Rusted Out 1970 850 Spider Fix-Up

dllubin said:
I'm having a little trouble following the photos. I see what looks like an idle speed adjusting screw on the last photo. Is that the one that is still there (screw a)? I would also expect an idle mixture screw near the base of the carb for each barrel
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Sorry, I was not very clear. The last picture shows what I SHOULD have. The picture above it shows the broken one I CURRENTLY have. The idle adjustment screw is completely snapped off.
 
Also, if anyone has a spare clip that is used to clip on the throttle rod, I need one of those as well. Thanks!

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I know that this may be a bit of a kludge, but have you considered adjusting the length of the throttle rod as a temporary fix? It looks like there may be a fair amount of thread to play with but I guess what is key with this approach is that there is something pushing against it on the other end. I know this would work on my X1/9 because at one time I had the opposite problem. I could adjust the idle speed screw on the carb with no effect - turned out the linkage rod was set too long and was preventing the idle speed from going down.
 
dllubin said:
I know that this may be a bit of a kludge, but have you considered adjusting the length of the throttle rod as a temporary fix? It looks like there may be a fair amount of thread to play with but I guess what is key with this approach is that there is something pushing against it on the other end. I know this would work on my X1/9 because at one time I had the opposite problem. I could adjust the idle speed screw on the carb with no effect - turned out the linkage rod was set too long and was preventing the idle speed from going down.
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Hmmm...I do love a good kludge. I don't want to mess with the nylon attachment point, as I think it would love to break. Let me think on this.

But, if someone does have the right part, I am interested!
 
Daniel, I have a couple of spare motors here that came with my parts car. Let me see if I have that piece (unbroken) available. I would certainly have a whole carb, too.
 
khnitz said:
Daniel, I have a couple of spare motors here that came with my parts car. Let me see if I have that piece (unbroken) available. I would certainly have a whole carb, too.
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Thank you so much for looking. The correct part would be ideal, as opposed to what I have been formulating in my noggin.
 
Hi Daniel, here are some pictures of the extra OEM carb I have, as well as close-ups of the actual part that is broken on yours, I believe.
 

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Ok, time to repair that carb piece. Let me stress that I am doing this just to get it running...as soon as I can get the correct piece, this is outta here.

First, cut a piece of heavy sheet metal. Still got lots of that around!

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Second, make sure that the metal you are working with is steel and not pot metal! I checked it with a magnet. Once that was determined, I bent the metal and welded away! If you do not have a wire feed welder, get one. They are so darn useful! After failing to get good penetration the first time, I welded again, and success! Quick drill and tap, and we are ready to go!

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And here it is installed. My angle was a little off, but that will not hurt anything. Seems to work...screw goes up and down, and the plate goes up and down!

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It will work for now!
 

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Well, after a 2 day battle, I got the car running. However, there is a problem. My efforts to desludge the gas tank must have failed, as the fuel pump was so sludged up it would not work. I disassembled it, and scraped the gunk out of it, and got it working again. But the fuel filter I put on between the pump and the carb is looking mighty dirty already. Rats.

So, here is what I am going to do. A fuel filter before the pump and after the pump, and keep spares in the car. See if I can "wait out" whatever yuck is still in the tank. This should be enough for me to get it running correctly and drive it a bit. Then I can decide if I need to pull the tank again.

I might be able to drain the tank as well. That might be a better option after I drive it a bit and get it all in solution.
 
Daniel Gibson said:
Well, after a 2 day battle, I got the car running. However, there is a problem. My efforts to desludge the gas tank must have failed, as the fuel pump was so sludged up it would not work. I disassembled it, and scraped the gunk out of it, and got it working again. But the fuel filter I put on between the pump and the carb is looking mighty dirty already. Rats.

So, here is what I am going to do. A fuel filter before the pump and after the pump, and keep spares in the car. See if I can "wait out" whatever yuck is still in the tank. This should be enough for me to get it running correctly and drive it a bit. Then I can decide if I need to pull the tank again.

I might be able to drain the tank as well. That might be a better option after I drive it a bit and get it all in solution.
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I had a similar problem when I put my car back in service after several decades. I thought I had cleaned out the tank, and the car ran fine for about a week. Then, one day I went to start it and no luck. I went to the engine compartment and both my pre and post pump filters were plugged. Apparently it took a few days of soaking in gasoline for all the crap I did not see when I first cleaned the tank to go into solution. My pre filter was a Fram that did not do much filtering at all but fortunately the WIX 12um post filter saved the carbs. My guess is that your tank could get worse before it gets better. It might be easier to just clean it out. I had really good luck cleaning my tank with OxiClean (the laundry stuff). I discovered it on some motorcycle sites where they need to clean their tanks without destroying the paint job. I was pretty amazed at how well it worked, and it is biodegradable.
 
dllubin said:
I had a similar problem when I put my car back in service after several decades. I thought I had cleaned out the tank, and the car ran fine for about a week. Then, one day I went to start it and no luck. I went to the engine compartment and both my pre and post pump filters were plugged. Apparently it took a few days of soaking in gasoline for all the crap I did not see when I first cleaned the tank to go into solution. My pre filter was a Fram that did not do much filtering at all but fortunately the WIX 12um post filter saved the carbs. My guess is that your tank could get worse before it gets better. It might be easier to just clean it out. I had really good luck cleaning my tank with OxiClean (the laundry stuff). I discovered it on some motorcycle sites where they need to clean their tanks without destroying the paint job. I was pretty amazed at how well it worked, and it is biodegradable.
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Did you yank your tank? I hate to pull it all out again. Ugh.
 
How about filling the tank with gasoline, letting it sit for a few days and then let it drain into an gas can by gravity with a paper coffee filter or two to filter the result. You could do this a few times to try to get as much of the gunk out. You could even pressurize the tank from the top either from the fill or if you have a return line using an air pump to pressurize the line to speed up the outflow.

I wouldn't want to have to pull the tank unless there was no other way around it. Do you have a USB or similar camera you could have a look into the tank with?
 
dllubin said:
I did. It did not take long. Sorry I didn't do it the first time.
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I did pull mine, and I cleaned it as best I could. Those darn baffles really make about half the tank accessible. But this tank was really bad. What I could see looked good before I put in the sealer.
 
kmead said:
How about filling the tank with gasoline, letting it sit for a few days and then let it drain into an gas can by gravity with a paper coffee filter or two to filter the result. You could do this a few times to try to get as much of the gunk out. You could even pressurize the tank from the top either from the fill or if you have a return line using an air pump to pressurize the line to speed up the outflow.

I wouldn't want to have to pull the tank unless there was no other way around it. Do you have a USB or similar camera you could have a look into the tank with?
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I did get a camera like that for my birthday! Maybe time to put it to use.
 
I forgot the seatbelts! Duh! So, go to put them on, and oops...this car only came with lap belts, and the three point belts I bought will not fit. So, I broke out some lap belts I had removed from the Amphicar when the kids got too big to fit in it. They should work just fine.

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Now, back to cogitating about the gas situation.
 
Are you sure that there are not the upper mounting holes? Many cars from that era (including X’s) had the threaded hole next to the door. Though given how far you have had the car apart I suspect you would know :)

Alternatively I have noticed you have a welder and have demonstrated some minor amount of skill using it...
 
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