Why didn't I rebuild autolite 1100 4 months ago?

[johnnyzoom]

As a rookie I was intimidated at opening up my "new" autolite 1100 (purchased at a chain store for $130). Not a member here at the time, and not knowing any better, I put it on out of the box. Today I'd finally had enough and got in there to see what was going on.

-Float level was set 1/4" low (I thought it would be high due to the problems I've been having).

-Needle valve was definitely stuck.

-Carb was missing one ball-check.

-There was a hollow plastic ball about the size of a marble in the fuel bowl (no idea what this is supposed to be).

-- The vent valve inlet is warped and rod won't fit, carb came with this covered up. Running now with nothing there, better that way or covered?

I'll probably upgrade to something else later, but after a $2 can of carb cleaner and a couple missing pieces from the old carb, I don't feel like I'm driving a project car anymore. No more bogging or hesitation, acceleration is smooth, way more power and performance, sounds and feels almost like a different car, still have to get temp guage working but I could swear it's running cooler too.

So I guess I'm repeating what a bunch of you guys have already said, don't trust one of those carbs out of the box!

I'm sure I'll get stumped on something else soon, but just wanted to post some good news and say thanks to everyone here.

-- Johnny

'64 Comet 404 200 automatic, 4 matching hubcaps with black matching tire valve covers, a front bumper that almost matches the rear bumper

 

[Lazy JW]

You are well on your way now Johnny. Good work!
Joe

 

[jahearne]

Way to go Johnny!

Stay away from the chain stores. I've had nothing but junk from those places for years with bad replacement parts from starters to carbs. Find a locally owned part store. After a while you'll build up a relationship with them and you'll get price breaks and a favor every now and then. Nobody from a chain store ever told me, "don't worry about it, pay me later" when I was five bucks short.

Take care,

 

[Anonymous]

while on the subject?

i'm kinda a newb about all this technical stuff

but what are these "ball-checks", how many are supposed to be in my carb (autolite 1100) and if i dont have as many as i should where can i get extras?

 

[johnnyzoom]

There are supposed to be 3, this link

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroke ... 1c3af4.jsp

has a good diagram of where they belong. I suggest being careful opening up carb so they don't fall out (different ball for each compartment) and using a flashlight to look down and see if they're there.

I used my old carb for the missing one, don't know if they're standard in rebuild kit. From what I've read here you can order specific parts from Pony Carbs.

I learned a lot from rebuilding the carb, a lot of the mystery was taken away. Becomes real obvious how one little piece of junk in fuel can alter performance.

-- Johnny

 

[Anonymous]

so what exactly do these check balls do? and what would happen if say, there are only 2 in my carb?

 

[johnnyzoom]

Maybe someone else can answer this in more detail and explain some symptoms if one's missing, but the basic function of the ball check is to keep fuel flowing through the carb in the right direction. My carb had multiple problems so to be honest I don't know specifically how the missing ball check was contributing, I don't yet totally comprehend the fuel flow through the carb, but I guess too much fuel was going somewhere "unchecked".

-- Johnny

 

[mustang6]

Johnny is right, the check balls ensure one-way fuel flow.

For example, one of the check balls is in the fuel passageway that feeds the accelerator pump. Imagine that the pump diaphram area is low on fuel (like you just romped on the gas and the pump squirted some fuel out). The pressure on the diaphram side of the check ball will now be less, so the fuel pressure from the fuel bowl will push the ball off it's seat and fill the pump chamber back up. The ball will gently seat itself when the accelarator pump diaphram is full and pressure on both sides is equalized (assuming it's in a vertical passageway, sometimes there's also a small weight on top of it to help gravity seat the ball). When you romp on the gas, the accelerator pump diaphram is compressed, and the fuel there is put under higher pressure. This pressure tries to go out the way it came in, but the check ball is there and the pressure just seats the ball more firmly, leaving the only pressure release to be through the accelerator pump circuitry and into the engine.

So in this case if the accelerator pump check ball was missing, when you romp on the gas most of the diaphram pressure would just push the fuel out the way it came in, resulting in little or no pump shot into the engine, causing massive stumbling and lean conditions upon quick opening of the throttle.