Hey all. I've got a Rochester 2bbl. Carb numbers 17056108. I _believe_ it's a 2GC, but I'm not sure about that. Came stock on my '76 Chevy Malbu. Has a 5.0. Engine has a cam swap and headers, and dual exhaust (no cats, two mufflers). Some emissions stuff has been removed... EGR, TVS and EFE systems... Just to simplify things mainly, although removing these things has caused the choke to not seem to work very well. Hard starting has become a regular issue. The carb was rebuilt back in 2003 or so, my first rebuild. It was a daily driver for a few years. Since it's been sitting the last 2 years I decided to rebuild it again and try to make some cosmetic improvements. Here's what I want to do: Swap to an electric choke Powdercoat the carb body Switch air cleaner housings Along with the rebuild I'm gonna replace a lot of the rods and hardware that's been damaged or corroded over the years. One major obstacle right now is the choke housing. Like a lot of these carbs the screw housings are stripped. I'm not certain what I'm going to do about this. I've thrown around some extreme ideas like trying to build my own housing (have to see what kind of inside tolerances we're dealing with), or some simpler ones like trying some alumiloy or jb weld and re-drilling and tapping. Tapping for larger screws seems to be out since GM left us with a very minimal amount of material on the inside of the housing. I can't believe they made the mounting horns so small if they were going to tap them that size, but they probably figured you'd not have to mess with it much I guess. Regarding the choke issues... I'm looking to see what electric choke I can buy to fit this carb and what I need to do to install it. I know there are threads that give detailed instructions on the wiring, so I'm not terribly worried about that. I'm kinda curious what happens with the existing choke connections. Do they just get plugged? Kinda've an ugly fix. I'm considering pulling all the vaccuum ports on the carb I don't use and filling them. The downside of course is never being able to convert to stock and possibly lowering what little resale value this carb might have. I do have a parts carb.. a 17057190. I can take the choke housing off of it, I suppose, but the parts carb is probably in better shape than my original, so stripping major parts off it removes the possibility of fixing that one up and selling it. I want my carb to run reliably, but long term I want to go to fuel injection eventually. Since I have my own powdercoating equipment, the cost to me is minimal to undertake this process so all it's costing me is time and I'll be learning along the way. My expectations for this thread is to kinda go step-by-step through my build. I ordered a rebuild kit from autozone. Once I have it, I'm gonna see what it comes with and order any additional parts from vintage speed since they pretty much carry everything (although I did not see a choke housing even though you can buy the rest of the carb. Maybe I'll look again) So first things first I guess we'll start with the choke housing... what do you guys recommend as far as repairing the mounting screws that hold the choke thermostat in? thanks, Mathius
I did the tear down. Here's some pics of what I'm dealing with. I'll try to post them in separate messages. I have no idea what the rules are for posting pics here even after looking for a list somewhere (of rules). Here's a shot of the choke housing issues. The screw on the back that holds the linkage bracket was a PITA to get out and it looks like someone tried before unsuccessfully because the linkage arm inside the choke looks damaged as well as the screw holes for the coil being damaged. While I'm on the subject is anti-seize a bad idea when all these linkages go back together? I've heard of guys putting locktite on the thermostat cover to keep it where it's supposed to be set, but I wouldn't want to do that in case I had to make adjustments later. Those screws are hard enough to get out. Mathius
Here's another set of pics that shows the shape of this thing. Rods are totally bent out of shape, tons of rust and corrosion. I'm gonna order all new rods from vintage speed and probably most of the outer hardware will be replaced as well. Mathius
Last but not least I have a question about this chamber in the pic where the pump plunger assembly was located. I believe that's a ball bearing stuck down in there in the pic and I can't get it to move at all. I haven't sprayed anything with carb cleaner yet or soaked anything. I wanted to confirm that I'm indeed looking at the steel ball bearing that goes below the plunger or if that's some kind of recess where the ball is supposed to rest. I don't have enough feel down there with my fingertips to tell just what's going on, but it feels to me like that's a ball bearing. I tried to lightly pry with a screwdriver with no results. Mathius
The only thing i can contribute at this moment is that if it came off a 76 malibu, in and of itself, AND it has the choke coil mounted on the carb, which it does, then it is clearly a 2GC. 2GV's have the choke coil mounted remotely in the intake manifold. And 2G's either don't have a choke or have a manual choke(which i'm thinking in your case may be the simplest solution, but that's really none of my business). As far as the choke coil screws are these the ones that attach the "can" to the carb's body or the black cover that actually has the choke coil on the back of it?
Don't waste your time....buy a reman unit. By the time you soda blast and powder coat the housings, replace the choke housing and rods, and use a simple process to remove the stuck check ball, you will be way ahead to get another unit.
I have my own powdercoating equipment, so while I am inexperienced with it, the cost to me is almost nothing for the powdercoating since I already have pretty much everything I need except for a bit of masking supplies and I can use aluminum foil for a lot of that. So far I'm out $15 for a rebuild kit. I figured Rods, some hardware, and a brass float (which I don't really need, the plastic one is still in good shape), should run me well under $30. That's still a lot less than a reman that's just going to be zinc coated and probably have lesser hardware. Mathius
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