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There should be no need for any grease, oil, or any other lubricant on the linkages. If the carburetor linkages are all free and operate properly, I would try and re-seat the throttle plates in the bores. With the idle speed screw adjustment backed off to where the stop does not contact the screw, loosen the screws that fasten the throttle plates to the shafts, then carefully seat the plates in the throttle bores. Don't force anything, just let them rest centered in the bores. Tighten the screws and test for free action.



(o{}o)

Thanks JW,

One thing I could not remove were any of the plates. The screw heads would start to strip right away so I backed off on removing them. I don't want to snap a head off and have to drill and tap that small shaft.

Yes, the screws are small and can be difficult to loosen. Are the throttle plates seated in the bores? You can check by looking through the bottom of the carburetor with the plates in fully closed position. You should not be able to see any light around the edges.

(o{}o)

Quote:
Believe most of those throttle plate screws are slightly peened in place so they do not accidentally come out. Yours may be done that way so do be careful.

I believe there is a small clarification needed on the plates. On most carbs, no light visible is fact because you can unscrew the idle adjustments. The way I read the adj procedure on that carb, since there is no fast idle cam which can be taken out of the way, the plates are held open slightly by bending the linkage to get the .023 throttle opening. In that case I do believe you will see a tiny sliver of light thru the throttle opening unless you take care to move or open the choke linkage or whatever else it takes on the choke to release that part of the mechanism to let the plates close.

Howard, excellent advice. I do not advise removing the screws because of the slight peening; just loosen them a bit so the plates can be seated. Then carefully retighten. The binding may not be the throttle plates, and is probably not the source of the problem. But, is something to check. Have a nice day and thanks.

(o{}o)

Thanks guys for the advice. I took the linkage off that goes from the throttle plates to the metering rods. The plates seemed to move freely except at extreme open position where there was a bit of grab. Nothing the spring on the pedal couldn't handle.

The metering rods were a different story. They were grabbing pretty good. I sprayed some cleaner in there and it freed up better.

With the strong pedal spring still attached I thought all should be well. Reinstalled the carb and I couldn't get the car to fire unless I sprayed carb cleaner down the throat. Now it's acting like it's not getting gas.

Sigh...hard to diagnose things when you only get a half hour with the car every couple of days.

I'll try again another day.

Hmmm a little gas in the tank and we are running again! Sad part is I seem to still have the high idle problem. Better let it run more when I can to see how she does.

May have found something. Let the car warm up and played with the throttle linkage under the hood. Went back and forth for a while. I noticed the engine would race but if I forced the linkage forward the car would idle low again.

Went to the front of the car to lower the idle a little and banged my head into the edge of the hood! Ouch!

After that I suddenly noticed the thin linkage support bolted to the firewall that I had put the rubber behind looked bent! Tried to straighten it out with some pliers.

Now the throttle plates appear to not hang up anymore and the car goes to low idle when I take my foot off the gas!

I call it progress but the carb still has a hesitation when I hit the gas hard.

7-8-15

So far, the idle has been working pretty good. I can kick it down to low idle easily and it will not race anymore if I take my foot off the gas.

The big problem is that if I give it any kind of aggressive throttle other than being gentle, the car will die unless I let off the gas.

I decided to try that old vacuum gauge I bought at a garage sale. I found a tee fitting attached to the manifold under the rear of the carb. I assumed this is where the gauge should go so I attached it with the proper fittings.

With the car running, the gauge was just shy of the green "normal" zone and said that the car had "late ignition timing".

I was surprised to see this because the timing light said it was correct. I loosened the clamp on the distributor and moved it slightly until the gauge was in the green and fairly steady.

Now I have 19 inches of vacuum which is supposed to be good. The needle does bounce sometimes closer to 20.

I briefly tried the mixing screws on the carb to see if I get a higher reading or if it would be more steady but no luck.

All of this did not help the issue with giving the car hard throttle. I tried and the car died and would not restart. After waiting a half hour, I tried to start it and it fired right up.

I'm almost at the end of my rope and may need to take it to a real mechanic. I must be missing something somewhere.

I also have the same ticking noise that I think is a lifter. I was hoping a fresh oil change would help it but no luck.

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When the engine is off, have you had someone do the hard throttle while you looked down inside the carb to see if gas is being forcefully squirted from the acc pump jets. It almost sounds as if the thing is not getting extra gas when you step on it -- like the acc pump is not doing its job. I'm not a carb guy but I know that the pump leather can crack or even turn inside out so gas isn't delivered and that the check valve can be missing or installed incorrectly so the gas is going back into the float chamber instead of out the jets.