Got 'er running ! SOLVED !

Well I went out and pumped the accelerator with the car running, and it gave me three quick backfires out of the air-horn, then died.  Not really sure what that means, but I've got a feeling it might have something to do with the accelerator pump.

So I went and reset everything completely like it should be, tried a myriad of different suggestions, and none of them worked.  Now, I can't even get the throttle past a certain point before it starts bogging down.  I'm thinking about throwing this carb off of a bridge, and getting an aftermarket that can be serviced without having to get a degree from MIT to get it setup properly.  The Holley I had was exponentially simpler, but I was worried it was too much carburetor (500cfm) for the motor.

Now I'm beginning to worry about the integrity of the engine (it came with a turbo on it, so God knows what else the monkey did to it), and have completely lost faith in this carburetor.  We've got a mystery engine with unknown miles on it, and was put through God knows what before I bought it.  I'm not sure I want to dump $300 on a rebuilt carb, only to find that it won't fix the bogging problem either.  I've got a strong feeling that this '77 came with a bunch of smog and emissions parts from the factory, but Dirty Juan Sanchez-Menendez (not his real name) decided to rip it all out with a chainsaw, a roofing hammer, and a pry-bar.  For all I know, the absence of those systems is causing an imbalance that won't allow the car to run properly.

Rebuilt long-block i-6's are staggeringly expensive, considering you can get a smallblock Chevy V8 for around $850.  I think I recall somewhere that a small-block Chevy V8 would drop into a Gremlin with relative ease.  Can anyone confirm this ??

Bleh !


Edited by TH_Gremlin - Sep/17/2014 at 8:38pm

A small block Chevy can go into that Gremlin as easy as it did with my Hornet.  But changing an engine from what it was to what it was not designed for is never a drop in and always requires modifications. 

I have found having a manual to explain how things work takes a lot of guess work out of troubleshooting.  On Mike's Carburetor Service there is a manual you can print out on the Careter bbd caraburetor at the following URL:

tyrodtom: The car does not like to run (either at maintained throttle, or accelerate) with the choke wide-open at any engine temperature.  I have a manual choke on here now, and you have to find the "sweet spot" in the choke when you're driving it down the road.  This is true even once the engine has reached operating temperature.  I talked to one of my car-guy buddies yesterday at lunch, and he said the goon that put all that "performance" garbage on this engine might have put a lower-temperature thermostat in the engine, too.  I should have guessed.  The thermostat housing has been painted with glittery blue paint (of course.  Why stop the Dirty Sanchez routine with just the fuel induction system?).  So I went down to the parts house, and procured a 192-degree thermostat (someone correct me if that's not right), some of that high-temp RTV, and a rubber o-ring.  I'll probably get into it this evening, just to see what happens. 

THanks guys !!

I pulled the thermostat housing, and discovered that there was no thermostat in there at all.  I purchased a thermostat, and new thermostat housing (the old one was eaten up on the inside).  I went out and fired it up, and immediately noticed a leak when I revved the engine up.  I had trouble keeping the thermostat in place as I tried to install the housing, apparently I compromised the gasket a bit.  Whoopsie.

Results pending, but I don't expect this to fix the problem.  Actually... I do need to remove the sending unit from the fuel tank.  Maybe that will provide some insight about the possibility of crap in the tank or something.