The 1967 A code that I have been working on for the past year finally got her rebuilt carburetor. At the beginning of the project she had received a new tank and lines that are stainless steel, new pump and hoses. Once the carburetor was reinstalled all the fuel, vacuum and electrical connections were checked over before cranking the engine to get some oil up to the lifters and fuel into the carb. This consisted of 2 second pulses followed by waiting 5 seconds then turning the engine again about 3 times. After that some carburetor/choke cleaner - substituting as starting fluid - was sprayed down the primary barrels of the carburetor I then put the key back into the ignition and after 6 months of not running she started right up.
On going to inspect the engine fuel was pouring out of the vents of the 4300. After shutting her down and cleaning up the gas that collected on the pits and valleys of the carb and intake manifold I began to ruminate as to what the potential cause might be for the flooding. It could be that the float is not adjusted properly. Fuel pressure may be too high. The needle valve is not seating properly, I had blocked off the secondary fuel inlet with a unit from Mikes Carburetor parts. An ‘O’ ring is not sealing. Or it can be a number of causes.
I think a way to start may be to close off the fuel hose at the tank then allow her to run dry. During that time I can gently tap the carburetor with a small hammer and see if that helps dislodge any contaminants that might be affecting the inlet valve. There too is a possibility that the air horn need be removed, the float re-adjusted and the needle valve bench tested.
Never watched any of those or most automotive oriented programs. I do sometimes like to pull up episodes of ‘Graveyard Cars’ on You-Tube as they are one of the few with an emphasis on keeping their projects as they came from the factory. Everyone else seems to go the aftermarket route.
An improperly adjusted float will indeed turn your 4300 into a fountain. The float has two tabs to adjust. One is for the main and the other is for the auxiliary valve. Either one will do it. Modern rebuilds often block off the auxiliary valve.
That is the most likely culprit too I think. The auxiliary valve has been blocked off, though there could be some seepage on that and the primary. Next step would be to adjust the float to a more appropriate level, insure the needle valve is seating correctly and snagging things up.
I agree, if it is a good needle and seat, look for interference or a misadjusted or bad float.
I wouldn’t run it, take it down and check it out, set it properly and/or replace the float if unsure if soaked or not. Lots of fuel in there is no good
The float is brand new as is the needle and seat. There was, in the instructions for the float, that adjustment wouldn’t be necessary as it was pre adjusted. I’m like ‘whatever you say’ installing it with that setting. Come Saturday I’m going to readjust the float along with bench testing that valve. That should solve this slight problem.
I rebuilt my Autolite 4300 two years ago without any issues as the stock 289 purred running down the road and would growl when I needed the extra power. Ahh, Life was good.
This was supposed to be the year of strictly maintenance and just drive and enjoy the Cougar. I drove the car at least once a week during the winter ( yeah we didn’t get much rain this winter here in California) and every fillup was accompanied by an ounce of Stabil Marine fuel stabilizer and a splash of seafoam.
But the carburetor developed a very odd issue, even though the engine ran nice and smooth on its primaries and it would get up and go when I stabbed the throttle, it would completely flood and die when I backed out of the secondaries. WTF!!! At first I suspected the ignition system was cutting out. The first time I had to have her towed home on a rollback, I replaced the 20 year old Pertronix with tried and true points and condensor and she fired back up. The next week I let my 15 year old daugher drive the cougar on the backroads going around the block in circles for about half an hour. The car just purred with delight. With her driving lesson done, I got back in the drivers seat and took it on the freeway to clean out those secondaries. Wouldnt you know it, there was traffic on the damn southbound freeway. We got off the next exit and got back in the North bound freeway heading back to our house again crawling in Weekend traffic. As we got off the freeway, we have about a mile straight away before our house with no one in front of us. I jabbed my foot at the throttle and the engine screamed to life (while my daughter screamed at the top of her lungs)!! I pulled my foot of the accelerator and hit the brakes as we approached the stop light and immediately the alternator and oil light turned on, damn engine died again!! My daughter jumped behind the wheel as I pushed the car ( with help from the Burger King delivery guy behind us) across the intersection to the curb. Damn it!!! once again, there was gas percolating on the manifold. Sitting by the curb, my wife and her friends saw us and went to the house to grab my tools and my timing gun. A quick check of the points and verifying the primary and secondary resistance of the coil and verification with the timing gun that all was well with the ignition system.
Gas on the manifold not a good thing. I pulled the carburetor again, rebuilt it with a Standard kit, replaced her and once again, I found myself pushing her home 3 more times with the help of neighbors and fellow motorists, it had come time to either replace it with a new carb or find the root of the issue and get this Autolite 4300 running again.
Autolite 4300
remove air cleaner wingnut
disconnect oil tube at front of air cleaner and large hose at the rear of the air cleaner to the thermactor valve
disconnect hot air choke tube - 1/2" and 9/16" wrench
remove fuel line - pliers
remove the 3 vaccum tubes, one at front of carb going to distributor vacuum advance, Pcv line at carb adapter base, and air tube at top rear of carb
disconnect throttle linkage at the carb
remove the 4 nuts at the carb base. 7/16 " socket with extension and the driver front nut with a 7/16 wrench
carefully lift the carb straight off the carb adapter plate as the carb will be full of gas. Don’t dump the gas just yet, we will use it to judge where the fuel bowl currently sit.
place 4 bolts with nuts on the base of the carb to use as a carb stand Place the manifold nuts on the top side of the bolts
disconnect the accelertor pump arm linkage and remove the accelerator pump e-clip. I turned the clip so that the open tangs of the clip are facing up. Next use a blunt flat blade screwdriver ( mine was a screw driver that I broke the blade on so it is to thick to fit on a screw) and push down on the clip to disengage the clip from the rod. I tried putting a locking forcep on the back of the clip, sometimes it worked and other times it didnt.
On the choke side, remove the e-clip at the choke plate and the e-clip at the choke rod connector. Rotate the choke up to get at the bottom e-clip
remove the air horn choke seal and remove the choke rod
remove the air cleaner stud - 3/8" wrench
loosen the 11 bolts on the top of the carb - 10 phillips and 1 regular. Note the regular screw is longer than the rest and goes on the driver rear hole. A magnetic screwdriver made this easy especially during reassembly
Carfeully pull up the air horn
Inspect the air horn, main body and throttle body and make sure that neither piece is warped.
The specs for the float are 25/32 however have noticed that this setting causes the secondaries to flood.I did the following to my carb:
remove the auxiliary valve on the carb and either block it off or cut the pin lower so that the float can not open the auxillary valve. Mike’s Carburetor Parts has a plug for this but at $12.95 I took a dremel to my old auxiliary valve and cut the pin short enough where the float would not open the aux valve at all.
I made a float tool to measure the float height. The float tool rocks a little bit as it only fits into two holes.
Set the float for the primary valve to 28/32. Note the float tips to either side slightly, Set the floats so that the shortest side is at the proper setting. Pony carbs set their floats to 1 1/4" however the float bowl depth is only 1 1/2". I tries setting my float in the middle to 1 1/8" this did not leak, but I worry about leaning out with the secondaries. I am now trying the floats set to 29/32
When reassembling the carb, do the following:
place the float pin with the head on the same side as the accelerator pump
Place the accelerator pump in the air horn and place the pivot arm in to hold the pump in place
Place the air damper rod into the flapper and tape it into position, Beats the hell outof me wht this is not clipped or pinned into place!!
place the gasket onto the airhorn
Lower the airhorn onto the body and carefully watch to make sure everything aligns properly. Especially the air dampner, floats and the accelrator pump
The air horn should drop on top the body. if it doesn’t seat all the way, jiggle the air horn to get it to seat, DO NOT focrce it!!!
Blow into the fuel inlet to make sure that the float doesn’t bind on anything.
Remember we placed the float pin on the side of the accelerator pump. After assembling the carb, only rotate the carb so that the accelerator pump is up! Rotate the carb upside down and blow itno the fuel inlet, the fuel valve should be seated and you shouldn’t be able to blow air this way.
Rotate carb back to level and repeat #1
The choke side needs the secondary lockout positioned correctly as well as the choke shaft. The damn choke shaft will fit 180 degrees out so make sure it is installed correctly,
Place a felpro 1901 4 hole gasket on the intake manifold then the carb spacer, next a felpro 60046 4 hole gasket and then the carb. Note the Mr. Gasket #55 is not quite wide enough to seal the spacer oddly enough if you turn the gasket 90, it fits the body on all four edges BUT the mounting ears do not extend to the studs!! If Mr Gasket changed this, you could use 2 #55’s with no issues. Edelbrock makes a plate that would get rid of the seal issue but it would also raise the carb, probably would need to then change the carb studs. Also the Edelbrock plate is an open spacer thus defeating a 4 hole low end torque design. Felpro makes the lower gasket that seals properly as the other gasket from carb body to spacer. Felpro 1901 and 60046
the 1901 is thicker than the 60046 and both cover the egr passages!!! You could use the 1901 on the top if need be
After installing the carb, I used a ketchup bottle quarter the way filled with gasoline and squirt the gasoline down one of the two carb vents. This passage ges directly to the fuel bowl. Do not overfill this or you will flood the carb.
Next disconnect the I wire at the starter solenoid.
Turn the engine over for 5 seconds, to finish priming the bowl. Also, check for any fuel leaks at this time. If there are any leaks, fix them before trying to start the engine.
Reinstall the I wire on the starter solenoid.
Start the engine.
Check for any fuel leaks. If there are no leaks and the car starts, check for any vacuum leaks around the carb by spraying carb cleaner with a straw at the base. If there are no leaks, place your hands around the air horn to try and see if you can choke the carb out, if it starts to die quickly remove your hands and let it pop.
Hook up a vacuum gauge to the carb and montior the vacuum. My stock 289 4v produced 19" HG Vacuum at idl
Note, I finally changed the stock aluminum spacer with a Trans-Dapt 2481 phenelonic spacer.
Good luck with your carburetor rebuild and let me know if you need anymore information
Thank you so much. I’ll be sure to do this come next Saturday. Why the float is held in by a pin is mystery to me also. Will let you know how it goes come this weekend.
They can bite or breathe fire, either or. I’ve only had my carburetor catch fire once due to the timing being off. At the time while looking at the flames dancing atop the air horn I was wishing that we had marshmallows. XD
Fortunately, this had occurred in the shop when attempting a first start. No major damage- or any damage at all - had been incurred due to that slight incident. Far as being on the road, have had her for a year come next month but, have yet to go for a drive as there are a few more systems to go through before she can be deemed road worthy. The brakes are next.
The operation was a success. There were two issues that had been contributing to the problem at hand. The lesser of the two was a minor leak from the auxiliary block off plug, this was addressed by cinching it up a bit more. As of the main culprit, I was finding that the pontoons that made up the float would make contact with the walls of the carburetor body for the tolerances are quite marginal at best effecting its’ ability to travel freely. Having adjusted the pontoons to about 1/16th of an inch clearance between it and the fuel bowl itself the floats could now move without hinderance. One other ting to test was the needle valve and it was found to be operating correctly. After performing the above repairs/tests, setting the float level to 28/32 or 7/8" then reassembling the carb along with lines and hoses the engine was started up. No fuel fountain as the top of the carb remained absolutely dry. A few adjustments to the carb itself as to idle speed, trimming and other. I let her run for about 8 minutes while observing and making adjustment were need be. More finer adjustments will take place in the not too distant future. But, she is a healthy runner.
I really like to thank you for your advise it was very helpful as the 67 is yet another step closer to being roadworthy once again.
