Driving a carb'd car

So I have sold my mustang, which left with a good pile of cash. Most of it will be put into the bank, but I am looking to drop 1000 into the car (mainly on mechanical parts). The car is currently driveable, and is just a few bearings and other ends from being a daily driver.

Now, my question is, how do you live/ drive a carb'd car properly I know there are some things, like don't floor the car is its at a low rpm in a high gear(say 4th or 5th), since it floods the carb or something. I have only driver cars with EFI, so this is a new venture for me.

My engine is all stock, and everything works as it should. What else should I keep in mind?

If you can find non-ethanol gas, your carb will thank you.

I'll keep a look out, but i think California has ethanol in all of its gas. I was thinking about adding lucas fuel system cleaner like every month or so.

BlackStar wrote:

So I have sold my mustang, which left with a good pile of cash. Most of it will be put into the bank, but I am looking to drop 1000 into the car (mainly on mechanical parts). The car is currently driveable, and is just a few bearings and other ends from being a daily driver.

Now, my question is, how do you live/ drive a carb'd car properly I know there are some things, like don't floor the car is its at a low rpm in a high gear(say 4th or 5th), since it floods the carb or something. I have only driver cars with EFI, so this is a new venture for me.

My engine is all stock, and everything works as it should. What else should I keep in mind?

news to me the only thing I do different is pump the gas pedal 2-3x's when I start the car in the morning. also carbs may need to be tuned according to seasonal temps in your area. I would avoid running fuel cleaners that often as they along with running too rich can cause the thin oil film in the cylinders to wash down which as you can guess would lead to premature engine failure.

"High Rich, You Still Seeing That Slut Low, Lean" Pig Rich=sunk float

I've driven mostly carbed Toyotas my whole life and no other car will behave as close to an FI car than a Toyota with a properly tuned Aisin carb. When these were built 30 years ago ( at least mine was ) ethanol wasn't subsidized and gas was pure. Ethanol isn't all bad, but you have to be careful with your timing and such since ethanol burns hotter and can create a lean condition easier.

As far as the stock carb goes...I bought a reman carb from CarbX. Best $250 I've spent on this car. They actually go in and replace throttle shaft bushings and tighten up the play in the throttle shafts, which were causing vacuum leaks on my stock 30 year old piece. Also, I recommend a spring flip on the secondary diaphragm. This makes the secondary open up nicely. I can floor mine from any RPM in any gear, that stuff doesn't matter. You'd have to be WAY rich to worry about washing oil off of the cylinder walls, so with a stock carb you don't have to worry about that. Obviously don't floor it when the engine is still cold, but once it's warmed up let her eat.

Mine runs great and I'd put it up against a Weber 32/36 any day. Plus, when I got mine dialed in a few years ago, that was it. I haven't had to mess with it since and it runs like a boss at any temp, elevation, humidity, passes Cali's smog checks every year, etc...These carbs are awesome if you know what you're doing.

Just my $.02 worth.

jjstabs wrote:

You'd have to be WAY rich to worry about washing oil off of the cylinder walls, so with a stock carb you don't have to worry about that. Obviously don't floor it when the engine is still cold, but once it's warmed up let her eat.

Just my $.02 worth.

if it's flooding when it's running it is way too rich, once the engine is running, flooding should never be an issue! flooding is usually caused from pumping the gas while trying to start the engine. Most fuel system cleaners are not meant to be used that frequently, I have seen an engine and fuel system fail because the guy at autozone told her to put it in every time she filled her tank and that was on a fuel injected vehicle.

ditto to og86. You just pump before you start. With a properly running car of either aspiration, you should never know the difference unless you look under the hood.

I'm not trying to steal this tread but I had a cad question. Our carbs have plastic floats in them I was told that plastic floats weren't the greatest so can I replace it with a metal one? And does it have to be spesificly for the stock carb or will any float do?

Mine is plastic and has worked for 30 years. Who told you they don't hold up?

jjstabs wrote:

Mine is plastic and has worked for 30 years. Who told you they don't hold up?

Ditto, every carb I've worked on has been plastic float and never had a degredation issue. Works just as well.

jjstabs wrote:

Mine is plastic and has worked for 30 years. Who told you they don't hold up?

it was a mechanic basicly he said eventualy it absorbs the gas and dosent float like it should...this is my first carbed car and
figured i wouldent hurt to ask.

I've seen floats with holes in them, which obviously would capture fuel and fail to stay floating, but even on my 50 year old bikes I've not had a problem with float degredation.