Thread: Cleveland 302 Carburettor Dies under Load

Hello All,

I am back home with a Bosch coil in my possession. I went back to the store after driving a couple of blocks where I bought some other goodies. The box and the ignition coil said it was made in Brazil. According to the local Autobarn people the Bosch GT Coils - painted fire engine red that were made in Germany are not available any more. The coil said that it required a ballast resistor and there was nothing in the box apart from the coil. They blokes at Autobarn rang up a local Ford guru and apparently the XA have a resistor wire integrated as part of their standard loom.

I also bought spark plug lead clips. I will soon see if they will be long enough to feed through the clips in their original position and still connect correctly to where they belong.

I also grabbed a couple of carburettor cleaning spray cans.

Kind regards
Lionel

Love the nostalgic carby chat. In 1990 on a gap year overseas myself and a few friends bought a 70’s Chevy Malibu 2 door coupe in California with a small block V8 and column gear change. I remember it was the smallest of the possible engine options listed in the manual that went up to 454.

Anyways, it was plenty powerful and fuel guzzly enough and we set off on our adventures. On the highway to Vegas an enormous backfire on the overrun caused the middle muffler to balloon and split on the seam and a visit to Midas. With a new muffler we headed across to Albuquerque and same thing happened although Midas did replace kindly under warranty and then ripped up the warranty!

At that point I worked out that immediately you leave the Cali coast you are seriously increasing altitude and the thing was running rich as hell. Unfortunately the carby was sealed and you could not rejet it. Changing the carby was not within our non existent budget.

With careful throttle control keeping it just cracked open on the downhill bits of highway travel you could avoid the backfire. From there we went to ‘mile above sea level’ Denver at which point the car was producing about 50hp and blocking traffic on the mountain roads which required first gear and foot to the floor. We were like the guys out of Dumb and Dumber as irate ‘modern’ cars passed us.

Next stop was downhill to sea level Texas and magically the car was back to normal.

Obviously not something I had ever thought about growing up in Australia so I’ve always wondered before fuel injection was normal how people dealt with this in driving across America in carburettor cars?

Hello All,l

I just had my first very interesting encounter with Bluey. I was about to have to change the van's name to blacky

Yes -the issue with the Holley carburettor is that it is flooding. So V8 Ian was correct.

This situation allows a nice store of fuel to be kept in the carburettor.

Then the motor backfired through the carburettor.

I happened to glance over the bonnet and I noticed grey wisps of what suspiciously looked like smoke tendrilling its way out from under the bonnet.

So I turned all the electrics off - one source of fire ignition removed. I was a volunteer bushfire fighter for some time before my eyes went.

Did I mention how the bonnet release sometimes sticks. In the meantime my suspicion that something was on fire under there was confirmed.

Bluey is out in the paddock out of immediate reach of my water supply. It takes time to collect hoses and join them together.

Luckily, I had just filled a 10 litre container of water to top up the radiator with. There was still plenty of water left in the container.

So I doused where the flames were obvious. Then since the previously nice and pretty air cleaner was smouldering - I removed that too.

Tomorrow I will be off to the local fire extinguisher place and one will be kept in a handy spot.

This was my very first engine fire. It reminded me of how someone posted up link on AULRO that led to a YouTube clip of an American standing by as his four wheel drive burnt to the ground - while out in the middle of no-where.

Looks like a carburettor rebuild kit will be on its way shortly. I just bought a couple of cans of carburettor cleaner.

The coil has been replaced and the battery has been checked.

Well that was an auspicious start of Bluey ownership - Not. Certainly a memorable one though!

I think I might go for a stroll back into the paddock - la - la - lah nothing to see here!

Kind regards
Lionel

Nitro-cellulose lacquer thinner is the best and cheapest carb cleaner.

Does your jigger have a four barrel manifold with an adaptor plate to reduce it to a two barrel for that Holley? Those 350 Holleys used to be fitted to six cylinder engines like Holdens and Falcons and Chrysler Hemi 6's supposedly for economy. I reckon one would be at bit tidgey for a 302 V8. Not a performance carb at all. Go right through that ignition system from start to finish and you may solve most of the problems.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Nitro-cellulose lacquer thinner is the best and cheapest carb cleaner.

Does your jigger have a four barrel manifold with an adaptor plate to reduce it to a two barrel for that Holley? Those 350 Holleys used to be fitted to six cylinder engines like Holdens and Falcons and Chrysler Hemi 6's supposedly for economy. I reckon one would be at bit tidgey for a 302 V8. Not a performance carb at all. Go right through that ignition system from start to finish and you may solve most of the problems.

Hello BigBjourn,

While a 600 CFM quad carburettor may suit the engine better I will not be keeping that engine in the vehicle. As long as the 350 Holley starts the engine and provides drive to vehicle so it can be moved around until the transplant - I will be happy with it.

When it comes time to sell the 302 motor it will be mounted on an engine stand - hooked up to a couple of gauges and people will be able to see and hear it running. Once they pay for it they are free to choose what ever carburettor or manifold they like.

I will be working with whatever gets the 302 operational and keeps it being able to move the van around, until the diesel transplant is ready. At this stage it is not "Fit for Purpose" - so I am working on amending that situation.

Kind regards
Lionel

A 7448 (350 ) Holley will work wonderfully with a 302 once tuned up. Please remember that fuel was a lot cheaper in the old days and in America where Holleys were designed and used.
You need to get the eniine tuned up properly to get the best mileage you can.
You will need to order a float seperately, you wont get a float in a carby kit. The kit should have instructions as to how to assemble the carb, do blow out all the holes everywhere to make sure there are no blackages.
You will need to check the timing as well and remove the vacuum advance line before setting the timing and replace when adjusted correctly.
All holleys of that shape work on the same principles so any youtube should cover what you are doing

Ian
Bittern

Originally Posted by ian4002000

A 7448 (350 ) Holley will work wonderfully with a 302 once tuned up. Please remember that fuel was a lot cheaper in the old days and in America where Holleys were designed and used.
You need to get the eniine tuned up properly to get the best mileage you can.
You will need to order a float seperately, you wont get a float in a carby kit. The kit should have instructions as to how to assemble the carb, do blow out all the holes everywhere to make sure there are no blackages.
You will need to check the timing as well and remove the vacuum advance line before setting the timing and replace when adjusted correctly.
All holleys of that shape work on the same principles so any youtube should cover what you are doing

Ian
Bittern

Hello Ian,

Thank you for your information - especially about having to order a float.

The most work the 303 engine will do for me will be to move the van from the paddock to the shed. I very much doubt whether any bitumen will be travelled by me with that engine in the van.

Sorry to disappoint any one.

My single purpose for the 302 is to be able to turn the ignition key have the engine start and keep it running when I select either D or R on the auto box. Also, for the van to move where I want it to go so it can be worked on and then move itself so it can be parked up until the next day's work to begin. I want to keep the space in my shed free for overnight storage of my daily driver.

Thank you for confirming about not having to find a very select YouTube clip range.

Kind regards
Lionel

you can solder or epoxy the float to get you to limping.