Nathan,
Have you taken a look at the plugs? Are they black? Sounds to me like
you're running rich for some reason or maybe even have some flooding. Did
you replace the float needle valve with "grose jets"? They tend to be more
susceptible to getting little things (specs of dirt and/or varnish) stuck in
all those holes and sticking open or slightly open. That can could be
causing a rich mixture or even some flooding (which may be why it starts
hard). Run your fingers around the SIDES of float bowls (right under the
gaskets) to see if there's gas there, if there is then that's another
indication that you've got some flooding going on. If no gas on the sides
but gas on the very bottom (where the plug is) of the float chambers then
you just have an o-ring on the plug leaking.
If you find or suspect a flooding problem, you could pull the air filters
off and drop one of the float chambers (try the front one first cause it
gets the most crud) by taking out the six screws and dumping the contents in
a clean bowl to see if you're getting some contamination (tiny black specs
that you can't see in the float bowl but show up nicely if you dump the
contents in a yellow plastic bowl). This is pretty easily done with the
carbs still on the car (I've had to do this literally dozens of times to get
my carb/contamination problem straightened out) just be careful with the
float and get it and the gasket in place when you replace the bottom of the
float chamber.
If you got specs you probably found the problem and can try adding some fuel
filters in the line from the fuel pump to the carbs. I just bought a few of
those clear Fram filters G-12 and some fuel line and made up a "fuel cleaner
system" that temporarily was hooked up laid on the intake system or hung
under the carbs (or where ever you can fit it so the it doesn't get into the
fan).
My guess is that there's a lot of so called ZS carb problems that are in
reality fuel contamination problems from cars that sit/sat for a long time.
The gas in the tanks and lines deposit varnish that later becomes little
black flakes that get in the carbs. I battled this problem for a long,
long, time and it caused flooding, poor idling, hunting idle, sputtering on
acceleration, idle drop after revving the engine, etc. The only good thing
from all of that is I learned a lot about my carbs. And then thanks to
Roger Bolick who convinced me to look for those little black specs I finally
found the problem and thanks to Lee Janssen who turned me on to BG 44K (a
fuel treatment that's the worlds best for dissolving varnish IMHO...$20 at
NAPA) I finally solved the black spec problem. However, I have a bad habit
of checking the bottoms of those float chambers constantly from all the
times I didn't fix the problem.
Good Luck
Bud
----- Original Message -----
From: <naldous@ccgmail.com>
To: <Triumphs@autox.team.net>; <british-cars@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2000 4:43 AM
Subject: Zenith Carb Problem
>
> I just had my zenith carbs rebuilt on my 70 GT6+ about a month ago to
> resolve a sputtering problem when accelerating. This weekend on a long
> trip it seemed to reappear and finally to the point that I have a very
hard
> time starting the car at all. I think it is those bypass valves on the
> carbs not letting enough or too little air in. Before I take it back to
my
> mechanic to fix for free, are there any steps I should take to see if it
is
> set up right in the first place? I noticed that the little screw on the
> side of each by pass valve is turned all the way clockwise. On both
carbs.
> When it is running and I blip the throttle, the engine wheezes and wants
to
> shutoff? Anybody have an idea what this could be?
> Thanks for your help.
> I want my old willys jeep back, it was less headache!
> Nathan
>
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