a love/hate relationship with carburetors but once I learned how to trick them up it made solving some of their shortcomings over the years a little easier. I would like to babble on for a bit with a short storey into how life as a driveability technician used to be for the newbies out there.
Years ago when we had breaker points, condensers as well as carburetors. Keeping a car running well beyond 10000 mi. without opening the hood and without high emission levels was almost impossible. As the rubbing block on the points wore the timing slowly retarded and performance degraded.
Ignition systems were only capable of around 25000volts on the secondary and would not fire worn out plugs. A typical tune up consisted of replacing the spark plugs, points, distributor cap, fuel filter and ignition wires. You set the dwell angle, timing, idle speed and idle mixture. On some cars you could easily upsell a valve cover gasket, belts and maybe a valve adjustment.
This meant that you took a customers car that was running poorly and made it run like new again. You were a hero and that happy customer told his Family and friends about your service. I had a few people that told be that I was amazing. At the end of the day you really felt like you accomplished something. Too bad we worked for peanuts.
Then there were the days you had a carburetor with a problem. A cold stalling problem was a common complaint and sometimes one of the hardest problems to correct. In so many words “automatic chokes suck” Then came the hesitation problem while accelerating, the “Bog” under full throttle, fuel leaks and rough idle. When we had those problems the installation of a rebuilt carburetor was the cure, but not always a cure. By doing this you often created worse problems.
I went on a tour through a carb rebuilding factory and I couldn’t believe what went on there. One station would be working on one series of carb, that appeared to be the same but with all different part numbers. The next station was working on another model of carb with dozens of parts all mixed up.
I said to myself those carburetors are all the same but why were there several different tags or numbers stamped on them. I asked a person working away and was told that there was NO difference between them. I figured that was B.S., there had to be.
To shorten this rambling up a bit, I went to a carb rebuilding course and I never looked back. I rebuilt all of the carbs that came to me and once you adjusted, drilled and tweaked some of the engineering mess ups I learned to make them work pretty well. They had better fuel economy too.
Do I miss carburetors?…Not really. It’s more like I miss taking a piece of garbage and turning it into a jewel. I always say that fuel injection was one of the best things they ever did to cars.
There still are a few carburetors in use and if you take the approach that Eric did you should have something to be proud of when you’re done.
Not to be critical but I don’t understand the setting aside of fasteners and certain parts that could otherwise go into the cleaner. I just tore them down with abandon with all metal parts going into the basket. Kits come with an exploded drawing showing the location of all parts.
Great video. While I agree with those who would never trade their electronic fuel systems for a carburetor for their everyday vehicle, I know many, many hobbyists for whom this video will be valuable. I drove a 66 Mustang with an inline 6 and 3-spd manual in high school and would love someday to own another Mustang and enjoy the experience of fixing it up the Way Eric has with the Fairmont.
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