Pony carb trouble on my 84 GT

[gunnylama]

Had pony carb do the full rebuild on my 4180 and it's leaking (seeping) fuel at the front right side between the throttle plate and heat shield. They told me the needle and seat was dirty, I removed and cleaned and it did nothing. Shipped the carb back to them and when I reinstalled it it does the same think. Any idea what is going on. Also what other carb options are out there. Keep in mind Phoenix has some of the toughest emission laws in the country.

[Cappn Tripps]

I passed with a 600 holley with no probs. Skye passed with alot more done to her car too. Is there gas dripping from the boosters after you've shut the car off?

[Ltngdrvr]

Not sure where you are talking about the leak coming from.

Have you checked the float level?

May be too high, can get thrown off during shipping.

[X-isles]

If you do not run up and down the drag strip all day long, then get a Edelbrock 600 w/ elec choke. Its not going to leak and once you set the idle mix screws, you are done *forever.

I have had a Edelbrock 600 on every Stang that I have ever owned and never one problem. One carb is still on duty after 10 years and I have never had to touch it. Now granted, all my stangs have been street cars with only 350hp or less.


*(Forever): Subjective term meaning a pretty long time. This may also be effected by natural and man made events such as global warming, solar activity and position of the moon. :)

[JACook]

If it's leaking fuel out the throttle shaft(s), the float level is too high. Period.
Have you measured your fuel pressure?

As for 'forever', well, my '85 has 175K miles on it's original 23-year-old 4180c...

[grtskydog]

I agree. Even if it's pro-rebuilt, it will probably still need all the basic settings done by you (floats, mixture, idle, etc). They probably just ballpark it when they reassemble everything. Also, unless it's shipped upright all the way, the weight of the floats can cause the needle/seat to stick...if it winds up upside down. I always check that kind of stuff.

I'm a friend of the Edelbrock carbs myself. That said, I'm using a wideband to tune mine, and it's still too rich. One more metering rod to try, then my built 4180 is going back on...I'm tired of buying rods and jets.

[83 V8 RS T's]

If it's leaking fuel out the throttle shaft(s), the float level is too high. Period.
Have you measured your fuel pressure?

As for 'forever', well, my '85 has 175K miles on it's original 23-year-old 4180c...

Bang on. My carbruator was rebuilt and it did just that. Set the float level and problem is fixed!

[TWR2003]

Had pony carb do the full rebuild on my 4180 and it's leaking (seeping) fuel at the front right side between the throttle plate and heat shield. They told me the needle and seat was dirty, I removed and cleaned and it did nothing. Shipped the carb back to them and when I reinstalled it it does the same think. Any idea what is going on. Also what other carb options are out there. Keep in mind Phoenix has some of the toughest emission laws in the country.


Id put up a fight with Pony. They claim their quality is so high, etc. For the $$ you spent it should not leak, weep or anything. And although you may have to tweek the float adjustment Pony should have gotten it in the ballpark so it would run 'out of the box' without leaking. Holley can do this with their new carbs, why cant Pony do it with a 'Pro' rebuild? And if the carb's throttle shaft is worn out they should have told you that. Obviously the needle and seat line they gave you was BS. Put a stop payment on the check or if you paid by credit card call you company and tell them to stop payment.

Obviously Im not a big fan of Pony. Just look at their website. Basically they say that Holley, Rochester, Carter, and Autolite/Motorcraft carburetor engineers were idiots and that only they - Pony - know how to make the 'engineering' corrections to make these carbs run right. Give me a break. Those guys were designing and building carbs when the people at Pony were still in diapers (or younger).

T

[negusm]

I can't believe they told you the needle was dirty! I'D BE PRETTY PISSED! It would be in the box back to them ASAP.

You said it was leaking at the heat shield. Maybe your gasket is no good? Or the intake is warped?

-Mike

[negusm]

Aren't there like 3 gaskets between the carb and the intake? Do you have new ones of them all?

[JACook]

Carb base gaskets do not cause fuel leaks, they cause vacuum leaks.

Well, OK, if you don't have the proper heat insulator gasket, that can cause the
fuel to percolate, which looks an awful lot like a needle valve problem, but otherwise,
fuel collecting around the base is usually coming out past the throttle shafts, and
that's usually float level, fuel pressure, and/or debris in the needle valve.

I might also suggest making sure there's a filter element in the cavity behind the
fuel inlet connection. Open it up and look. Make sure the spring and gasket are
in place too.

[gunnylama]

The fuel looks to me like its pooling up on the throttle plates. I have all new gaskets, not sure if the order is correct but there good. I have an inline filter and have removed the filter behind the fuel inlet connection. The last time I opened the float site no fuel leaked out but maybe thats because it already leaked out. Fuel pressure no idea. The heat shield and EGR are NOS and never been on the car until now. I also did send the carb back to pony ($70) and they cleaned and ran it.

[JACook]

The fuel looks to me like its pooling up on the throttle plates.

See, once again, this is exactly what happens when the float levels are too high, or
the floats are not able to shut off fuel flow because of debris, or if there's too much
fuel pressure.

That fuel puddling on the throttle blades has to come from somewhere, and where
it's coming from is the boosters.

You need to be checking the fuel level in the bowls -while the engine is running-, and
then leave the sight plugs out, and shut off the engine. Make sure the bowl level does
not rise after the engine is off.