Carburetor Rebuilder

tobytenblue said:
'My advice would be change your mechanic. Any mechanic that cant rebuild a carburettor has no rights calling himself a mechanic'.(Snowbird)


I can only suppose that you don't consider the above 'advice' inappropriate or churlish?
Click to expand...

Actually no.....I agreee with the comment.....if any mechanic cant strip down and rebuild a carb then he shouldn't be in the job...I was doing this when I was 13 years old....long before I became qualified
 
Are carburettors in new vehicles really that hard?

I had an MZ simpson when I was 16 and a mini clubman when I was 17.
I used to have to strip down the simpsons carb every 2 months and clean or adjust it. It got to the stage where I could do it in 20 minutes or so by the side of the road. That bike was a s&^t tip of a bike but it did go fast when it worked.

I also stripped down the mini's carb out of curiosity and got into a little bit of trouble putting it back together the first time. A quick visit to the local mechanic showed me where my error was and cost me the sum of money equivalent to a pint of beer.

Are carbs really that much more complicated and temperamental today?
 
Can't understand the op getting so uptight about it, you post on here and take the response , good or bad, honestly can't see snowbirds comment other than the truth, and he has had some excellent advice as well. Lighten up, the suns shineing:BigGrin:
 
Before proceeding any further with his Solex carb, may I suggest the OP takes out his rule book and reads it, paying particular attention to rule 1.
 
Carbs are a dark art even to lots of older mechanics.....

You need someone who is a maker/fixer rather than a brake pad changer.

A few years ago I was competing on a 4x4 event and there was a guy with a old petrol landy there which all of a sudden would only tick over.

There must have been 5 "mechanics" there looking at it blaming the electronic ignition lack of fuel etc. I dribbled a cap of petrol into the carb and it revved up!

Against the "mechanics" views I popped the top of the carb off and removed the jet - pulled the bit of rubber from the jet and put it back together, ran sweet as a nut the rest of the day:Cool:

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I have never met Snowbird but I feel that he is of the same generation as my self. I started my apprenticeship in the ealy 1950s, a time not long after the war when new parts were just not available, All parts that were worn or damaged had to be overhauled and repaired. His comment on the forum are always sound. The solex carb has very few moving part, simplisity its self. If the diaphram had perforated it would give you a bad flat spot when you tryed to exelarate but I dout if it would stop the engine from starting. If its carb trouble check that there is petrol in the float chamber, the neadle valve is free and float not perforated. Remove the jets and blow out including the galareys under the jets. Check that the gaskets between the carb and the manifold are intackt. If I remember correctly on the back of the float chamber is a small manifold, about one and a half inch long and an inch wide and held by 4 or 6 screws. If the float chamber is gunged up inside there is a chance that so is this Remove carfully to peserve the gasket under it, clean out and replace it. If all is well in the carb, I would look elswhere.
As an after thought remove the air cleaner, squirt a little petrol down the carb venture, replace the air cleaner. REPLACE THE AIRCLEANER Remove the petrol well away from the vehicle. Retry to start the mill. If you don't feel confident doing this don't do it .
Best wishes, Pudseykeith
 
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Many years ago, I had a similar problem to this on a old ford escort, Yes that many years ago
It turned out to be a faulty inlet manifold gasket
The only other thing I can think of is it is sucking air though a cracked inlet manifold

Don,t know if you have looked at that but best of luck
 
Thanks to Snowbird for reminding me about Rule 1, point taken. However I will respectfully point out that he is blatantly in breach of Rule 2, as are several other posters.

If you follow the thread closely you will note that I have explained that my mechanic is also a friend and I cannot allow aspersions to be cast by anyone about people they don't know and haven't met. By inference, you are suggesting that I'm too thick to know how many beans make five!

Yes, I've received many helpful comments and have acted upon all of them. All the suggestions so far have been investigated and the fault endures. Thanks to all who have responded positively. I note a general spirit of helpfulness throughout the thread but
surely, a line must be drawn above denigration.

Slagging off fitters and garage technicians is not what the thread is about. I say again, if you cannot make positive comments then don't comment at all, no point, if you have nothing useful to contribute.

The problem remains unsolved at present but I have enough faith in human nature to appreciate that the solution is out there. Nothing remains a mystery for ever, someone will provide the answer, eventually.
 
Well I've offered to help, but I fear you may have missed it amongst the rest of this thread.

:)

John.
 
Special thanks to RX12 for the offer of help. A prime example of what this club is/should be all about. I appreciate your offer and will be in touch shortly. Thank you. :thumb:
 
May I ask why you think it is the carb and a replacement will work?

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Because the electrics (coil, distributor cap, plugs, rotor arm etc) have been renewed. Fuel system including the tank, pump and filters have been checked and cleaned The air intake and vents etc have been checked. The wiring to the carb checked. So in concurrence with my mechanic and supported by the helpful comments within this thread, I have concluded that the carburetor is the favoured culprit even though it has been dismantled and cleaned at least twice. I now intend to have the carb thoroughly checked and hopefully sorted by a more knowledgeable person (more knowledgeable than I, that is). In answer to an earlier comment, I know my way around carburetors from the 1960's too, however 30 years on they're a bit more sophisticated (enough to cause me a problem anyway).
 
this is a very long shot......

many years ago Vauxhall had a problem with porous inlet manifolds on the Viva HC models.
the manifold would develop a hole between inlet and exhaust as they were mounted on the engine actually touching each other....presumably to pre heat the inlet manifold to aid fuel atomisation.

a porous or cracked inlet manifold will let some air in and will need a richer mixture to keep running....IE choke.
 
some years ago I used to take part in Motor rallys, i used to a REAL mechanic who could tune the carbs 'by ear'. He was like a blackbird looking for a worm,he would feel the pressure from the tailpipe and listen to the engine note and use a screwdriver on the block and listen at the other end,he never failed. When I bought the car he set up the twin Weber carbs and when he finished gave me a bag of bits that he took off,telling me they were surplus.
He is now in the garage in the sky.his passing was mourned by many people who he had assisted.
 
Carb or early fuel injection system..... Mechanic to fitter and possibly even a technician!!!

You sure a kid hasn't stuck a spud up exhaust pipe?
 
Try these may help

One of these might help or the people whi referb them may be able to tell you from the symptoms what is wrong.


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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLsIjo9Q8B8"]Talbot Express Carb Idle Solenoid ByPass (Solex PBISA) - YouTube[/ame]


The people that overhaul the Solex carbs are:

Carburettor Exchange

28F High Street

Leighton Buzzard

Beds

LU7 7EA

Tel 01525 371369

email sales@carbex.demon.co.uk

web http://www.carbex.demon.co.uk" target="top">www.carbex.demon.co.uk



They can't do an exchange as they don't have spare units, so you have to send them a carb to overhaul. The last ones were £75+VAT. I don't know what delivery was as these were collected by hand. All carbs are tested before being despatched on a test engine and come with a 12 month guarantee. As you will see, they do more than just the Solex carbs but can do almost any carb you can name. The reports I've had from people who have had their carbs done are excellent. The carbs perform like brand new units allowing low, smooth, clean idles, lots of power and much improved fuel consumption. If I remember right, these are the people who Dunsfold use to refurbish carbs for their vehicles.



e: Carb Overhaul Details - Better late than never!
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2004, 06:26:00 PM »
There was a casting fault in a pretty large batch of carbs that was not spotted until fairly recently. This caused the top cover to be slightly distorted when fitted, encouraging it to warp when it got hot. However warpage can happen to any Zenith, not just ones from those batches. That said, these days incidences of warping are on the decline as the faulty batch and other badly assembled carbs are getting less and less.

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Among other vehicles I've owned 126 Peugeots over the years :Eeek: - on 3 of the higher mileage 404 and 504s with solex carbs I had troubles when the butterfly spindle ovalised .... causing various running problems. Rebushing cured all faults...
 
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And last but not least

http://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?87563-Solex-PAITA-carb

This was a long post if you read it the outcome is below



Re: Solex PAITA carb


The ignition switch!

I'm betting the ignition wire at switch terminal is nearly non-existent. I guess 50+ years may have taken their toll. Only way to be sure will be to remove switch and steering lock from the dash.

This morning I noticed the car would actually start when I wiggled the ignition key in the lock. Kept dying, but at least would fire. Then to verify, I ran a jumper from the battery directly to the coil.

Pushed the starter button, engine fired immediately and continued idling. Still need to check timing, points, vacuum advance, etc. (couldn't do that when it wouldn't run ...)

After 3 weeks, a discovery!

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?

Problem 3) Won’t rev, runs like a bag of nails, oil getting on the carb.

Solution: Remove head, skim head using wet & dry and a sheet of glass, then put the new head gasket on correctly (decomp hole on the gasket actually aligned with the decomp hole, duh) decomp valve stripped and lapped in.

Final outcome, it’s the sweetest sounding Solex engine I have ever heard, no rattles, no ticking, no rumbles, it’s sweet as a nut. Happy days.
 
G4OGE said:
Problem 3) Won’t rev, runs like a bag of nails, oil getting on the carb.

Solution: Remove head, skim head using wet & dry and a sheet of glass, then put the new head gasket on correctly (decomp hole on the gasket actually aligned with the decomp hole, duh) decomp valve stripped and lapped in.

Final outcome, it’s the sweetest sounding Solex engine I have ever heard, no rattles, no ticking, no rumbles, it’s sweet as a nut. Happy days.
Click to expand...
that refers to a Solex bicycle engine....the type which sits on the front wheel of a pushbike.

nothing to do with modern solex carburetors, :Doh::Laughing:
 
Attention

pappajohn said:
that refers to a Solex bicycle engine....the type which sits on the front wheel of a pushbike.

nothing to do with modern solex carburetors, :Doh::Laughing:
Click to expand...

OK sorry I should have paid more attention to the type.:Doh:
 
There should be identification numbers on the body of the carb.. (y)

Sometimes they are a bugger to spot but they WILL be on there somewhere :-)

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