Carter RT-08 problem

[Touring29]

The day before our big car show the car died on my wife but she got it running and nursed it home. The brass bowl Carter was flooding big time.

 Back story is the gas tank had developed a small leak and had I pulled it off and discovered the baffle was completely broke loose and just bouncing around in the tank. I cut a hole in the top big enough to get the mig gun in then cleaned the inside of the tank and welded the baffle in. Then I had my son weld the piece back in the top (he welds for a living) then sealed the tank with KBS sealer using their kit and following the instructions to a T. The sealer dries hard as a rock and the fuel coming out is now completely clean.

Thinking I had got something in the fuel line when I pumped the tank out that stuck the needle valve I took the bowl and float off. Nothing not even a speck. Put it back together and no improvement. Took it back apart and lowered the float level, no improvement. I took it off and hooked a long fuel line from the pump to it and set it over a bucket with the bowl off. It works as it should, spraying gas out of the needle and seat when I let the float drop and when I gently close it it shuts off the fuel. I checked the fuel pressure and it has less than 1 lb.

I finally gave up and put on a Carter BB-1 that came with the spare motor I bought. It looked pretty bad and the accelerator pump linkage was broke making it inoperable. The hole for the linkage was smaller so I made a very crude one from a piece of bent 3/16 brake line just to get it to the show. It fired right up without even using the choke and runs good. We made the show but now I want to figure out what to do to fix the brass bowl carb. Any ideas? I have worked on everything from  Quadrajets  to a tea cup Holley and have never found a carburetor I couldn't make work.... until now!

Oh I also tried taking the gas cap off incase the now 100% sealed tank was building up enough pressure from the day warming up to overcome the needle & seat that was designed for gravity feed from vacuum tank fuel pump but it made no difference.

Any ideas?

   

[Articifer Tom]

Check float for fuel leak . Maybe little enough to drop it .

[Russ T. Fender]

My brass bowl carburetor is sitting on a shelf in the garage.  I run a BB-1 now after years of trouble with the original carburetor.  I know people who run them without issue but they have a reputation as being one of the worst carburetors Carter ever made and mine always gave me fits.  Even when it ran OK it never came close to performing the way the BB-1 does.  There's a reason Chrysler switched over to the  BB-1.  I know that doesn't answer your question but I completely rebuilt mine twice and then had it done professionally thinking that I was doing something wrong.  Each time it ran marginally well for a while and then started acting up for reasons that I could never determine.

[Touring29]

Check float for fuel leak . Maybe little enough to drop it .

I'm going to check the float over carefully tomorrow as you suggested. I was so frustrated with it acting up right before the show that I didn't examine it very close although I would have noticed if it was very heavy or sloshed. That is the only thing I can think of. Today is Sunday and I try to not do much.
Russ T. I was impressed with the BB-1 and will be trying to find the broken piece and a way to put a air cleaner on it that looks somewhat correct. Do you run one? I'll post a picture of the broken piece tomorrow too.

[Russ T. Fender]

I run an air filter on my BB-1.  It's the correct filter but I use an adaptor that allows it to fit on the larger diameter of the BB-1 carburetor inlet. I found the adaptor at Hershey years ago.  I am trying to attach a picture but it's too big and I have no idea how I can downsize size it.

[Russ T. Fender]

Finally figured out how to get a picture, I hope!

[Articifer Tom]

Your LAS should have adapters in exhaust parts section you maybe able to use .I did on mine to adapt zenith back horizontal for filter to mount .

[Russ T. Fender]

Took mine off to get a better picture.

[Touring29]

Thanks for the pictures of the adaptor and your BB-1 Tom I don't guess I know what LAS stands for.

I checked the float carefully today and as far as I can tell its fine. It doesn't sound like there is anything in it when I shake it and there is no places on it that look compromised. I even weighed it then held it under water for several hours and weighed it again with no change and no bubbles. It weighs 0.80 of a ounce. Here is a picture of my emergency install of the BB-1 of unknown heritage. From what I have read its a later version with the pot metal bottom so I doubt it came off a 4 cyl. I'm making what is probably a futile attempt to fix the broken piece. It's also missing one of the screws that holds the two parts together.
I may call the Carburetor Shop people in Missouri and see if they have any ideas on the RT-08 but if I can fix the BB-1 it may be the one we run and the RT-8 may get put on the shelf (but I still want it to work)

[Russ T. Fender]

What piece is broken?  Can you post a picture of it?

[Touring29]

Rusty you can see the broken piece in the picture. Its the piece that goes on the throttle shaft and actuates the accelerator pump. The unbroken version is visible in the picture you posted. I tried a JB weld repair last night that may or may not work.  I'm going to try to find a screw to replace the missing one, make some proper throttle linkage and fab a better fuel line today. The air cleaner adaptor is going to take some head scratching but I'll figure out something.

Strange thing is that this BB-1 starts cold without using the choke and even without a working accelerator pump doesn't hesitate. The choke cable will hook up but is really too short and doesn't work very well. If I stick with this carb I'll fix that. 

Laugh at my emergency throttle linkage if you must but if it works is it really a bad idea? 

[Articifer Tom]

LAS Local Auto Store  .

[Russ T. Fender]

The accelerator pump on the RT-08 carburetor is practically useless so not having it hooked up on the BB-1 probably doesn't make a difference but I think you will notice a big difference once you have it connected. I checked the carburetors I have and do not have a spare of the piece you are looking for but I would call the Carburetor Shop in Missouri and see if he has what you need.  There are several variations so if you have the brass tag with the identifying numbers I am pretty sure he can help.

[Touring29]

I talked to John at the Carburetor shop today and he said that piece is nearly always broken and when he builds one of those he machines a new one. He said he wouldn't make them to sell. He did give me something to try on the RT-08 so I will do that and see if it fixes it. If it does I'll share the tip here. I may be able to get my son to make the piece for the BB-1 but to get it off so he can copy it I may have to cut it as I worked for a couple of hours on it and never did get it to come off. It has to have it because the idle stop screw hits on the tab on it so without it the idle speed couldn't be set. Pate Swap meet is in a few weeks so maybe I can find something there. Oh yeah my JB weld repair didn't work

[Russ T. Fender]

Looking at the BB-1 carburetors I have that piece seem to come in a couple of different styles.  If you can get me a closer shot of yours and it matches one of mine I will try to get it off of one of my carburetors and send it to you to copy.  If someone had access to a 3D printer I bet it would be easy to duplicate.