Sigh.. Weber issues.

[Spike]

Alright, here's everything that's happened since I got my Weber installed:

Originally put it on wrong, had major leak at one of the gaskets. Crazy idle. Fixed, put on brand-new gasket and made sure to get all the gasket goo off (this time around - dumb me). Plugged the few vac. lines I missed. Had 900 idle after a very small amount of tinkering with the idle screw.

Got on highway.

STUCK THROTTLE. 3K RPM AND RISING (pedal literally STUCK ON FLOOR, put foot under pedal and pulled up). Put on AutoZone return spring, MacGyver'd to a random line along the firewall, and haven't had stuck throttle since.. atleast not what it was doing, anyway .

Now. If I start it up, push the throttle all the way back (manually via carb, to lowest RPM), it will idle at 1200 steady. Will not move. Here's the problem now:

Touch gas. Goes to 1900-2100RPM when you let off. Does not go back down. Pop hood, manually make throttle go back to normal, drops to 1200 steady. I can not get it to return properly!!! I have made sure I didn't overtighten the bottom nuts, fiddled with the throttle nut, loosened and tightened, does not help. Sticks at 2000ish no matter what.

The 2000 idle thus makes the RPM too high to reverse out of driveway/parking spot (grinds and makes me cry and feel awful when I try to reverse, yes I am using clutch LOL).

....help.

-Joe

[Spike]

New .100 main jets, still have to get secondaries (as I said, I'm dumb). Put those on today and the drive-ability went way up (and actually driving, it runs fantastic).. except for the messed up idle.

I had to re-jet fast, I originally had 27MPG on 7 gallons of gas. That hurt.

[1chrisapple]

Im not totally convinced on weber seems to me they need to be tinkeres with to much i cant get mine 100%and it just gets me pissed off.bc its supposed to be the upgrade but idk.think on tryin an escort carb. Mine runs good but its hard to start and sometimes randomly dies then have to pump the pedal to death to get it running agian

[william]

escort carb =weber.

[TominMO]

Im not totally convinced on weber seems to me they need to be tinkeres with to much i cant get mine 100%and it just gets me pissed off.bc its supposed to be the upgrade but idk.think on tryin an escort carb. Mine runs good but its hard to start and sometimes randomly dies then have to pump the pedal to death to get it running agian

Random dying might mean a fuel pump or fuel filter issue. The carb shouldn't be doing that. It might need a reuild tho, and the rebuild kits are cheap. Also, of course you may not have your jetting optimized, whether mains, air correction, emulsion tubes, or idle jets. In fact, if it's randomly dying I'd look at the idle jets first, along with the rebuild kit.

If anyone has their B3 running excellently with a Weber, maybe they could share what their setup is.

[bravekozak]

Check for binding on the throttle cable. Make sure it's a straight pull on the cable ear on the carb. Adjust the position of the cable for full range. Have someone depress the accellerator pedal to the floor to see if it has to be bent a little.

[Spike]

Sorry, forgot to mention. Full range of motion (straight) with throttle cable. First thing I checked. If throttle is all the way back to zero, there is still play with the throttle cable (so not too tight), maybe half an inch.

[FestYboy]

you should be able to idle that engine at 400 steady, as it is, you're 3x that speed, something is wrong.


just to verify, you're NOT attending FM7, correct?

[Spike]

I dunno lol. Depends on how long my savings last.

If I don't dip into savings BEFORE FM7, we'll likely try to attend. I was used to spending a lot more per week. Maybe I'll sell some stuff.

-Joe

[zoe60]

Is your choke hooked up? If you tighten the nut that holds the throttle linkage too much it can get the throttle plate in the wrong position on the shaft. Double check for vacuum leaks. Every engine is different but I don't think mine would even run with .100 mains in it. I've got a B6 mind you but with a .135 primary main I cruise at about a 15 AFR. I'm suspecting .100 may be too small. What size is your main idle jet?

[bravekozak]

Unhook the throttle cable from the carb. Does it idle low? If you move the throttle lever with your hand, does it return quickly to the same low idle? Nothing binding? Is it a repeatable and smooth action?

Is your computer unhooked? If not, is the barometric wire (blue/orange) to the distributor module still plugged in?

[Festy46]

Since you "fiddled with the throttle nut", make sure the butterflies haven't been forced to one side of the throttle bore holes. They should be centered in the holes. If you have the throttle shaft pushed to one side or the other, the butterflies could be rubbing the inside of the carb. Take a small hammer and lightly tap the end of the shaft and see if you can get it to loosen up.

[Spike]

ECA; still plugged in. Going to find a way to contort myself and unhook it tomorrow (I know I never got back to you, sorry. I got under there, felt something pop, and said HECK WITH DIS). Maybe I'll get one of those girls from your other post, Brave! Or more than one, if they're willing.

Electric choke; Have not yet hooked up. Wanted everything else to be smooth before needing it, then just haven't gotten around to it.

Throttle nut: I'll check tomorrow morning, but everything appeared to me moving correctly when I had the filter off the other day. I will check clearance!

Main jets: Someone elsewhere used them, and towards cruising (I do not have a way to check AFR) it drives really nice. Don't have to give it much gas to move (though of course the idle is high). Idle jets are what came with it, I believe .60s?

Vacuum: This in lies the problem. Wish I had a vacuum tester. Thinking back, I had a high idle before (and could not get it to go down, also!), but we had that carb on for literally a week and a half before taking mostly everything off. I have all nonessentials from the PASSENGER SIDE engine bay removed, but some of the DRIVER'S SIDE is still there. I will be removing all nonessentials there tomorrow, with the exception of the carbon canister and.. something else. I forget. :p

Thank you all for your posts and suggestions. Will report back tomorrow with any new findings.

-Joe

[denguy]

We put a stock Ford-Escort-Holly-weber on an 88 carbed festy. Had problems with the electric choke. Got the NAPA manual choke cable conversion kit . Took some tinkering and patience but got it to work. Doesn't need much choke except when first starting. Then good for the rest of the day unless it sits. Got about 36 mpg with the 4spd, now has a 5spd but haven't driven it yet to check mpg.

[1chrisapple]

My problem turns out to be low compression lol go figure