Okay, so I'm trying to wake up a '72 dart that's been sitting since, oh, 1985. For the most part, she's a super clean car. Ran rough when I bought it, I figured the gas had turned to shellac.

After finishing the brakes (master cylinder had puked all over the firewall and column shift linkage back in '85), I figure its time to get her started and survey the damage the ravages of time and old gas have done. I drop a fresh battery in and turn the key. No fire.

As a matter of habit and hard lessons learned, I generally replace any part if I have to touch it once. So, I change the fuel pump, filter and soft lines (cheap fix so far). Crank her over again. Not getting fuel to the carb. I'm thinking, does the line need to be primed? Fuel pickup in the tank clogged? Soft lines at the tank rotten? Bad pump? So I start the grueling process of trial-and-error elimination. I bypass the tank by running hose directly into a 5 gallon Jerry Can (sp?) of fresh gasoline. Turn her over. Carb still dry. Filter on backwards? Nope. I take off the filter and get my face splashed by gas under pressure. Now it starts gettin' wierd.

I remove the hard line from the filter to the carb...BONE DRY...what the hell? Run some compressed air through it...clear. Hmmm. Bypass the filter with some hose. Crank her up. Nada. Carb and hard line STILL dry! Okay. Think. I remember on other cars I've had with Holley two barrels (The Dart's got a 1920) there is a brass basket filter at the inlet on the carb. Maybe that's plugged and is causing an "air block?" Sounds ridiculous but here goes. I loosen the nut at the inlet and out comes a needle and seat assembly. Well what do you know? Get some carb cleaner, jiggle the needle, rap it on the fender a coupla' times and she frees up. Hmmm. Put it back in, turn the key and purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Who knew?

Talking to some friends, we figure that varnished needle held off 5 - 10 psi!! Kooky, man.


So, the ol' Holley still needs a rebuild (she won't hold an idle). I'd prefer to just slap a fresh carb on there, but I know factory rebuilds can be bunk. Anybody have a preference? I have access to a "sonic tank" carb cleaner and I imagine the kits are readily available. What would you fellas do? Any recommendations for parts distributors? I like RockAuto.com.

Thanks.

BTW, I live 30 minutes from the Mopar 'Nats. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Eric

You can rebuild it

You have the technology

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The 6 million dollar carb............

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Ut oh....not the carb subject again, I'm still picking the burrs out of my butt from the last time.

Rebuild kits are readily available for the 1920, or there are a ton of sources for new or rebuildable Carter BBs on ebay....or get fancy and introduce her to the world of super six.

Where are you in Ohio? If you're near Cbus, zip on over to Kev's garage and we'll find a carb on the shelves here for ya.

Kevin

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63 Valiant 200 Signet Convertible 170/
63 Dart, 225/
68 A100 Pick-up 225/
2006 Mitsu Raider Quad Cab (Dakota) Mopar 4.7L
1992 Dodge Stealth RT (My Mid-Lifer) 3.0L 24V