1953 M37 Carb Flooding. Assistance needed.

I feel confident that we can fix this remotely. If all else fails you can send them up here.

Bert

I've been having to work late this week, I'll let you know as soon as I get time with it, hopefully tonight

Finally got a little time with it today. I checked under the plunger and the check ball is in the correct location and I checked the spring and it looked correct as well, I set the float a little lower and tried it and still flooding. Here are a couple of pictures just for verification. Man I hope if I ever get this thing fixed it saves someone some heartache in the future!

When you removed the top of the carburetor was the unit still installed on the manifold?

1) Was the area above the plunger full of gas?

2) Did the gas level seem correct in the bowl or was the gas running out over the top?

PM me your phone number, I have time to talk later Saturday afternoon if your interested.

Bert

I pulled the carb off the manifold before removing the top, the gas seemed correct but the bowl gasket was wet all around with gas, not necessarily soaking wet but visibly wet.

Update from last nights phone call so that those of you following this thread are not missing out.

We discussed a bunch of different ideas so that I could get a better idea of what to try next, here is the condensed version:

1) Checking the fuel level while the carb is still installed on the manifold.
2) Making sure that the bowl vent was free of any obstructions.
3) Worked through an easier way to gauge the float height.
4) Decided to drop the float level some more and try starting.

Bert

so today i took the top off of the carb to check the float level and just as bert suspected it was way high, the float was almost level with the top of the bowl, but i am still having trouble lowering it, i drained gas out of the bowl and adjusted the float, turned the fuel pump on and filled the bowl with gas again, then checked the float the float is now just a tad lower than 5/64. Once that was adjusted i checked the bowl vent for obstructions and there were none, i put the top back on the carb with it still on the manifold and tried to start it without the fuel pump turned on. It would not start so i shot a small bit of ether down the throat and it fired right up, it idled with only with my foot on the gas just a little, as soon as i took my foot off the gas it died. I then reconnected the fuel pump and again attempted to start it and it would not start (did not use ether on this attempt) i took the carb off to check for flooding and it is still flooding. however i think we are on the right track. before installing the air horn back on the carb body i turned the fuel pump on and it seemed like the float was still high even after adjusting it, but i forgot to put in the retainer that holds the float down. Now my question is do i just need to adjust the tab on the back of the float or do i need to bend something else, even though the float is now lower than it was it still seems like too much gas in the bowl. here are a couple of pictures of when i first took the air horn off.

The tab on the float, that comes in contact with the needle will need to be bent very carefully to achieve the lower setting. We are on the right track now.

Bert

Just an observation - the top of your bowl looks like it has a bit of pitting which might yield a poor seal at that top gasket. That will also cause flooding. Don't know if it is enough to affect yours in this instance but it may be something to consider.

Are both carbs like that?

Yes the old carb and the new rebuilt carb looked like that, I did fool with it again yesterday and it is still flooding even with only a quarter inch of gas in the bottom of the bowl with the fuel pump not on. I found someone local that thinks he can figure it out, he's an old timer so maybe he can so hopefully soon I'll be taking it to him, bit I'm going to keep piddling with it until then

This is another thought. How about the gasket between the carb body and the base. The last carb I rebuilt for an M601 which is similar to the M37 carb, had several intermediate gaskets in the rebuild kit. What I noticed was the large holes in the gasket that left little room for sealing.

Frank

Status on the flooding?

Just got the carb back from a mechanic today, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with the carb, said it might be better to put a carb on where you can control the accelerator pump with your foot instead of vacuum, I removed the electric fuel pump and put the manual factory pump back on this evening and tried to start it, it is still filling the intake with fuel and still flooding. I really don't know where to go from here, it will still start with ether, it idled with my foot on the pedal for about 10 seconds but quickly died, I do have a question though, where do the vacuum ports on the vacuum/fuel pump go? The mechanic seems to think the vacuum pump not being hooked up could have something to do with it flooding but I'm not sure where the vacuum lines should go, I will have to get vacuum lines before I can test that theory, but the fuel pump I rebuilt works, so that's a plus!

The Vacuum portion of the fuel pump aids in keeping the wipers going.
A vacuum line from the manifold goes to the inlet side of the pump,
Then from the outlet of the pump to the hose that feeds the wipers.

If your flooding still, there is leakage internally in the carb or
Float level wrong.
Tom

Please confirm for me, this flooding problem exist with two completely different carbs?
Are you using the same top cover or are they 2 separate items?

Now (do not laugh) have you started the engine with the top cover off the carb? This will require someone to hold the float pivot to prevent that kind of flooding.
This is a dangerous thing so caution is a big deal. Have a fire bottle ready

When you answer the above we will go from there.

The flooding is from 2 different carbs all together, different top covers and all, I have not tried starting it without the top cover mostly because I don't how anyone to help, I thought about it once to try bit wasn't sure with the accelerator pump staying in the top of it would work

I know a guy in Cosetta that may be able to help. I will drop him a note.

Thanks, I'll take all the help I can get, a friend of mine has another m37 that I went to look at today to see where everything goes under the hood, but it had the biggest rats nest I have ever seen under the hood so I couldn't see exactly where the vacuum lines go, I know one goes to the wipers as stated above but where on the manifold should the other vacuum line go? I have no open ports on the manifold, if I can get this other m37 I'm going to try his carb bc he said it was running when parked about 7 years ago, if nothing else I'll have spare parts and a good reference. Thanks again everyone

I am in Bush, LA.
You are welcome to come look at mine.

I appreciate the offer, just a little far for me to drive.I'm out of town right now and won't be able to work on the truck for a while. I'll update whenever I get back to it. Thanks again everyone