Buying a Classic Car? Be Prepared to Overhaul the Car’s Carburetor

Vintage cars are beautiful and charming. Today, they are mostly available at online car auction sites where you may even find luxury and salvage exotic cars for sale. Though classic cars may not set the roads on fire like they used to do during their prime years, they can still deliver a decent run, provided their system is performing up to the mark. Most classic cars feature a carburetor and not fuel injection, common with today’s cars. Malfunction inside the carburetor significantly impacts the classic car’s performance, with difficulty in ignition and poor on road performance being prominent areas of improvement. The only way to overcome the problems is to overhaul the carburetor. To help you determine whether you need to get the carburetor of your classic car overhauled, read the blog post.

1. Accelerator Pump Problems:

Problems with the accelerator pump is one of the major concerns with the performance of the classic cars. The car moves only when accelerator pump, a metal stick with a rubber cup at the end, pushes a quantity of reserve fuel into the venturi of the carburetor. Any malfunctioning in this part can result in car not throttling. Though accelerator pump should last long as gasoline lubricates it, however, not driving the car for a long time can damage it. It is because the alcohol and water in the fuel can separate from the gas, deteriorating the delicate rubber cup of the accelerator pump. To verify if there’s problem with the functioning of the accelerator pump, move the throttle and look through the top of the carburetor. If it’s functioning correctly, you will see two powerful jets moving down into the carburetor whenever the throttle is moved. The only way to solve the problem is overhauling the carburetor, as it needs to be disassembled and replaced and only the carburetor overhaul kit contains the replacement parts.

2. Bad Carburetor Needle And Seat:

The reserve gasoline required to throttle the classics is stored in a fuel bowl. Float, a device, measures the quantity of gas in the bowl, and controls the needle valve and seat connected to the fuel system. Rise in float’s level to the top of the bowl, results in lowering of the needle, blocking entry of additional fuel into the bowl. To comprehensively seal the opening, the tip of the needle is made rubber. Although the system works well, gasoline being petroleum, contains high amounts of alcohol and detergents that may deteriorate the needle, which may increase the inflow of fuel into the carburetor, resulting in flooded engine. In such a situation it may be difficult to start the vehicle or you may experience extended cranking periods during the drive. It may look like carburetor choke problems, but you should confirm. To know if the problem with the carburetor needle and set, note if the car is emitting large amount of black smoke or the engine is performing better at higher RPMs and struggling with lower speed. The reason being that higher RPMs burns the excess fuel entering the carburetor.

3. Deteriorating Carburetor Gaskets:

Car gaskets are made of a thick strong paper like composite material. The problem with gasket starts due to loosening up of the carburetor. Gasket is sandwiched between two separate pieces in the carburetor assembly. All three pieces are clamped together with screws, and as they start to get loose, the raw gas seeps in and comes in contact with the gasket material, triggering chain of deterioration. Compromised sealing can also result in both internal and external fuel leaks. Gasket replacement is only possible with an overhaul kit.

Wrap Up

Many pre-owned or salvage exotic and luxury classic car buyers face problems with the cars’ carburetor, irrespective of where they purchase it, online car auctions or dealer. To verify if any of the three reasons are being the car’s poor performance, take it to an expert. If it requires carburetor overhauling, make sure the factory part number on the overhaul kit is same as the carburetors’ number.

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