Weber 44 IDF issue

I'd suggest opening your carb and cleaning out the float bowl.  While doing that, inspect your floats.  On the Weber 44s they are plastic and we have seen (regularly) that the ethanol is making the outer layers peel off of the float. This layer breaks up into a fine black sand-like debris and clogs idle jets and passages.

I have been able to run non-ethanol gas the entire time I have owned the car but you never know what really comes out of the tank. Is there a source for ethanol resistant weber floats?

Not that I am aware of... and maybe it isn't the ethanol that is causing the deterioration, but that was our assumption.

We have been running a pre-pump filter and a pre-carb filter, plus you have the inlet screen on each carburetor... yet we were a still getting junk in float bowls, which is what led us to look further and that's when we discovered the layers of the floats peeling off.

Is there any way to drain the float bowl without removing the carb?

there is no drain plug like an IDA.  you could use a syringe.  it'd be a heck of a lot easier to just pull the carb off by undoing the 4 nuts.

 

i am running these air filters

 

my idle jets get plugged up with this setup, so i have to keep the carb clean.

A Jet Dr. kit is also nice if you don't have them already, Jim.

those just raise the idle jet intakes, right?

I have jet doctors. Correct me if I am wrong but when I can take an air hose to blow out the mixture screw orifice after I remove the jet and it runs well again isn't that telling me that the idle circuit is good but the main (high speed) circuit was plugged. Or do I have it backward?  

Mango, your air corrections, emulsion tubes, and mains are exposed with that setup, of course in Victoria the rain keeps the dust down! Maybe some finger sized filter sox on them would help! I couldn't drive 2 miles without suckin up a wild gerbil or avocado rat down the tubes around here with that arrangement, you must have a tight engine compartment.

 

in the good way.

Jim, backwards.  Plus I am a little confused, but it may just be related to terminology.  Are you blowing through the idle jet orifice or are you blowing through the mixture screw orifice?  Reason I ask is that the idle jet orifice contains the jet (also jet holder and o-ring) while the mixture screw orifice doesn't have a jet, just a mixture screw (with spring, o-ring retainer and o-ring)  Either way the answer to your question is idle circuit, just wanted to be clear on what you were doing.  I have never had a plugged circuit for a mixture screw.  Usually if the mixture screw is doing nothing it is because the idle jet (or idle circuit between the jet and air cleaner base) is clogged.

 

Mango, yes.  It puts them into "mid-air" and reduces the debris pulled in due to crap on the air cleaner base/carb top.

 

 

Mango, those carbs look gorgeous like that but if you ever drive it in the rain you'll risk drowning your engine, and possible hydrolocking it.  Anybody wanna tell him about Carlisle in '08?

It is the idle mixing screw hole that I am blowing air through. I think I understand it now. I will remove the idle jets and run a wire through to clean out. What confused me was that the motor would run perfect after I blew through the mixture hole. Why would that be?

Well, that's because you blow the cruddy obstruction up away from the jet, but it's still captive in that chamber area and simply falls back onto the jet and,

 

BEHOLD!  

 

Another clog.  

 

Don't get me wrong - blowing air through the mixture adjustment hole often works (and I do it all the time) but when you get one that is flipping the problem from one throat to the other, it's time to pull the carb and do a thorough cleaning/rebuild.

 

As bad as lots of these Webers seem to be, at least you're not running an Autolite 2500 2-barrel from the '60's-'70's....Now, THOSE were truly crud-prone!

Thank you both for the information.  When it runs well it is a pure pleasure to drive.

Jim,

Danny Piperato thoroughly understands these Weber IDF's

He conducted a clinic at Carlisle 2012 with handouts on cleaning, adjusting, etc.

I'll bet he still has some....I've misplaced mine, but you can bet I'm contacting Danny for another when my 44's go sour.

Carl you need a face on your profile.  Have Rich help you put one up.  Maybe even a pic of the new Orange 912 

Anyone have Danny 's contact info or a copy they can send to jdunn@ssmc.us? You guys are great.

You're right Marty...absolutely right!

 

I'll search through my high school yearbook and see if I can come up with an image that still has hair on its head...and a nice smile too...sort of like your avatar.

High Guys, new Webers 48 ida's setup by my mechanic, not perfect, he has it running at super high idle and spits occasionally...  so questions

 

1) Do I need to have the 3rd progression hole drilled?

2) Is there a "kit" full of idle jets and idle jet holders, etc, all inclusive of what one would need to set up or adjust?

3) mechanic doing this by ear and experience but do we need a tool, oxygen sensor? etc???

1) Yes

2) No, but every single jet is available from many sources. Get your wallet out.

3) Yes. You need a wideband O2 sensor, and a "snail" balance tool to do this right.

 

4) The answer to the question you didn't ask: Yes, you should probably find a new mechanic.

+1 Stan! On the money as usual. Jim Dunn, sounds like you have junk in just the one carb. Happened to me one time with water, which turns into white goo that will keep clogging. As Gordon says, you are just pushing the junk back into the float well, where it will find it's way back into the idle jet over and over. I removed my carb top, left the carb in the car, and soaked all the crap out with rags. Your mileage may vary....

 

 

Jim, sent......

Danny, very informative. Please share it again with the group. It deserves to be in an easily accessed place. It is as good as the old site's intro about Speedsters. Everyone is, in time, going to need help with their carbs.

FYI, I emailed my Weber article to Theron. It is now in the knowledge base for anybody who wants it.

Thanks. It is a good read.

My method is easier:

1) Drop off car with Carey
2) Pick up car in spring
3) Drive it like I stole it
4) Repeat