Originally Posted by
flyinglow
Here's the story on one of Bill's conversion. I found a D in a field several years ago. It took a while to find someone who knew about the car. I just glanced at it and noted a pristine grooved, gas flapped hood and a nice drivers side front quarter panel so I figured it was worth a few thousand at least. I was already restoring another D so I decided to buy that one for parts.
The car had a collapsed fuel system for sure as the gas tank was out of the car, the fuel pump boot was over 50% melted away, and the engine compartment had that smell. So I raided a lot of parts off of it for my other D. One day I noticed that the parts D was actually in better shape in a lot of ways than my main project and I was wondering what the condition of the engine, auto transmission, and other major systems might be. I absolutely did not want to buy a complete KJet rebuild for a car that might not even be reasonably restored so I thought about one of the first things I heard Bill say. Carbing is a quick, less expensive, easy way to get a car running and drivable as you evaluate and work on the rest. And you can go back to KJet for the cost of a new throttle cable.
Another angle is that I am an old guy who has worked with carbs on cars long before many of you were born. Here's the problem. The car has been sitting and not on the road for at least 10 years. I had my doubts that it would run even with the carb. Bill comes to my house, we bolt on the manifold with carb, run the fuel line, wire in a fuel pump, turn the key and it starts. I started to say it purrred like a kitten but it was more like a lion since the muffler was missing.
As I stood there and stared at the smoothly running engine I could not shake the feeling that this must be how Igor felt as he watched Dr. Frankenstein admire his work and revel in his masterpiece as it took it's first naturally aspirated breath. I have to tell you, to see that car running with all those hoses, wire connectors, and pipes sticking up everywhere not connected to anything was exhilarating.
I spent months learning and working on my other D's KJet and I'm happy for the experience but there is something about the elegant simplicity of the carb. I'm keeping all of the KJet parts that I removed and may one day convert it back or at least pass it on to the new owner if I get too old to mess with it. But I will never forget the day that engine went from junk yard ready to smooth idle in a few hours.
Carb, CFI, EFI, it's all good.
