Edelbrock 1406 Issues, Experts please help!

The tank and filler neck were boiled so I feel that might contaminate them again. The car now has 1 inline 3/8 filter between the pump and carb and 1 1.8t Passat fuel filter between the pump and tank


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So over the weekend, torn down the carb, cleaned it, and installed the new needle and seat. Also reset the float levels. Ran a new 3/8 soft from the pump to the tank and from the pump to the carb. Between the pump and carb is a 3/8 inline filter with paper element. Between the tank and pump is a 1.8T Passat fuel filter (it's what I had in the garage and they're cheap).

But, wouldn't ya know if it's not one things it's another and when I went to tighten the fitting to the tank, it got a little stiff. Gave it some elbow grease and broke the welds on the tank side. So mad, wrenches went flying then it was a mad scramble to capture all the gas in the tank so I could use it in other vehicles. Drained the tank and distributed the gas between my car and the neighbors Scout II.

Tomorrow I will drop the tank. The Master Fabricator at work is confident he can fix it, wants to weld a 1/4" NPT outlet on it, instead of the compression fitting, which I am more inclined to do and would be easy to adapt another hardline if I felt the need to go back later. Not sure how I should prep the tank for welding, obviously wash it out and slosh it with some WD-40 to prevent flash rust.

 

MONGO! Thats what Good time Buddy (hes 6' 1 300lbs) (me 6'4" 230) and me yell at each other when we break the delicate parts.

 

I wonder if the ethanol acts as a solvent and was breaking loose all the trash in the lines




Yes-Ethanol will disolve varnish and crud in your tank and fuel lines. It is a super cleaner for your fuel system-it's just that all the crap ends up at your carb.
With new lines,a clean fuel tank and a new fuel filter-you should be good-just change your filter out in a couple weeks to make sure.

 

When I took my gas tank in my '54 in to be boiled out I plugged the line off up front and sprayed a bunch of Berryman Chem-Tool from the rear of the line by the tank outlet till it was full,I then capped it off and let it sit for two days.When I blew out the line with the compressor it almost filled a small coffee can with varnish and crud so to be safe I scrapped the old lines and replaced them.This car had sat about 4 years before I got it,any car that has sat a while should probably have the tank boiled and the lines replaced here is a discussion on ethanol:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=40164 Actually a lot of folks are doing the Marvel Mystery Oil trick to prevent ethanol damage,lots of discussion on Google.

 

Most of their "re-manufactured" carburetors are either returns which were never opened or just a way to have a low-ball-loss-leader-special-price without lowering the "retail list" price.

I've used several and never seen any evidence they had been bolted on or otherwise used at all.

I doubt Edelbrock would bother to sell a used carb. It only costs a couple of bucks to make the 1,000,001th carb.

I know GM doesn't try to fix cars which come off the assembly line with certain problems. They just scrap them and build another. Most of the problems are electrical and with the huge wiring harness and computers throughout the car, it costs more to find and fix than to make one more unit.

jack vines<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

So, after testing everything and resetting the floats, I think I've narrowed it down to the fuel pump.

Here's the theory:
The fuel pump puts out a constant pressure. When the needles are closed, restricting fuel to the bowls, the excess pressure deadheads into the pump and is recirculated back through until the needles open again.

If this recirculating path in the pump is blocked by trashed from the previous bad lines, the pump puts out constant full pressure to the carb and overrunning the needles and bowls, causing the fuel to blow past all the gaskets in the carb.

I came to this conclusion because I pinched the fuel line to run the bowls dry, and the car ran awesome. This got me to experimenting and when I gave the car full fuel again, it ran great until the bowls had enough time to fill. Semi-pinching the lines to lower fuel pressure gave me and idling motor.

So, I either look for a rebuild kit for the pump, which I haven't been able to find. Replace it, which is $170 plus core, or convert to electric (cheapest and easiest route)

 

I had your shit fixed in post 4 lol

Glad you are on your way.
Carter has a nice pump and there is a thread recently

 

Wouldn't it be better to put in a fuel pressure regulator?

 

Curious since you say its a reman, is the float brass or black foam cast. On a bunch of reman carbs they are using foam for the float with a thin coating on them. Once the coating cracks the floats fill with gas.

 

brass floats

 

Bingo! The low-high numbers of fuel line pressure posted by other users show that a reg. makes fine tuning that pressure mandatory.

 

Edelbrock carbs like 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 psi. Took me a long time to figure that out. Even though it's in the damn instructions.

 

Im already doing research into which regulator i want, however, that doesnt really solve my dirty fuel pump problem...when it rains....it pours

 

Do you have a quality fuel filter inline BEFORE the fuel pump?

 

Check with these guys, I got a quote for $80 to rebuild my fuel pump on my 59 Cad. It would also be alcohol resistant.
http://arthurgouldrebuilders.com/

Curly

 

yes, a Wix filter.

 

So, got it restarted, and found actual measurements for resetting the floats. Reset both top and bottom limits using a caliper, they are dead nuts. Still leaking from the top. Car seems to run fine until the bowls fill. Fuel pump, according to the factory manual, puts out a max pressure of 5.25 lbs. How is this carb still leaking!?


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Check the fuel pump with a gauge. Real world and "according to the factory manual" sometimes don't match. I had a stock SBC pump that put out 12.5 psi when I checked it.

 

Trying to find a low pressure fuel gauge to check operating pressure.


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A vacuum guage also double as psi guage. It does depend on the mfg....

I used a drill bit and a socket, and set mine about a 1/2 inch from the opposite end of hinge on the float, not at the very tip. Edlebrock states as close to the middle as possible for the setting...

I am apposed to a filter before the pump. You should have a screen in the tank for that.

 

Bingo... I don't care who rebuilt it or remanned it, if it got shipped to me it's getting opened up for a visual inspection and checking the floats.

 

larry t and zman are right on. my 2 cents

 

Clean fuel starts in the fuel tank and maybe a little before that, but pump a sample form your line feeding your carburetor. good luck Jim

 

Okay, so I went with my original (and much cheaper plan). I put in an inline low pressure fuel regulator (Mr Gasket Special). I set it to 4.5lbs according to the stamping on the regulator, which may or may not be accurate, but I had no more leaking. So obviously the mechanical pump was outrunning the carb.

Then I proceeded to break her in and drive (according to Google Maps) 30.8 miles around trip to take my wife out to lunch and BS with my boss at his place. No problems other than it died once in a parking lot and I lost all electrical.

Break out the multi-tool, and reset the terminal and it fired right up. Cleaned the terminals and posts and no more issues. It was pretty hot for CO here today, around 97 degrees and I noticed the RPMs dropped a bit and it started getting a tad hot (not enough to worry) while sitting at a stoplight. The regulator and pre carb filter have a bit of slack in the line, so I'm wondering if they were getting hot and trying to vapor lock, because my throttle response was just the same as before the issue. I'm going to reroute that with some nipples to get it off the valve cover and intake.

Other than that, pretty successful maiden voyage.

 

I did notice a fair bit of shake at 65mph, probably all the bushing are toast. Me and a friend greased up the front end (lost count at 22 zerk points) last weekend, so that probably helped tremendously. In all seriousness, 65mph is plenty fast to putt around town, I don't want to take it on the freeway until I get the transmission shift points dialed in first.

Also, as a side note, when greasing the front end, we noticed the swap bar was so cute and tiny. Does anyone know where I can get a beefier one?

 

Make sure that the fuel line is not to close to the block or exhaust. That will cause the vapor lock.

 

The adjustable dial style (Mr. Gasket, Puralator, etc.) regulators can come apart. When they do it pumps gas everywhere. Can lead to MAJOR underhood fire and, yes, I've seen it happen first hand.

 

I'm using a Mr. Gasket regulator and it's the third one I've ever used. I seem to have good luck with them. There is a lot of bad reviews on the inter web, but what I've noticed is that it's easier to bitch, than it is to praise.

Trust your instinct. If it bothers you, replace it when you can. I love mine, but I've also opened one up and seen that it's not a complicated part and it has few parts to fail.

 

I too have fought the Edelbrock carb problems and cured most of them with a Mr Gasket pressure regulator. All was fine until last Thursday on a short trip I smelled gas. Pulled over and raised the hood. FIRE FIRE !! The regulator was blowing fuel out like crazy. It took all of my 3 lb fire extinguisher to put it out! My 35 year old love affair almost came to an abrupt end. Luckily the paint was only burned on the back edge of the hood- but no way to match 35 year old lacquer paint. I replaced the Edelbrock with a Holley I rebuilt 2 years ago to replace the Eddy, but didn't and installed the Mr Gasket regulator instead. I loved the old Carters and never had an issue with them,but I guess I will stick to Holleys from now on.