jatc@emx.utexas.edu (James TenCate) (02/12/90)
Thanks to everyone who wrote about finding air leaks in a Zenith-Stromberg dual carb set-up. Almost everyone seems to agree that carb cleaner sprayed in the appropriate spots is a great leak finder! P.S. Does anyone know what the dues are for the TR8 Club of America? I've written to Mike (the president) asking about club info but haven't gotten a response...maybe that mail truck that burned down here DID have some of my mail on it :-( Thanks. jim
kent@wsl.dec.com (02/12/90)
The thing to remember about carb cleaner around Zenith carbs is not to use it to clean the carbs! That is, most cans have instructions that tell you to get all your performance back by removing the air cleaners and spraying copious amounts down the throats. On Zeniths, this does, indeed, clean a lot of the gunk off of the insides. It also rots the rubber diaphragm that separates the upper vacuum chamber from the main throttle passage. They eventually (a week, maybe) crack, which converts the carburettor from a constant depression to constant volume model: the more you open the throttle, the more air you get. You never get a larger metering bore, you never get more gas, you never accelerate past 3000 rpm. (Of course, I only read about this -- *I* would *always* clean my carbs by complete disassembly and rebuild! Yeah, right. Live and learn. :-) chris P.S. It actually says something about this in the Moss catalog, in one of their helpful sidebars. That's how I managed to diagnose the weird behaviour after the fact.