Solex rebuild questions

[madpaddler]

Last night completed a rebuild on my '73 A running a solex carb. Everthing went well and it started and ran perfectly...for a couple minutes... yep, after that I could not start it without carb spray and even that was a chore. Once I got it running it, with yet another shot of spray again, Took it for a ride, here is what happened. Any input would be great from you all.

1) Took off with considerably more power than before rebuild

2) Ran extremely smooth to 75-80 mph

3) reducing speed to a stop, started running fairly rough had to feather the pedal to keep it running idle seemed choppy until I hit the gas.

4) Putting the car in park, the idle raced and stayed that way.

5) Put it to bed, this morning can't start it.

The reason I did the rebuild is I could start and run the car great first thing in the morning, but the more I drove it the harder the next restart became, it would act flooded and I would take the air filter housing off, let the gas evaporate and generally start with minor issues. It had very little take off power, I know it's an automatic, but ran great at speed. Sometimes it would stumble while stopped in gear, neededing a feathering of the gas to get it stabilized.

I am very much an amateur with this, never took a carb off a car in my life, and would appreciate any help in diagnosing my issue(s) The only other info that seemed iffy on the rebuild was it seemed there was a bit of "play" where the throttle linkage connects to the carb. Not excessive, but I could see no way to adjust this and didn't see any O rings or anything to replace there.

My next effort will be do replace with a Weber, didn't want to speed that money now if not completely necessary. Ok, my long-winded question is out there, anyone? anyone? Bueler, Bueler?

[Guest Anonymous]

sounds like maybe the idle mixture jet is plugged up - remove it and blow it out. And you do know that when the carb is flooded, you can just keep the acc. pedal floored while you crank the engine to get it started, right? Usually it's not necessary to take off the air cleaner. Your problem now sounds like no fuel at idle, rather than too much.

[madpaddler]

Thanks Bill, I will check it and see if that is it. I know about holding the pedal down, it just seems like it "recovers" after I take the air filter top off for a bit, then it takes several "cranks" then it fires. Hope you are right.

Hal

[InkaSteve]

sounds like maybe the idle mixture jet is plugged up - remove it and blow it out. And you do know that when the carb is flooded, you can just keep the acc. pedal floored while you crank the engine to get it started, right? Usually it's not necessary to take off the air cleaner. Your problem now sounds like no fuel at idle, rather than too much.

I would agree with Bill. Is this a single barrel Solex? Mine runs beautifully 99% of the time. The only time I have had a problem is when the Idle jet gets clogged up. Usually if I have almost run it out of gas, or run it hard for a long long time. Then it runs crappy at slow speed. Take the jet out, clean it well. Should be easy as soon as you find where the jet is hiding.

Hope that helps,

[Guest Anonymous]

If we are talking about a 73 we are also discussing the Solex TWO barrel. I can hardly disagree with the others regarding the idle jet, but there are a number of other things to consider. If the carb is flooding, better recheck the needle and seat and the float levels. I would not be surprised to find an internal vacuum leak in the idle circuit itself. (THis was one of the reasons I dumped mine. I recall having the carb seem to work just fine and then, without warning, I would get spitting down the throat of the carb.

The idea of flooring the peddle to aerate the flooding condition is a good idea. However, you might save your battery by removing the plugs and drying things out that way.

Another consideration about your crappy running is the accelerator pump. For some unknown reason, I went through several pump diaphragms. If you have a cracked of leaky one, you may be treated with the drip drip that can throw off an otherwise decent idle.

I am glad to hear someone has the tenacity to run the solex. I had problems with the same carb on Audi, Opel and BMW. The one original carb I would like to have adapted to the 02 is the Zenith found on the E3 M30, but that is another story.

[madpaddler]

Thanks for the tips guys, I will be working on it this am and will get back with the results. This is the best forum, in a short period of time I have learned quite a bit about these cars from many of you...thanks