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I recently acquired a 1982 C7 dump truck with a 366 that did not run. When I opened the hood, I was surprised to find a 4150EG Holley under the fiberglass! I should explain: I am (was) as VWAG guy since air cooled days, but have been deep in the diesel world for the last few decades.
The non-running issue was fuel puking out of the transfer tube between float bowls and oozing out of the top of the primary vent. Said carb lived inside of a huge ball of dirt and everything was just plain screaming REBUILD TIME. Now in over a half century of fixing things, I've NEVER worked on a Holley anything, so this was going to be a learning experience for sure. First thing I did was head to my storage shed to fetch my five gallon can of carb cleaner. Can HORRIBLY corroded, and (the NaOH active ingredient?) seemed to no longer be very effective. Thus, I went to NAPA and bought something labelled "carb and parts cleaner" that is little more than light petroleum solvent (and HIGHLY flammable). I also had some surfactant I was testing (for EOR) that supposedly started life as a very good parts cleaner, so I did one dip tray in 100% and one diluted 3:1 with water.
All three of these things did very little cleaning and required DAYS of soaking and brushing with a soft brass wire brush, so I doubt they did much of anything inside of fuel and air passages. WHAT do people use today as a carb cleaner?
BTW: It's back in the Chevy and running reasonably well. I can strongly suggest one does NOT buy their carb kits for such at NAPA. Worst quality crap I have ever encountered, and took a trip to local fuel systems shop to get decent O-rings for that same, STILL leaking transfer tube (easy fix, but quite disappointing after putting in new O-rings that didn't fit worth a darn). Will now chase down the wiring for the governor and see if that can be made to work as intended.
The non-running issue was fuel puking out of the transfer tube between float bowls and oozing out of the top of the primary vent. Said carb lived inside of a huge ball of dirt and everything was just plain screaming REBUILD TIME. Now in over a half century of fixing things, I've NEVER worked on a Holley anything, so this was going to be a learning experience for sure. First thing I did was head to my storage shed to fetch my five gallon can of carb cleaner. Can HORRIBLY corroded, and (the NaOH active ingredient?) seemed to no longer be very effective. Thus, I went to NAPA and bought something labelled "carb and parts cleaner" that is little more than light petroleum solvent (and HIGHLY flammable). I also had some surfactant I was testing (for EOR) that supposedly started life as a very good parts cleaner, so I did one dip tray in 100% and one diluted 3:1 with water.
All three of these things did very little cleaning and required DAYS of soaking and brushing with a soft brass wire brush, so I doubt they did much of anything inside of fuel and air passages. WHAT do people use today as a carb cleaner?
BTW: It's back in the Chevy and running reasonably well. I can strongly suggest one does NOT buy their carb kits for such at NAPA. Worst quality crap I have ever encountered, and took a trip to local fuel systems shop to get decent O-rings for that same, STILL leaking transfer tube (easy fix, but quite disappointing after putting in new O-rings that didn't fit worth a darn). Will now chase down the wiring for the governor and see if that can be made to work as intended.