So I swapped on a carb to my grandads old 84 inline 6. I bought a shop manual for it but as far as the terms for setting a baseline for the carb I have no idea what most of the terms mean. Can anyone point me to a good video for a single barrel carb for that engine about adjustments and setting a baseline and such? Or any personal advice would be welcome too.

 

If you are trying to set that computer carb properly, it's a very complex procedure, you will have to follow the manual. Or just try to wing it. Do you have it on there and have you tried it? It's not that far out from when you took it off is it? Will it run at all? I have my doubts if it's been sitting on the shelf with old fuel in it. That ethanol fuel likes to glue the float needle in place.

 

Any carbureted engine, before ever employing Ye Golden Screwdriver on the carb, do yourself a huge favor by making sure the fuel pump output is within shop spec. Most stock engines 4 to 5 psi is plenty, and in the case of fuel pumps here "more is not better". New pumps are especially suspect. Float level is next, those two checks or adjustments are often overlooked and can cause lots of difficulty.

Backing up even further - ignition, or ignition timing defects, (or both), + vacuum leaks etc., will cause yet even more tuning issues.

 

no old fuel. When the guy I had rebuild it he deep cleaned it so it was bone dry till yesterday. And since i only run non ethanol gas through it i doubt its gummed up.i put it on yesterday and when i started it the rpms were really low and i think it was severely lean. So i cut it off pretty quick cause i figured it would be better to seek advice before proceeding.

 

I might get a new fuel pump because I have no idea what the current one is specced to and this thing typically runs rich and eats spark plugs. As far as timing goes I dont have access to a timing light but I might be getting a loaner tomorrow. The little ignition brick, distributor button, spark plug wires, and spark plugs are all "like oem" at least that's how they were advertised if I'm remembering correctly. It's been about 8 months since I put those parts on and shes been sitting up for the last 5 or so.

 

Also if it helps I can take some pictures. Just tell me what you would need and I can get it.

 

Your carb should have a large piece on the throttle that controls the idle speed. It's a motor that the computer uses to control the idle. Is this still on there and still hooked up? If your truck is original, it has a fairly complex system on it. If some of this stuff is missing or not hooked up, you need to proceed differently. I do know I have a computer type system on my BII, and while de-commissioned the computer system, I am still running the computer carb without it. I had two idle speed adjustment screws, one was a mechanical idle stop and the other was the regular idle adjustment, it moved the whole motor assembly.

 

is it a large cylinder mounted by the throttle plate with a peg sticking out of it?

 

Yes. When you turn the key to run, it should move. And as it's idling it should move in and out a little bit. You should have an adjustment screw somewhere that moves that whole assembly, so that peg sticking out touches the idle lever and makes the idle higher or lower. The complicated part in the manual is to get this assembly in the proper range so it has control, but you may be able to just adjust it a little bit at the time to see if you can get it working.

 

I may need to adjust it cause the peg is nowhere near the matching spot on the throttle plate to actually touch it

 

Well that's kind of the point, if you don't know what it's pushing out now, how would you know what a new one is pushing? See where I'm goin' with that? Just because something is "New" it doesn't mean "Good part".

Measure don't guess or just throw parts at it. A mechanic's vacuum gauge will measure fuel pump output pressure, takes about 30 seconds.

 

how. Tell me more please

 

That's what she said!!

Connect it up to the fuel pump outlet. Start the engine and let it idle, it only takes a few seconds to get a hard number. Or disable the ignition and crank the starter over for a few seconds, engine doesn't need to be running.

It's just one of a bunch of steps in the tune up instructions, but as a rule don't assume anything, don't skip anything, and start from the beginning. The shop manual is full of all kinds of specs, tests, repairs, adjustments. I'm still finding out new stuff about the 2100 carburetor on my slick. Some things aren't in the manuals really, but are just common problems (now) because of their vintage, they didn't have to worry about it then. Make sure the fuel lines back to the tank are clear, and rubber fuel hose sections are fresh, the tank isn't full of rust & sediment, proper fuel cap installed.

 

In my experience, the fuel pump having too much pressure is a very uncommon problem. Of course it happens, but I have never seen it and it doesn't come up as a fix on the board very often if ever. Maybe once?

 

Things change, sometimes fast. If you hadn't noticed. I hear about it a lot, once component manufacturing is outsourced overseas is generally the culprit. You get one guess as to what happened with old school fuel pump manufacturing.

Headlight switches, starter relays/solenoids, wheel cylinders & master cylinders, tires or any parts made of rubber especially, older ignition parts like rotors, points & condensers - we're lucky somebody carries these "obsolete" parts but the quality is really bad or declining. Alternators, starters ... another "problem" area.

Anyway the question was "what do I do to setup my carburetor" and one of the key things to do is check fuel delivery. Too low of fuel pressure is also a problem with tuning a carb. Fuel pumps also should be checked for volume and vacuum on the suction side. It's also a factor if people don't check it, they won't know. I have to suspect some of those YouTube engine fire debacles we've seen might be related. "Don't Guess - Measure".

My experience has been check everything, temperatures, voltages, resistances, capacitances, clearances, and pressures etc. and bounce them off the published specs or figures in the shop manual, get them close, and it will help get a good sharp tune.