Holley 4 Barrel Floats Sinking?

[Dualie]

nope just ethanol of unknown origins crammed in where good old gas was. I'm thinking its up wards of 15% and theres NOTHING you or I can do about it

 

[chevota84]

I think we're 10 or 15%. You can still get clear fuel in some places up here, I make sure that anything I don't use all the time gets it.

 

[td25c]

Add "Stabil", remove ethanol. Ethanol absorbs water out of the air, water/ethanol makes carbs fuzzy.

Thanks Delmer , I will try adding " Stabil " to the tank . I remember this issue came up on another thread but could not recall the easy solution .

My fuel supplier offers " recreational gas " . Not supposed to have any ethanol in it . I guess that would be another option .

So far the Ford truck is the only piece of gas burning equipment I've had this trouble with . I also suspect type / "mix" of casting material in the carb plays a part in this problem ?

 

[Delmer]

I also suspect type / "mix" of casting material in the carb plays a part in this problem ?

Unless it's plastic, the different metals just change the color of the fuzz, red, white or green. Recreational gas works, but here it's about $.50 more per gallon. Be sure that's what's in it if it's sitting for months. Two tanks would work to.

 

[kenh]

Sea Foam is a very good additive too.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I have read the internet stories about it but I do not think it is as bad as they say. I still have my weed whacker, chain saw, lawn mowers, generators, and of course I work on lots of other people's generators and I don't see any problems I can point to as ethanol. Not to say I think it is any good, I think people should eat corn and put petroleum in their gas tanks, or better yet let the market figure it out, but here are the major carb failures I see often:

- Machine left to sit in the rain, water goes into bottom of tank, clogs up float bowl with galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals that were never meant to see water

- Machine subjected to dirty fuel, dirt/bugs in gas tank plug fuel lines, etc.

- Machine left to sit a year with fuel valve open, little by little gas from tank flows by gravity and gets distilled off in the float bowl until all that is left is a brown substance resembling dried up wood varnish

This last one is a bit annoying as the horrible smelling MTBE stuff they used to use in the 90s and early 2000s seemed to dry into a white powder that never bothered anything, but the stuff before that dried to the brown varnish like we have now so I guess things go around full circle sometimes.

Birkin this hippie gas blend we have in CA has to much methanol in it. Methanol is hygroscopic and will pick up moisture, well guess what happens to that moisture, it collects. bottoms of fuel tanks and carburetors are the usual places that you're sure to find its footprints.

A friend has a mid 80's corvette they bought brand new, California car zero corrosion. Other than the bottom of the fuel tank that started leaking while they were out of country for a month. Nice surprise coming back to a house that wreaks of gasoline and a car sitting in giant puddle of it in the same room with the water heater.

 

[Old Doug]

Do your self a favor and replace that holley with something else. They are not a good carb to be use on a truck . They dont like dust and they dont like seting around.

 

[td25c]

Recreational gas works, but here it's about $.50 more per gallon. Be sure that's what's in it if it's sitting for months. Two tanks would work to.

That's about what the recreational gas cost's in my area . That might be the best way to go . Like you say , fill the tank with RC gas when we park it .

 

[td25c]

So far feel pretty good about the Holley rebuild / cleanout on the Ford truck . Starts nice & runs like a champ . She's ready for the Indy 500 .

I guess if I had to buy a new carb for the truck I would probably go with this ... https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/classic_holley/parts/0-1850C


This was always my favorite all around tire smoking carb ... https://www.holley.com/products/fue...le_pumper/classic_double_pumper/parts/0-4779C

This would look cool on the 1966 Chevy C 60 dump truck ... https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/specialty_carburetors/parts/300-521




Birken , Forgot to ask , did you get the IH truck up & running ?

 

[chevota84]

The holley truck avengers are a pretty nice all around carb. They fixed a lot of the common issues and set them up better for offroad.

 

[td25c]

Yeah chevota84 , That looks like good option for carb replacement on a truck .
https://www.holley.com/products/fue.../avenger/off-road_truck_avenger/parts/0-90670

 

[Dualie]

I had a lot of seal failures in my smaller equipment in the first couple years, smaller generators, welders, cut off saws. Ever since i if I'm going to let them sit for any sort of time i drain the carb bowls and fuel tanks.

 

[Birken Vogt]

The truck is sitting there holding the dirt from blowing away for now.

I handed the carb off to another friend who is into stock car racing so he knows about this style carb and has the parts. It has several issues not solved by the standard rebuild kit so he may have to put a different bowl on the one end that is leaking and possibly the floats.

I called the local logging company who is known for keeping anything until the wheels fall off and then putting them back on but it sounds like they don't even have gas pots any more. They are getting pretty scarce 50 years after the fact as is anyone who knows how to work on them.

 

[td25c]

The truck is sitting there holding the dirt from blowing away for now.

I handed the carb off to another friend who is into stock car racing so he knows about this style carb and has the parts. It has several issues not solved by the standard rebuild kit so he may have to put a different bowl on the one end that is leaking and possibly the floats.

I called the local logging company who is known for keeping anything until the wheels fall off and then putting them back on but it sounds like they don't even have gas pots any more. They are getting pretty scarce 50 years after the fact as is anyone who knows how to work on them.

Hopefully your buddy can get the Holley back in line with proper parts & repairs and you get the IH truck back in action soon.

We still run several gas burner trucks & farm tractors so this stuff is second nature to me . Spent about 4 hours fixing the Holley on the Ford truck .

Oddly the Ford truck is the only one that had this trouble with the white paste " gunk" in the carb .:beatsme

 

[wilko]

I used to run Holleys a lot, they're prone to having a speck of dirt hold the needle and seat open. I usually had a filter right at the carb fuel inlet.

 

[farmerlund]

The best way I have found to keep gas engines from having carb problems is running some aviation gas in them. you can do 50/50 or 25/75% it is 100 octane low lead. I run it in everything. 5hp Hondas, chainsaws, weedeaters, wives 250 dirt bike, cars or trucks that don't get used a lot. AV 100LL is made to be super stable, can sit for years and still be good. Not like the crap we get from the pump now that is junk in 6 months.

I have a small 50 gal service tank I take to my local airport and fill. most small airports have credit card pumps. the cost is about $1 to $1.50 more per gal. but if you mix it, it will go a long way.

I have not had to clean or fix a carb for years. plus small engines start on first pull most of the time.

 

[RonG]

I always buy hytest for everything but my car/truck these days.I run a tank through them occasionally too.Back when we could by Amoco white gas I used it in everything.I find that the hytest keeps over the winter and longer without Stabil/octane booster etc and probably performs better too.Ron G

 

[Birken Vogt]

See the conclusion of this saga here

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/holley-carb-wizards.59855/page-2#post-682644