Hello, I recently got a 1966ish International Loadstar with a 392 engine. It has a Holley 4 barrel carb like you see on race cars and Fords. It was not letting fuel into the front bowl because the float adjustment was all the way down. We pulled the carb and installed a rebuild kit. Static set the floats and when we put it back on fuel was overflowing from both bowls into the carb throat and all over the place. I wound up adjusting the front all the way in, again. The floats are made of some kind of pinkish foam. Is it possible they are not buoyant any more? Any experts want to take a stab at rebuilding this thing the right way? Thanks Birken
It's a possibility, holley parts are cheap and easy to find. Is it a stock fuel pump or electric?
Is it possible that the fuel pump pressure is overwhelming the fuel floats?
Did you replace the power valves? One backfire and the diaphrams are usually ruptured, sucking raw fuel into the intake. Yes the plastic floats often go bad, easily replaced. You may want to check fuel pressure, as Dualie suggests you may have too much pressure and the fuel is being forced past the needle and seat. Many years ago I hit on the absolute best repair procedure for all Holley carbs and the Thermoquad mistake by Carter... one pass with a vibrating asphalt roller, or if available a sheepsfoot, usually did the trick. What is now Edelbrock is the way to go, but may be too spendy for an old Cornbinder gaspot
This carb does have other problems, leaks, etc. that are now evident, but it has the usual governor and who knows what all vacuum junk on the right hand side. So I dread the idea of trying to replace it with anything.
If its for personal use do you really need the Governor?
I don't need the governor but I don't know how it works or what can of worms I would get into taking it off so I don't really care so long as it runs good enough. I agree with giving it the sheepsfoot treatment. This carb looks like it was designed by a committee and everything was an afterthought. I wonder why people like them. Must be a nostalgia thing.
For personal use if one does not have to smog it you could go to Jegs or Summit Racing on line and get a brand new carb that will not have all the extra BS on it.
There were plenty of brass floats made for those carburetors if you want to go that route. Holley part number is #116-4
I have had problems with those composition floats saturating with fuel in the past although the MFGs swear that they won't.This of course applies to all brands.I have always blamed it on the fuel additives that have been used over the years which no one would be responsible for considering the freezing fuel lines etc that we encounter in some climates.I always float the old one beside the replacement in a bowl of water if I consider specific gravity to be a problem.Ron G
back in the day........mechanics doing a lot of carburetors all had little scales and a chart of how much each float should weigh. It was quicker/easier just to replace the float if it was a composition type. No taking chances, most of them were bad.
Went through the Holley on my 77 Ford F 600 Digger Derrick this afternoon . Has 361 engine and when tuned rite the old truck get's along fine . Last job I had it on it ran fine until I went to move it home................. Damn near called Dad on the cell phone to bring the KW and drag the Ford the rest of the trip as it would run fine for awhile then all the sudden lay down & die . The needle was sticking in the seat and not letting fuel in the bowl . Stopped multiple times along the way home , I would crack the fuel line at the inlet on the carb and fuel under pressure would shoot out . Peck on the front bowl a little and the needle would drop down . Finally made it home . So this afternoon I pulled the Holley off the Ford and cleaned all the white powder gunk out of the bowl & metering blocks ,replaced power valve , needle & seat , & gaskets . She runs fine now but suspect I will be doing this again as the white powder will be back . Looks like the pot metal in the carb is corroding causing the white powder gunk . I just wonder if I could add something to the gas to slow this corrosion down . Two cycle mix oil in the tank maybe ? Just don't know ?
I had one do that it was a chunk of rubber hose in the needle the steel fuel line was cut and rubber slipped over the sharp edge
Mine did not look like that at all. That looks like water contamination to me, is that possible? I see a lot of that in small engines people bring in.
Add "Stabil", remove ethanol. Ethanol absorbs water out of the air, water/ethanol makes carbs fuzzy.
Methanol in the gas, stuff sucks. Alchohol loves water and will happily pull it from wherever it's living and then hungrily react with some metals.
Birkin this hippie gas blend we have in CA has to much methanol in it. Methanol is hygroscopic and will pick up moisture, well guess what happens to that moisture, it collects. bottoms of fuel tanks and carburetors are the usual places that you're sure to find its footprints. A friend has a mid 80's corvette they bought brand new, California car zero corrosion. Other than the bottom of the fuel tank that started leaking while they were out of country for a month. Nice surprise coming back to a house that wreaks of gasoline and a car sitting in giant puddle of it in the same room with the water heater.
Methanol? I thought all the pump gas blends were ethanol?
sorry complete brainfart on my part, indeed ethanol
I thought California was doing some new thing I hadn't heard of yet lol.
nope just ethanol of unknown origins crammed in where good old gas was. I'm thinking its up wards of 15% and theres NOTHING you or I can do about it
I think we're 10 or 15%. You can still get clear fuel in some places up here, I make sure that anything I don't use all the time gets it.
Thanks Delmer , I will try adding " Stabil " to the tank . I remember this issue came up on another thread but could not recall the easy solution . My fuel supplier offers " recreational gas " . Not supposed to have any ethanol in it . I guess that would be another option . So far the Ford truck is the only piece of gas burning equipment I've had this trouble with . I also suspect type / "mix" of casting material in the carb plays a part in this problem ?
Unless it's plastic, the different metals just change the color of the fuzz, red, white or green. Recreational gas works, but here it's about $.50 more per gallon. Be sure that's what's in it if it's sitting for months. Two tanks would work to.
Sea Foam is a very good additive too.
I have read the internet stories about it but I do not think it is as bad as they say. I still have my weed whacker, chain saw, lawn mowers, generators, and of course I work on lots of other people's generators and I don't see any problems I can point to as ethanol. Not to say I think it is any good, I think people should eat corn and put petroleum in their gas tanks, or better yet let the market figure it out, but here are the major carb failures I see often: - Machine left to sit in the rain, water goes into bottom of tank, clogs up float bowl with galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals that were never meant to see water - Machine subjected to dirty fuel, dirt/bugs in gas tank plug fuel lines, etc. - Machine left to sit a year with fuel valve open, little by little gas from tank flows by gravity and gets distilled off in the float bowl until all that is left is a brown substance resembling dried up wood varnish This last one is a bit annoying as the horrible smelling MTBE stuff they used to use in the 90s and early 2000s seemed to dry into a white powder that never bothered anything, but the stuff before that dried to the brown varnish like we have now so I guess things go around full circle sometimes.
Do your self a favor and replace that holley with something else. They are not a good carb to be use on a truck . They dont like dust and they dont like seting around.
That's about what the recreational gas cost's in my area . That might be the best way to go . Like you say , fill the tank with RC gas when we park it .
So far feel pretty good about the Holley rebuild / cleanout on the Ford truck . Starts nice & runs like a champ . She's ready for the Indy 500 . I guess if I had to buy a new carb for the truck I would probably go with this ... https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/classic_holley/parts/0-1850C This was always my favorite all around tire smoking carb ... https://www.holley.com/products/fue...le_pumper/classic_double_pumper/parts/0-4779C This would look cool on the 1966 Chevy C 60 dump truck ... https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/specialty_carburetors/parts/300-521 Birken , Forgot to ask , did you get the IH truck up & running ?
The holley truck avengers are a pretty nice all around carb. They fixed a lot of the common issues and set them up better for offroad.
Yeah chevota84 , That looks like good option for carb replacement on a truck . https://www.holley.com/products/fue.../avenger/off-road_truck_avenger/parts/0-90670
I had a lot of seal failures in my smaller equipment in the first couple years, smaller generators, welders, cut off saws. Ever since i if I'm going to let them sit for any sort of time i drain the carb bowls and fuel tanks.
The truck is sitting there holding the dirt from blowing away for now. I handed the carb off to another friend who is into stock car racing so he knows about this style carb and has the parts. It has several issues not solved by the standard rebuild kit so he may have to put a different bowl on the one end that is leaking and possibly the floats. I called the local logging company who is known for keeping anything until the wheels fall off and then putting them back on but it sounds like they don't even have gas pots any more. They are getting pretty scarce 50 years after the fact as is anyone who knows how to work on them.
Hopefully your buddy can get the Holley back in line with proper parts & repairs and you get the IH truck back in action soon. We still run several gas burner trucks & farm tractors so this stuff is second nature to me . Spent about 4 hours fixing the Holley on the Ford truck . Oddly the Ford truck is the only one that had this trouble with the white paste " gunk" in the carb .:beatsme
I used to run Holleys a lot, they're prone to having a speck of dirt hold the needle and seat open. I usually had a filter right at the carb fuel inlet.
The best way I have found to keep gas engines from having carb problems is running some aviation gas in them. you can do 50/50 or 25/75% it is 100 octane low lead. I run it in everything. 5hp Hondas, chainsaws, weedeaters, wives 250 dirt bike, cars or trucks that don't get used a lot. AV 100LL is made to be super stable, can sit for years and still be good. Not like the crap we get from the pump now that is junk in 6 months. I have a small 50 gal service tank I take to my local airport and fill. most small airports have credit card pumps. the cost is about $1 to $1.50 more per gal. but if you mix it, it will go a long way. I have not had to clean or fix a carb for years. plus small engines start on first pull most of the time.
I always buy hytest for everything but my car/truck these days.I run a tank through them occasionally too.Back when we could by Amoco white gas I used it in everything.I find that the hytest keeps over the winter and longer without Stabil/octane booster etc and probably performs better too.Ron G
See the conclusion of this saga here