26 year old carbs that have never been off

[Gary H NC]

I got the carbs off of my 175.It still had the original gaskets and the factory paint on the nuts.You could tell they have never been removed.
I was expecting to find some gunk in them but they look very clean.No sludge or anything! The bowl gaskets are leaking just a bit but other than that they look good.
So i will rebuild them anyway.Should i expect it to run better? It did have a slight sneeze at idle and my WOT was only 5100 at most.I tried a lower pitch prop and only gained 100 rpm.
Looked down the intake with a bright light and what i could see the reeds looked perfect,very clean.
I was hoping the carbs would be all gunked up....

 

[rockyrude]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

Since you've got 'em off your going to need new gaskets anyway, it only takes the tiniest speck of junk to really mess up your day. At least pull em apart soak em in a good carb cleaner and blow em out with compressed air. Cheap insurance

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

I used to think the carbs would be dirtier than they are as well. As rocky said, it is sometimes the tiniest bits of gunk, especially in the jets, that can cause problems. I would pay particular attention to those.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

This would be an excellent time to replace all of the fuel lines and clamps on the carburetors, since those are definitely junk.

The original floats did not have the spring clips which are included in all of the newer carb kits; This is a great time to put them in.

I would replace the floats as well.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

have to say it must had good gas put thru it. and winterized.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

I have the new kits and definately doing the rebuilds.I did notice they had no springs on the needles.I guess i was expecting to see years of build up in the float bowls.The few Seafoam treatments must have helped.
Not much to these carbs after doing Quadrajets..

Oh,already got the new fuel lines ready to go on.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

Those Quadrajets weren't so bad, once you got the hang of 'em....

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: 26 year old carbs that have never been off

Those Quadrajets weren't so bad, once you got the hang of 'em....

Thats true,Did one for my neighbor a couple months ago.It was one of those electric controlled Q-Jets on a 1981 Pontiac FireBird.The 301 v-8 that was Pontiacs biggest piece of junk.. Got the carb done that had been rigged then found all kinds of vacuum leaks.2 days later finally got it running right.