I ran a DE this past weekend. It seemed that with each session, idle became a bit rougher and slower. By the end of the day, a few friends said it sounded like I was running on 3 cylinders coming back into the paddock. I suspect a dirty fuel filter and /or clogged idle jets. WOT was pretty reasonable.

Where are the idle jets on these carbs? Do I need to pull the top half off to get to them? If so, do I need a need gasket to reassemble? I have no idea if they have even been split and Jake built the motor about 4 years ago.

Thanks and any help.

Hal

The idle jets can get cloged, easy to remove tough. In a duel carb layout they are high on the carb to the outside . Unscrew the brass screw , it should have an "O" ring behind it, the idle jet is pressed in behing this screw. Pull it out , it looks like the end of a ball point pen. There is a very small hole, human hair size, in the end. Blow it out. when you see how small it is you can see how it can get blocked.

Ahhh. . . On the outside of the body!!! Great news. I wasn't quite up for disassembling them this weekend. Thanks.

specificly, the idle jet holders are the 2 screw heads located on either side of the fuel inlet. mind the 2 little o-rings when you pull them out.

k

One thing you can do is to get the car up to operating temp and then back out the idle jet carrier about a half to one full turn. If the engine stumbles then that jet is probably working OK, if nothing happens then that jet or the idle jet passage is probably clogged.

Hummmm. . . Great help, especially the photo. Any suggestions on what to remove to get reasonable access to the jets? The only one I consider "reasonable" is driver's side, front. The other three are totally blind for me.

Hal

You can't really see them, in the car, but you can feel them.
I have a stubby slot screwdriver that fits in there perfectly.
There's nothing to be removed that makes it any easier, you just have to do it.
After you've pulled the jet and holder out you can pull the jet out of the holder and look through the hole to confirm that it's not clogged anymore. The fuel flows from the end of the jet towards the holder so the chunk of dirt will be right there on the end, plugging the hole.

Thanks again. I just hate doing things "blind." But if I have to do it, I'll give it a shot, probably tomorrow.

Hal

tiny and short screw driver. it's a pain. putting them back in is a joy. with carb work any more i just remove the 8 nuts that secure the carbs to the intakes, the throttle cable and return spring, the 2 hoses, lift the whole package off in one piece and work on the bench. removing the setup takes about 10 minutes.

k

Check your fuel tank and visit BahnBrenner's gas tank thread. I bet you have a cruddy tank too.

Ok, get this! I ran out of time and didn't get to checking the other 3 idle jets. I was scheduled to take it to my wrench yesterday anyway so I'll let him deal with it.

So I get in and fire it up. Starts pretty normal but really rough as it had since the DE. It stalls once as I back out of the garage. I restart and I get one solid backfire through a carb. It restarts just fine. It immediately feels better and by the time it warms up, it is running the best it has since I've owned it.

Any ideas what may be happening here? Loose points? A reverse pressure clean of the jets with the backfire?

Crazy!


Hal