[HALFWAY]

I have had an occasional flooding problem when starting the car cold.

I read in other threads about the piston in the choke housing sticking, so I disassembled the choke and cleaned it up. The piston did need cleaning it had that "varnish" on it.

Still didn't resolve the sticking. So I pulled out old carb to look for anything different in the operation. I noticed on the old carb the throttle plate fully closed, see Pic #1.

The carb installed, the throttle plate sticks about 3/4 closed. See Pic #2.

After careful examination it appears the throttle plate is rubbing/catching inside the carb. See pic#3.

May be hard to see but the rubbing is to the left of the throttle plate screw. This happens on both sides of plate.

Any suggestions for this?

[Kenth]

Not uncommon this issue occurs when gorilla arm turns the aircleaner wing nut on a 2-jet.
Remedy is, off with the air horn, pull out the choke blade (not throttle plate) and grind the sides of the choke blade some until it fits properly in the opening.

[HALFWAY]

Thanks for the info.

Hard to imagine tightening down the air cleaner would warp anything before stripping or breaking something.

Off it comes and I will see what I can do. May clean the air horn from the other carb and use that.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Do not remove metal from the inside of the airhorn for choke blade clearance.

If you do, it will cave in easier the next time the wingnut gets over tightened.

Clay

[25stevem]

That’s the choke plate you have referring to.
The proper adjustment of this hoes as follows.

With the motor cold a you hit the pedal once the choke should close all the way.
Once the motor starts the choke vacuum pull off should open that flap by 1/8” to 1/4” depending on how high of a fast idle you need.

[mgarblik]

Just a heads up removing the choke blade. The screws are generally swagged< (smashed) on the threaded end so they won't back out. Be VERY careful unscrewing them. They will generally start to unscrew easily and turn about 1/4 turn or so. Then hit the swagged area and snap off. Then things can turn ugly in a hurry. I suggest using a dremel tool with a stone and grind the screw ends until they are flush with the shaft, removing the swagging. Then they will come out easily. Grind the sides of the plate as others have described, then use NEW screws to put it back together. You can put a tiny drop of locktite on the screw threads or swagge it back the way it was originally only after you are happy with the fit of the choke plate.

As mentioned by others, it is very common for 2-G carburetors to be ruined this way by over tightening air cleaner. Generally this happens when the original wing nut is lost and the owner uses a regular hex nut and cranks it down with a ratchet bending the hell out of everything. They use a wing nut for a reason, hand tight only.

[HALFWAY]

Thanks for all the info.

I ended up using the air horn from the other carb.

Cleaned it up, swapped the inside components, reassembled the carb, put a little lube on the outside movable parts, reset the idle and seems to be working properly.

I will mess with other air horn at a later date.

Trying to get all the obvious things I find taken care as I am planning a little road trip the first week of June.

Thanks again. I am sure I will find more.

[HALFWAY]

On a side note, I did remove the jets from both carbs to see what was there. Both had 64 stamped on the two jets per carb. I hope that's the size and not year.

I want the most economical size if there is such a thing for a 2bbl 64-65 326 4 speed, 3.23 rear end.

I do most of my driving in town, maybe 10 miles if I am lucky but occasionally up to 100 round trip. As I stated I plan to make a least 1600 mile round this June.

Is the jet size even an issue for mpg?

Strictly drive it as a cruise around vehicle but like to have some once in awhile.

[Goatracer1]

The problem of the air cleaner being over tightened and closing up the top of the carb was very common back in the day. We fixed it by removing the air cleaner stud and GENTLY tapping on the cross bar with a small hammer until it spreads the bore of the carb slightly. Always worked and never broke a carb. The key word is gently.

[mgarblik]

The "64" on the jet faces is the jet size. If all 4 jets are "64", (2 from each carb) and are clean, you should be good to go. There are several things that play into gas mileage on a 2-jet. There is a power valve screwed in between the 2 jets and a stem sticking down out of the air horn with a spring on it that controls it by manifold vacuum. Those components have a "Tuned spring rate) that can effect gas mileage. But honestly, you are getting into some complex tuning to really optimize that circuit. If the car runs and drives fine, I would not go any further with it. Drive it and enjoy it. My limited experience with 326 engines has been that they get pretty bad fuel mileage for their power output. The few 2-speed auto 326 cars I have owned got no better than 15 MPG in mixed driving. About 17 on the highway. Enjoy!

[carbking]

Originally Posted by Kenth

Not uncommon this issue occurs when gorilla arm turns the aircleaner wing nut on a 2-jet.
Remedy is, off with the air horn, pull out the choke blade (not throttle plate) and grind the sides of the choke blade some until it fits properly in the opening.

Actually, they used an 18 inch power handle on the socket, plus a three foot cheater bar!

Jon

[carbking]

Originally Posted by HALFWAY

On a side note, I did remove the jets from both carbs to see what was there. Both had 64 stamped on the two jets per carb. I hope that's the size and not year.

I want the most economical size if there is such a thing for a 2bbl 64-65 326 4 speed, 3.23 rear end.

I do most of my driving in town, maybe 10 miles if I am lucky but occasionally up to 100 round trip. As I stated I plan to make a least 1600 mile round this June.

Is the jet size even an issue for mpg?

Strictly drive it as a cruise around vehicle but like to have some once in awhile.

NEVER believe a number stamped on a jet, unless you are opening a sealed package with the jet inside (then it is suspect).

Check the orifice size with a drill bit. For the "odd" sizes not found in the typical number drill set, think "fractional metric" bits.

Jon.

[HALFWAY]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

The "64" on the jet faces is the jet size. If all 4 jets are "64", (2 from each carb) and are clean, you should be good to go. There are several things that play into gas mileage on a 2-jet. There is a power valve screwed in between the 2 jets and a stem sticking down out of the air horn with a spring on it that controls it by manifold vacuum. Those components have a "Tuned spring rate) that can effect gas mileage. But honestly, you are getting into some complex tuning to really optimize that circuit. If the car runs and drives fine, I would not go any further with it. Drive it and enjoy it. My limited experience with 326 engines has been that they get pretty bad fuel mileage for their power output. The few 2-speed auto 326 cars I have owned got no better than 15 MPG in mixed driving. About 17 on the highway. Enjoy!

Well that's pretty close to what I am getting in mpg now, so won't change anything and like you say enjoy.

[HALFWAY]

Took the Lemans out for a little runtime. Engine starts right up, sounds good and the best part is my garage doesn't smell like the inside of a gas can afterwards.