So I’m a newbie. Did a carb housing swap on my speedster (71 VW platform). I cleaned everything with degreaser and wiped everything down well. Put the new gasket on. Reassembled everything just as I took it off and now the car won’t start. Obviously something I did. I read the screws have certain specifications and also that there could be an air leak. Anyone got any ideas or advice on how to troubleshoot this?
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It would help if you could explain what you mean by a carb housing. Do you mean the carb manifolds ?...........Bruce
Sorry. This is what I mean. The air cleaner and gasket. I cleaned the carb manifold with engine degreaser in addition to the stacks. Replaced the gasket and air cleaner. Reconnected the linkage. Tried to start it and there was a lot of smoke initially. Common things being common, I’m sure I did something but it was straight forward and can’t think of it. Attached is the one I installed and what my carburetor looks like.
Did it ever start, and if so, how long did you let it run?
Did you spray the carb itselt (not just intakes) with degreaser while it was still on the car or did you remove it. Degreaser is different from spray carb cleaner. I'm sure that's where your initial smoke came from.
Carb cleaner is what you want to use if spraying in the carbs to clean the throat and jets. Too much will drown the carbs but it does quickly evaporate. Be careful (and ready) if air cleaners ar off and you are trying to start it -- a backfire can start a big fire! Best to have 2 people - one turning key and other with safety equipment at engine.
I use starting ether on garden tractors that are difficult to start. It is highly flammable so care need to be exercised if using. Hard to detect air leaks if engine isn't running (even poorly).
It had previously been running well. Admittedly I haven’t started it in 2 weeks but still.
I sprayed the top part of the carb manifold but dried it well and gave it time to dry also. I’ll buy some carb cleaner and get back at it. I’ll try and post pictures.
thanks for the comments
I would bet that if you used anything other than carb cleaner, you have fouled the spark plugs. Check the spark plugs and clean or replace.
Or just washed some dirt down in to a bad place. If Webers, tops of float chamber are open and washing the outside down willy nilly can move particulate from point A to point B where point B really matters. Clean the idle jets as a starting point. after that, it might mean a full tear-down and proper cleaning. An air leak at the air filter interface is not likely to be any sort of big deal. If you disturbed the seal at carb/manifold or manifold/engine, then a leak there would be possible.
