Carb rebuild or buy new...

[grant.mckenzie]

Hi,

new to the forum - apologies in advance if newbie question. My boat has been neglected for a while and needs some TLC. First project is fuel supply - I need to squirt carb cleaner via the flame arrestor port to get the engine started currently. Carb and manual fuel pump are very corroded and there is no racor mounted.

I am planning on installing racor fuel/water separator, electrical fuel pump and either replace or rebuild the carb. If there are still issues a complete fuel transfusion seems to be a common recommendation.

Based on the attached photos, does anyone have any advice on if the carb corrosion is so advanced such that I should just buy a new one or if a rebuild is more appropriate?

I believe that the engine is a 1972 model Atomic 4.

All the best,
Grant.

[roadnsky]

Grant-
Welcome to the gang! You're in the right place.

Almost everything is salvageable given enough time, work and TLC.
That said, IF you've got the bucks, I'd suggest you get the new carb.
Then you've got no worries about such an important (and finicky) element of your A4.
Plus you can then rebuild/restore that old carb at your leisure to have as a spare. And you'll learn about it's inner workings while you're at it.

As with everything on this site...
YMMV.

[jacques debauche]

New Carburetor

I agree 100% - get a new carburetor, then rebuild the old one as a learning exercise, and if it works out OK, as a spare. As a a favor to the website, could you reduce the size of pictures attached to any future postings?

[irtrimble]

rebuild

I recently rebuilt the carburetor, using Moyer Marine rebuild kit. Took maybe 1 1/2 hours. Good diagrams with kit. Only recommendation is to be sure to have some small screwdrivers to get jets out.

[Dave Neptune]

Rebuild

Grant, I would suggest that you crack open the carb first as it is the krud on the inside that counts. Many times I have seen what looks much worse be very acceptable for a rebuild. The most important factor for rebuilding a carb is access to an air hose and a needle type air gun. With those you can work out almost everything.
A very important area to pay attention to are the transfer ports in the barrel of the carb near the butterfly valve. If you can get air through them you can probably get it out of everywhere else with ease.
Once clean if you have a good fuel delivery with filters and descent fuel you will have very little problems with such a simple carb.

Dave Neptune

[rigspelt]

I thought I had decent handyman skills and decided to rebuild the carb that came with this 1970s boat because of hard starting, which the PO warned me about. Ended up with a fuel leak into the throat, in spite of researching the whole procedure before doing the job and trying to be meticulous.I documented this in threads last year. Ended up buying a new carb from Don, which made the whole thing a lot easier. Just removed the old one and dropped in the new one after checking its jet adjust settings per the instructions. Engine fired up immediately first time and has been running perfectly since. Managed to sell the old carb for the price of the rebuild kit.

[hanleyclifford]

In rebuilding carburetors over the years I have found that the first requirement is cleanliness and the ability to clear passages; this means a good high pressure air supply. Also be prepared to do multiple assemblies because setting float levels is an art, not a science, and the settings given in the instructions are only a baseline.

[goatrock]

Giant carb photo

I copied the carb pic to Windows Explorer, then opened it up with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and the view is normal. I think this site is blowing up the posted pics somehow. I posted a pic once and the same thing happened. It was HUGE!

[wmmulvey]

Re: Rebuilding a carb

Grant,

Here is a excellent site with pic's for rebuilding a carb.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ultratom/carb_site/atomic_4_carb_rebuild.htm

Enjoy

Bill
Morgan 30
ESPA