So I went through the carb. I took it all apart, cleaned everything out, and did all the gaskets and what-not needed. The carb doesn't leak anymore which is good, but now the truck won't stay running. It will fire up like all hell, and sound real strong with good response, but then after a handful of seconds, it will fairly quickly bog down and die. Does this mean that my mixture just isn't right?

Here's everything that is new on it recently: 3 piece Timing set, cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and now carb kit.

It ran very well the last few days. It drove over 300 miles in two days on the highway, then all of a sudden crapped out yesterday, and I noticed the carb leaking, so I did the carb kit and now nothing.... Any ideas?

 

Carbs can be harder to rebuild then they seem! I'd put my money that your rebuild has an error. It could be the float/bowl, or the jets/metering rods to name a few areas. It could be the only reason it is running for a few seconds, is because the acceleration pump is giving enough gas, but that's the only functioning sourceof fuel. You may have done the rebuild perfect, and you only need your mixture and air readjusted. It's hard to say exactly what's wrong with out the carb in front of me... I'd say just try again, start with trying to readjust the mixture and air. If your experience with a carbs is nominal, try and have someone with some experience help you. One last option would be to buy a rebuild from an auto parts store and drop it in. With that route, you get service support on the phone for adjustments ect. It sure brings back memories thinking about carb rebuilds! Good luck.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that. The directions with the rebuild kit were crappy. The only thing useful was the picture. I didn't think I touched anything else though. All I did was replace the gaskets and clean everything out. I didn't take the injectors out or anything. So I just figured it was straight forward. As for buying a carb, I really jsut don't want to. I bought the truck for $200, and got it running for less than $70. Now I've still only got $120 total invested, but I don't want to spend too much money. Thanks for the advice though.

 

did you reconnect all the vacuum lines and the choke control wire?

 

did it run right before you took it apart, or has it been acting up for awhile ? also, has it been sitting and possibly varnished up. gunked up varnish requires a long soak.

you probably need to gently take it back apart, save all your new gaskets, and take pictures or make notes of where everything goes ESPECIALLY THE CHECK *****. they must be in the right place. get a 1 gal can of carb cleaner avail from autoparts store. before disassembly, count the number of turns out for the idle air mix needles and write it down. should be about 1 to 1 1/2. disassemble all needles, jets, pump, etc, etc. and soak only the METAL parts submerged in the can of carb cleaner for about 24 hours and then you MUST blow out all the passage ways with air. if you don't have an air compressor, maybe try a couple of cans of spray carb cleaner to blow out the passages. there are seperate air circuits for the idle vs the choke, which is seperate from the run, which is seperate from the accelerator pump. spray carb cleaner into every little hole and make sure it squirts out somewhere else. any clogs are fatal. reassemble with your new gaskets and pump and check ***** and needle and seat.

leaking gas is usually a result of the float set too high, or a leaking needle/seat that doesn't shut off the incoming gas. note that when throttle is open is draws gas directly down through the main jets. when you mash the gas hard, the accelerator pump squirts gas from the pump compartment. when its idling, it has to draw gas through the tiny tiny idle circuits that bypass the plate.

if all else fails, you can generally buy rebuilt carbs at autoparts stores. my old chevy quadrajet was such a pita to rebuild i just bought one for 150 from autozone. bolted it on, it ran, and needed nothing.

ps. the first carb i ever tried to rebuild was a little one barrel ford. i took it about 1/2 way apart and turned it upside down and 2 or 3 little check ***** fell out and went bouncing across the floor. i never did get that carb to work right because i didn't slow down and find the check ***** lurking in the bottom of the various compartments.