Hi Guys I need any help you can offer, my 64 Wildcat 401 runs rich, black exhaust etc. Ive replaced accellerator pump, I have tried to adjust the lean and rich screws, I have set floats to my 64 Buick manual specs etc. But it still runs rich. Any good ideas? I would buy a new carb but I want the one that came with it new Thanks Gary
contact osborne who rebuilds carbs. then if he will build your old one send it. before you take it off buy a carter from a carb shop that is already been redone. that way you have a extra. during the winter you could take the extra apart and learn how to rebuild your self if you are in to that. that is what i am thinking of doing, of course i am no brain surgeon so i could be wrong. good luck
The sources of running rich; Too much fuel pressure. float level wrong. internal leaks. jetting wrong. crappy gas that wont flash properly. no intake manifold heat, this is important on a nailhead because it has a ''divorced'' intake. make sure that the heat riser passages under the carb are open and working.
I'd start by making sure the metering rods pistons aren't sticking or jammed wide open in their bores. Very common thing if the car was sitting for a long time. Also, make sure vacuum is getting to them.
I wanted to say Thanks for the help. I bent one of the metering rods. And drove to the National Meet in Bellevue and she runs good now. Thanks Again Gary
Doc, Your comment about intake manifold heat caught my eye...I have a 63 Riv and I have nothing but carb problems, could it be that since my carb base gasket does not have a slot in it corresponding to the heat passage groove in the manifold that that could be causing me trouble? (bad stumble off idle...generally marginal operation. Incidently I have tried everything from rebuilding the carb to adjusting the idle mixture to adjusting the accelerator pump. All to no avial! Any thoughts? Thanks Scott
Scott, With the nail head, as i said the exhaust heat into the manifold heat is important. That said, the heat also must be within limits. not too much and not too little. Indeed the intake is ''divorced'' and from the engine block and runs cooler than the later engines. Notice that one of the aftermarket makes a alum. manifold for ford/chev/chrysler engines that is ''divorced'' and they claim that is a big plus. Now, with the carb off the car lets look at the intake/carb combo. Has the carb base been run without a heat shield and damaged? If so and the damage is severe you will need to replace the carb base. You have to have a metal heat shield under the carb to keep from burning the base of the carb up. You do not want the carb to be hot, just warm enough to prevent icing. next is the intake manifold heat passages. To really check them out the intake needs to be off the engine. There is a u shaped groove around the front of the carb mounting surface with a hole at each end of it that is about 3/8 s in. This groove and the holes must be open. They are bad to fill up with carbon. The end holes go down into the heat passages in the cyl. heads. There is also a heat passage that goes UNDER the intake manifold, It too can get plugged with carbon. This is very important because it heats the bottom of the manifold and prevents fuel from puddeling up on the bottom of the manifold. Liquid fuel will not burn. it must be vaporized to burn. The bottom heat passage is more important than the top passage. There is a large freeze plug is pressed into the bottom of the manifold and should be replaced every so often. this is almost always the source of a mysterious exhaust leak that people cant find when the plug rots out. make sure the bottom passages are open and clear. The intake manifold gaskets are drilled with the proper size hole to meter the right amount of heat into the manifold to vaporize the fuel and prevent carb icing. leave them open. for the strip only , plug just one, not on a street driven car, on a street car all 4 should be open and working. The whole scene should go like this: Cold , oxygen rich air is pulled into the air cleaner from the ''ram air'' system. It goes into the carb and is mixed with gas in a spray of air and fuel. When past the throttle plates, it goes into a vacume and begins to ''flash'' into a vapor that can be burned, Once there it cant get away it is captured in the system, it must continue thru the engine. The hot surface at the bottom of the manifold makes the liquid gas that is left boil into a vapor that can be burned. All this takes place in a thousanth of a second. All that said, the pittifull poor excuse for gasoline that we get today is not much more than cat pee, so it needs all the help it can get to flash into a vapor. So you see the heat is real important. If I am setting up your car, a good set up like this is the way I would go; Cold air pkg- carb with gasket,- heat shield,-gasket with heat passage in it, all bolted to a cleaned out intake manifold with the heat risers properly opened and working - bolted to a engine with a 180 deg. thermostat.
doc, i am cutting a extra manifold, leaving the middle rim alone. so that it is a dual plane like. the heat passages are plugged with carbon and the bottom plug has a hole in it. where can you fine that size plug.
I didn't notice the choke pull off mentioned yet. I had a problem with that in one of the cars recently.
CARS, Inc. will sell you that plug, but I purchased one from them and it is a standard Dorman plug. If you can find a parts store that just keeps baggies of Dorman plugs on the wall you can probably take your old one to them and match it up.
