Ask Bill about carbing a DeLorean and other K-Jet/Carb tangets

[content22207]

Are you sure your RPM relay didn't fail? I've had real bad luck running them more than 9-10 hours straight.

Pull the fuel line off the carb, let it hang down into a container of choice (motel ice bucket), then jump the pump. Flow is about the same as a garden hose barely cracked open -- fuel is not going to shoot out everywhere. If gas comes out, your pump is fine.

You can draw through a stationary fuel pump no problem -- install barbs and electrical terminals on your spare pump in advance so it can be spliced in right behind the original pump if necessary (just let it lay on top of the tank).

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Ashyukun]

Since the problems I had earlier this year with the fuel, I've been running a jumper that has the pump running whenever the key is on 'run'. Ironically after things on this trip I'm faintly convinced that it's not the RPM relay at all. I may put it back in so I don't have to worry as much about having the key on.

Frankly, I'm not even convinced that it was the pump OR the fuel line... After I'd replaced both, I was still not seeing fuel flow. I finally pulled the line off the carb itself and put it in a water bottle and fired up the pump, and then it started flowing properly. Before then, it was behaving like the line was getting pressurized but nothing would flow. It's behaving now, but it still makes me nervous... Whenever the compressor for the A/C would kick on and there'd be a hiccup in the engine's power my heart would skip a beat.

[Farrar]

Hey Bill, now that I've disconnected and removed the K-Jet wiring in the engine compartment, I plan on removing the Lambda box as well, but I can't tell where that light blue wire goes. Is it accessible for removal or should I just coil it up out of the way somewhere? I thought I'd ask since you've already done this on your car.

Trying to make as much room as I can for new 6AWG ground cables.

Thanks!

Farrar

[stevedmc]

Frankly, I'm not even convinced that it was the pump OR the fuel line... After I'd replaced both, I was still not seeing fuel flow.

Maybe I am missing something but did you replace the fuel filter? Its a $3 part at Autozone.

As far as the AC cycling and your engine loosing power, just bump up your idle during the summer. Simply turn on your AC and adjust your idle to about 900 with the compressor running. It will idle a little high when you aren't using the AC but where I live the AC is always on during the summer.

Once this summer heat is gone you can turn off the AC and adjust your idle for the winter. This is my strategy and it has been working fine.

[Ashyukun]

Maybe I am missing something but did you replace the fuel filter? Its a $3 part at Autozone.

As far as the AC cycling and your engine loosing power, just bump up your idle during the summer. Simply turn on your AC and adjust your idle to about 900 with the compressor running. It will idle a little high when you aren't using the AC but where I live the AC is always on during the summer.

Once this summer heat is gone you can turn off the AC and adjust your idle for the winter. This is my strategy and it has been working fine.

I replaced the fuel filter after the incident a few months back with a clear plastic one so I can see when there's fuel flowing and when not (what I really want is a flow sensor so I could set up a warning light in the cabin).

It's not that the A/C was causing idling problems, it's that when it kicks on you can feel it- and it feels somewhat like the carb starting to be starved of fuel...

[content22207]

A carb running dry is a very distinctive feeling. The engine does not stop instantaneously -- it shudders & stumbles for a few seconds, and sometimes even detonates as the mixture gets leaner & leaner. If your engine stops instantly, like flipping off a switch, the problem may well be ignition.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Ashyukun]

A carb running dry is a very distinctive feeling. The engine does not stop instantaneously -- it shudders & stumbles for a few seconds, and sometimes even detonates as the mixture gets leaner & leaner. If your engine stops instantly, like flipping off a switch, the problem may well be ignition.

Bill Robertson
#5939

I know- exactly why the A/C compressor kicking on was making me nervous- it felt like the engine starting to stumble as the carb ran dry, in other words the first sign that something might be wrong, and that I might need to be looking out for a safe place to get off the road very shortly.

It handled the drive up from Quakertown to Lehigh Mall to get my phone fixed without any problems including getting stuck in traffic. I also now know that the pump and the line should be good, so I know to focus on the stuff in the engine bay if I have problems again... which hopefully I won't.

There's a few hardware stores near the mall too, so I can track down the 1/8" NPT coupler that I need and some plastic tubing and potentially even stop by Harbor Freight to pick up a rotary tool to do some fixes for the annoying A/C water problem.

[content22207]

For what purpose is the tubing intended? Not all plastics can handle gasoline (or even worse -- gasohol).

If your engine ever stops again, and you suspect fuel delivery, pop the top off the carb *BEFORE* re-energizing the pump (you want to see what was in the bowl at the time it stopped). That is how I recently diagnosed a damaged pickup tube in one of my church's school buses. Drivers were reporting problems, but as soon as the fuel stopped sloshing around they were able to restart the bus and bring it back. I had to catch it red handed on the side of the road *BEFORE* the engine was restarted (bowl was totally dry, but as soon as the pump was re-energized fuel refilled it normally).

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Ashyukun]

For what purpose is the tubing intended? Not all plastics can handle gasoline (or even worse -- gasohol).

The tubing is to run a drain tube for the evaporator, so (hopefully) it just has to deal with water...

[content22207]

When you were stuck in traffic, was your car in an elevated curve? The tube that is supposed to cool the blower motor, but which usually just carries condensed water to it and rusts the bearings, will flood the passenger footwell if the driver's side of the car is elevated for too long. I rerouted mine to the outside world. It's a stupid idea anyway -- none of my other cars have hoses going from the heater/evaporator boxes to their blower motors (which is probably why the bearings in my other cars' blower motors haven't rusted).

I am assuming you already have the coil boot mod on the driver's side drain:
ACDrain2.jpg

Bill Robertson
#5939