BBS issues

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KosmicKuda

KosmicKuda

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1964 225 Valiant, rebuild now with about 1600 miles on it since i got it running last fall.

I drove it to Carlisle and back without issues, in fact I put about 800 miles on it over 4 days and the engine was flawless, well almost. The idle was s little rough Saturday morning so I tweaked the carb adjusting screw a little when I got to the fairgrounds in the morning. Got 22.8 mpg going and 21.3 returning almost entirely on turnpikes.

Other than a not quite stock rebuild, I wanted to experience the car in an unaltered state and have been passing it off as a "stock" car including points ignition and original routing of the fuel line. Well, we've started to have a few days in the 90's and it's time to do the SSD fuel line rerouting as it was having hot start issues. So last night I rushed home from work and got it done in about 30 mins using 2 Holley right angle fittings. It started fine but soon was idling rough and gas was pouring out of the bowl vent. All I did was change the fitting at the carb and now this? I unscrewed the fitting and it was obvious the bowl was flooded as a lot of gas came out. The carb inlet also holds the needle and seat so I checked that and it was good. I restarted and the same thing happened. I was late for my rendezvous so I dried everything up and left it for today.

I took the 3677s Carter BBS apart today and everything looked normal except when I shook the float, uh oh, gas in the little brass tank. It must be a very tiny hole as it took quite a bit of shaking to even see where it was coming from. Right above the little bracket that attaches it to the center hanger section. I drilled a 1/16" hole in the upper corner so I could get the gas out which will need to be sealed. And only one side of the double float was bad.

So I guess I'll try to resolder it. I was thinking of a little patch of JB Weld as their website claims it is fuel resistant but posts on other forms are saying that the ethanol fuel we have today breaks down the JB Weld.

I'm a little hesitant about the solder because the bad area is so close to the little bracket. Anyone have any ideas or an extra float?

I bought a 2 barrel super six manifold at Carlisle but I don't have all my ducks in a row to make that swap yet, just looking for a fix that will get me through the rest of this season.

20170722_134700.jpg
 
You could use some heat sink compound on the bracket area and solder the bad spot
 
emsvitil said:
I'd resolder..........
Click to expand...
Like "cudascott" said, or you can us a couple of alligator clamps on the bracket, close to the solder joint as a source of creating a heat sink) Clean the hole real good. Use a soldering pencil instead of a gun, tin (a coat of melted solder) the tip of the pencil and put a "little" flux paste on the hole. Stick the tip of the pencil in the hole you drilled and as soon as the solder on the tip starts to flow, pull the tip back gradually. This method should close the hole. After the float cools, submerge it in some scalding hot water. If there is still a hole, you will see bubbles.
Norm
 
i'd heat it with a touch flame and watch were the flame shots out , that will be the hole . then solder the hole or holes up . not to much solder should do the trick . holley and carter afb floats do the same thing .
 
'Fuel resistant' is not necessarily the same as 'fuel proof', so solder. I bet it'll take a lot of heat to melt the solder for the float arm; the brass will pull it away really fast. Just put a damp rag around part of the area where the float arm is soldered, and that will keep it from getting too hot and avoid the risk of melting it off.
 
I wouldn't mess with (or risk) soldering the float, I'd replace it. They're not hard or expensive to get. Put the carb back together with a kit from www.daytonaparts.com -- they contain a better inlet needle/seat design than the original. Carburetor operation and repair manuals and links to training movies and carb repair/modification threads are posted here for free download.
 
What model is it, I have some old ones laying around somewhere...
 
Update.
Yesterday, before reading all the replies (was not expecting such a quick response) I resoldered the joint using a 40W pencil type iron with about a 1/8" wide chisel tip. The brass material is so thin, it really heats up fast. I only added a very small amount of solder to keep the weight gain to a minimum. But mostly i just ran it over the seam until I got a nice shiny fillet. The bracket mounting wasn't affected. The hole plugging went well too. I put the carb back together and went for about a 20 mile ride. So far so good.

The float was dry when I rebuilt the carb last year so it must have been gaining weight gradually over time and i didn't notice the degradation. I keep telling people how well this slanty drives and now it's back to being perfect.

I wouldn't mind getting another float if someone has an extra.

I did send an email to Daytonaparts Saturday evening about buying a float but they haven't responded yet.

I listened to Herb McCandless talk at Carlisle and one of the things he talked about was the bad affect this 10% ethanol fuel has on old car fuel systems. I don't know if this can be attributed to that or not. The more I get into this car the more I wonder if it was put away in 1982 because the drive ability was going downhill. There was a sock tied around the oil fill cap to soak up the excess oil.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll be driving it to Norwalk or the Mid-Ohio Mopar show this Saturday and probably to work a couple days this week to test it.
 
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