I finally got the adjustable jets put in the Holley 94 carburetor. It came with .052" jets but I had already bored out the old jets with a 1/16" drill bit so I just left those in. They’re a pain to install.
The jet needles are hex head which is nice, they’re made to be tunable without taking off the carb when you have a Dual Power or Tri Power manifold. I’ve got it dialed in to what I think will work best. Just a slightly rich idle at 13.8:1 and when driving at full temp I’m averaging 14:1-15:1 so I’m very close to stoichiometric. I enriched the idle because when I decelerate it started to lean out past 16:1 and I didn’t want to risk Lean Knock. I think now that I’ve got it running cleaner I’ll see better liquid fuel economy.
Does it stick in wide open (which is not fun)? Or over the whole movement?
Sometimes the butterfly disc “scrapes” the inside of carb throat, could often be fixed by placing some washers between butterfly shaft and throttle lever for example, and adjusting in the way that throttle cable or linkage pulls straight on lever, not even a little sideways.
When i was about 20, i bought a 1973 Ford Galaxie, with a 351 cleveland in it. I drove the wreck home, on summer tires when snowing lightly, when close to home i put the pedal to the metal just for fun, the frayed throttle cable got stuck in the cable sheath-wide open throttle… sliding from one ditch to the other with oncoming traffic.
Before i had found that bad repaired ignition switch i’ve seen my short life passing for my inner sight… not to talk about how close it was i had to just throw away bout pants and drawers, not to be saved…
That could be it.
I’ve also noticed many new, out of the box, carburetors are a little hard to get the last bit back to idle, i guess it will “work itself into order” after a while.
I put a new Edelbrock in a Cadillac at work the other week, and it stayed on a irritating high idle every time i let go of the pedal.
It needed 3 return springs to solve it. Best had been some kind of “progressive” spring that lets go the more one gives throttle.
Most aftermarket carbs I see being put on have this same issue in my experience sometimes it’s the carb needs some wear in time, other times it’s the throttle cable coming to the linkage at a odd angle, not the factory geometry. Very prevalent issue with Webber carbs on Toyotas, the factory throttle linkage can be adapted to the carb with a kit and the issues is resolved. Many aftermarket throttle brackets for v8 applications are just generic enough to work but have the same issue. Cody with your carb located higher and back I suspect it’s a geometry issue the cable doesn’t want to return not the carb. Simple test take the cable off and slap the throttle and see if it returns, then ease into and out of the throttle and see if it returns by hand. If it does both times, then suspect the cable angle
I relocated my second return spring, the adapter arm has a little hole for it but it doesn’t work by itself in that spot.
The bigger spring is hooked closer to where the cable is attached and the little spring is closer to the shaft. This lightened my pedal and it still returns to the same idle.
Now that I’ve got it tuned closer to stoichiometric I can say for certain it runs a lot better. It tends to go to 15:1 at part throttle so I could maybe turn the needles just a hair fatter. It idles at 14.8:1 at a dead cold startup and drifts to 14:1. The biggest thing is there’s no stinky rich exhaust smell anymore, I have no catalytic converter or muffler besides the resonators and it’s also quitened down. I’d thought about getting a Carb Cheater, you can tune the carb a little rich and it bleeds in a controlled amount of air based on vacuum and AFR readings. Maybe if I hit the lottery.
I’ve been having a few neat ideas to do with the truck. I’ve thought about testing my old AC compressor to see if the clutch still works and perhaps converting it to a greased air compressor for Onboard Air.
I also ordered a cheap saddle blanket seat cover, because the original seat is fine but I’d like to keep it from getting messed up much further. Here’s what the seat cover looks like.
30 bucks from the Jungle site, says it fits all the good old bench style seats. I like the little kangaroo pouches it has at the front. Gives me a place to put my phone.
I also ordered an auxiliary battery tray for the truck to do a dual battery setup and give me more reserve for startups. I had to replace my battery just this week and we got a bonus so I bought two identical batteries. Group 75 or 78, I forget which exactly but they’re the same size to each other. 650 CCA, 80 some odd minutes of reserve. It helps that both of these batteries are the el cheapo types that have both top and side posts, I can connect the batteries together with the side post terminals.
Nice choice of pattern. I did the same thing and purchased seat cover as well.
I’ve also wanted to install a second battery to power my electrics and maybe an inverter.
I would just be hesitant to connect both batteries in parallel. It would be ok but with a charge controller each battery is separate. One could power the functions of the truck and the other would power your accessories. Anyway its just another option.
Luckily my truck already had a charge controller and circuit breaker from a previous dual battery setup. All I need to do is get another battery.
I’d thought about that, too. This truck wasn’t a “heavy half ton” or a camper truck so it didn’t have the wiring or trays for that. But one nice thing is they marked all the spots for an aux battery tray so I can just add my own rivet nuts.
I might eventually go for a charge controller with my aux being a marine battery for more storage. I can always use that second battery in the Mazda B2000 when I get that motor swapped over.
Got the auxiliary battery tray installed, 3 out of the 5 bolts are actual bolts. The two in the radiator support are 1/4" self tappers. Also added a cheapo saddle blanket seat cover, the original was actually decent besides the vinyl starting to harden. It’s good enough for the girls we go out with.
I don’t like the weird rope and loop attachment of the cover, I might hog ring these in and cut all the strings out.
The saddle blanket covers are very nostalgic for me when Dad would take me with him in his old Ford to go grab haybales from the rickety barn at my cousin’s house, or to go see his horse riding friends.
