New member needing a little carb help! :)

[Jim F.]

Howdy all! Jim Femino here. I just purchased a beautiful 63 Blue Coupe that I found in a barn. Trailered it home, put a battery in it, started right up and drove it off. Gotta' love it! Anyway....
Morning one of the new ownership, I woke up to the whole house smelling of gas. (Being a cigar smoker, that disturbed me...). I went down to the garage, spray cleaned the Rochester AFB and literally had to retool the choke, which apparently hadn't worked in something like thirty years. Fixed that, choke works fine. Gas smell still persists. Can't find a leak anywhere. I do notice that the fast idle cam, once the choke opens, flips up and stays there after the engine has cooled back down. It doesn't reset itself.
My question is, what's up with that?! Is there a spring missing that brings it back down to normal fast idle arm placement or am I just not seeing something? Anybody got any pictures of the carb on a manifold that might show me what it's supposed to look like? Or does anyone know why I can't get the car to stop reeking of gas?
Help!

[John F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Check fuel pump and gas tank area underneath.

[Jim F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Thanks. I did that. No leaks anywhere in line from tank to carburetor. That's what has me thinking it has something to do with the carb.

[Jim T.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Could be a pin hole in the tank. With the big gas cap it allows some viewing internally of the tank to look for rust. The tanks filler neck gasket can leak if there is enough gas in the tank. A metal fuel line could have a hole but not enough gas leak to drip on the floor. If the needle and seat is not held closed by the carb float, gas could be entering the intake? After removing the air cleaner lid do you smell strong odor of gas? Todays gasoline seems to me to evaporate quicker than gas 25 years ago, so the odor could be present but no evidence. Let us know what you find.
I had a relative new Holley carb that was letting gas run through the carb after shut down because the plastic float became half full of gasoline and kept the needle from seating. What a difference a new metal float made. With the knowledge of failure of that plastic float I changed the secondary's plastic float to a metal one also. It took months for the gasoline to evaporate from the leaking plastic float.

[John F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

When all else fails, rebuild the card to the specs and directions if you can follow them. Check float levels.

[Jim F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the help. After messing with it some more today, I found evidence of a previous "rebuild". Upon closer inspection, and "A-B"ing it to a picture in the original shop manuel, I noticed that whoever had done the job had about three different, left side linkages hooked up backwards or not at all. Sooo..., I'll be getting the rebuild kit tomorrow because if they couldn't even figure the linkages out, I'm pretty sure the inside's all screwed up too. Thanks for the advice on the metal floats. Makes sense.... I'll let you know how I made out.

Jim

[Timothy B.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Jim,

If you have the 63 shop manual there is a detailed procedure on the AFB carburetor adjustments including the choke. In the back of the manual in the specifications section there are jet and metering rod sizes.

Where in PA did you find this car??

[Sydney G.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Hi Jim,

Glad to see you found your way to the NCRS and the tech board!
Now send in a request for the 'Ship Data Report' for your car and hopefully it will lead you to your original selling dealer.

Several years ago I had the same problem with a heavy gas smell coming from my '63 and it turned out to be a small leak from the tank. I replaced the tank and the problem went away.

I never saw any signs of gas under the car but by following my nose I determined where the leak was. Just don't try with a cigar in your mouth!

Syd

[Jim F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Thanks. I found it in Parkersford, in a barn. Been sitting 2 1/2 years. Still in great shape. Just needin' a little TLC, which I'm more than happy to provide.

[Jim F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Thanks Syd! I did a rebuild on the carb today and while the carb was in a different room from the car there was no gas smell. So I'm still assuming it's the carb. The hoot of it is that whoever did the last rebuild had it all messed up, parts missing.... All kinds of stuff wrong. So I corrected everything and put the linkages together the way they're supposed to be and wouldn't you know it; the damn thing won't start now. Guess it was used to being jury rigged for so long that it doesn't know what to do with the correct setup. Hmmmm. Oh well, I'll figure it out tomorrow. Been at it all day. Driving me nuts.....
As for the "Shipping Data Report", already ordered it last week. Lookin' forward to seeing it.
Thanks again!

[Jim F.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Hey Syd, thought you'd appreciate this. So I dropped the spare tire holder to check out the tank and it is indeed where the gas smell is coming from. Get this..., somebody duct taped around the tank a few times! Presumably to cover up a pin hole leak. Been there awhile. Old duct tape. Sometimes you just gotta' wonder...

[Joe R.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

Jim,

Wow, Bubba went a little too far with this one! One of his worst efforts! I guess even Bubba can have a bad day.

How about some pictures of his handiwork? Maybe you should submit it to the "there I fixed it" web site. Here's a link:

http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/

Joe

[Duke W.]

Re: New member needing a little carb help!

I very strongly suggest that you replace the two 3/8" rubber fuel hoses - the one from the frame pipe to fuel pump inlet and the one at the tank, which will require removing the spare tire tub - an easy job.

The way the Corvette fuel tank is configured - higher than the fuel pump inlet, if either of these hoses breaks or cracks and leaks, the entire contents of the fuel tank will run out.

Given that the car has sat a long time, chances are the tank has a lot of gum and debris in it, and if a visual inspection from the filler shows debris at the bottom, it would be a good idea to remove the tank and have it "boiled out". A radiator shop can probably do this.

Duke