Holley 4 barrel on a V6 - Care and Feeding

[loose_electron]

Hey all -

Got a 2.8 V6 with a 4 barrel Holley carb on it.

I left the car in the garage for 5 months without running it.

When trying to start it up again, I find that the she won't start (cranks just fine it is not electrical) and the problem was traced to no gas in the carb. (Fuel pump is good, filters are clean and gas gets to the carb inlet.)

I suspect that the gas evaporated out, left some residue (some call it varnish) and the floats and needle valves are stuck.

Before I tear down the carbs and rebuild, I am thinking of opening up the sight eyes on the two fuel bowls and squirting in a heavy dose of carb cleaner to see if that unsticks things.

Thoughts and ideas?

Thanks,
Jerry

 

[MikeH]

Could be that the float needle valves are stuck.

 

[DanR]

Mike made a good comment....

And a little squirt may be the thing ....

Haven't had a problem like that.... yet!

I do not use ethanol gas in any thing if I can get Non Ethanol..




Edited to correct spelling....

 

[90days]

Just a suggestion, you should have adjustable floats on top of the 390 CFM carburetor and you can unscrew the needle valves and seats and check for blockage. You will need to readjust your float heights after you get it running. Or you can unscrew the two float bowls to check. If you didn’t treat your fuel with fuel stabilizer and let set with ethanol gas for extended amount of time. You will find corrosion in your fuel bowls and your metering jets caused by the ethanol. Good luck

 

[sd_pace]

take the plug out of the side of the bowl that you use to adjust the float flow, take a toothpick and bounce the float. that should get it moving again without messing with the setting.

 

[loose_electron]

take the plug out of the side of the bowl that you use to adjust the float flow, take a toothpick and bounce the float. that should get it moving again without messing with the setting.

I like that idea, plus a good soaking with carb cleaner.

I am trying "really hard" to not mess up any of the carb settings because things were so nicely dialed in last year.

The corrosive nature of ethanol is news to me I had to go do a little research on that and see that there is truly an issuer there, and it seems to be written up in a number of places as a real issue. I'm stuck with CA "blended fuel" unless I want to make heroic efforts to go find an alternative.