We had a nice blizzard here in NE last night, not a problem I like snow and busting drifts with my truck. Well I had no issues getting stuck on the way to work but my carb was starting to ice up.... normal for the design of the motor, but then I hit the highway and it stuck wide open on me and froze so bad even when I shut it off and tried to manually push the linkage back under the hood it was froze solid, so I got drug into town and got my truck in the shop to defrost, got everything loose and running fine. It also runs a lot better when the open air cleaner isn't 3/4 full of snow

I know an easy way to solve this issue. Run a water heated carb spacer off the heater hose. However I searched the internet and I can find ppl talking about them on forums but am unable to find where to buy them, if the price is right I'd just buy one, but otherwise I'll have to make something. If were gonna have 12" of snow with 3 ft drifts and -22F windchill this isn't gonna fly. If they scooped the roads in the country I'd just drive my car, but I'd like to solve this issue once and for all. I'll just put some shut off valves on it in the summer.

The truck has a 4 barrel edelbrock on it and an offenhauser intake along with headers, I think the old log of an exhaust manifold use to keep the old 1 barrel warmer and prevented this problem, now I'm loosing all my heat.

Any leads or suggestions would be appreicated.

 

Water heated carb spacers appear on eBay from time to time. If there are any 60's something Fords in your local junk yards you might be able to find one there.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture027.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture026.jpg

Some make a plate like in those pics that bolt up to the bottom side of the Offy intake and plumbed in to a heater hose for heat. That's what I use.

 

I felt around on the bottom of the intake, now I see how that works. I was wondering how it circulated but there is a open space under there. I assume it prolly gets pretty cold in WA, colder then here, so has this ever given you any issues yet since it's about 4" below the carb? I've had this setup since 06 and this is the first winter it's caused this much of a problem.

 

You could run that setup all year round.

 

We've been hanging around 0 overnight lately. Daytime barely in the double digits...just like NE. I used to live there

The Offy intake was made to bolt up to the stock exhaust manifold with a hot box arrangement just like the stock set up provided. It may not get as warm as fast as the stock arrangement but I have yet to have any issues with it.

 

So once you make a plate like that for your offy you just splice into one of your heater hoses, right?

 

Generaly at -22F you wont have carb icing. It usualy happens ina a range from about 40 to 10F. You get colder then taht there aint much moisture in the air. As for drift busting you must like doing front suspension work. I do it when neccisary but find bant tie rods and bad radius arm bushings a pain.

You can also try a warm air intake off the exhaust manifold. Though you would have to use a stock snorkel air cleaner.

The hot water manifold will do nothing to prevent the ice from forming. Think what way is that cold air moving? It will run better at low temps and will thaw out if you do freeze up. Heat moves up. It wont when you got 200 CFM of -5 air going down however. The warm water is only there to help vaporize the fuel.

I go through this problom several times a year with my YFA. Not much can be done.

 

Harte3:
I'm not worried about it warming up fast, it just needs to warm up. I don't even run a choke on the carb, so I'm usually sitting there keeping it running for a few minutes anyways. (I do have a choke, it works, but I can't get it to retuen all the way to open due to the cable routing, so I quit messing it). If this setup works for you up there it, it should works down here. Do you "injest" a lotta snow under the hood or are you driving a lot of cleaner roads?

86sixbanger:
Yeah, that was my plan at least.

flipklos:
It was about -5F actual temp. Well I see what your saying, but it came from "drift busting" and blowing snow, snow got under the hood, in the air cleaner, melted, then was sucked through the air cleaner and then iced up the carb real bad. The snow wasn't all that hard yet, today it's bad since the sun made an appearence yesterday afternoon, but when it's in that med range of soft and hard I've never had any issues. I also am swaping a straight 44 under the front hopefully this spring, so if things get broke up front I won't care to much, but I've never broke anything before besides motor and tranny mounts screwing around in the snow.

With headers it would be a little tricky to make a sheild that covered enough pipe to save enough heat. I can't get my stock air cleaner on being it's a 4 barrel and the offy moves it closer to the heater box.

True, it might actually make it form quicker, but my main concern is getting the carb to come unstuck if I slow down or stop. I've always delt with the icing up, I just don't like the idea of it stranding me. During the summer this thing used to love to vapor lock when it was real hot when I was running the YFA, when I upgraded everything I wrapped my fuel line in heat wrap and never had an issue again, that's why I didn't want to heat my intake during the summer.

Well anything is worth a try, especially when it can be built yourself and cheap.

 

If you can find a carb spacer from a 390 4bbl engine of even some of the 289 4bbls they were heated by running the heater hose through a passage. If you can find a 4bbl air cleaner that clears, two things, see if you can tap the cowl vent area for cold air and put a heated source around one of the header tubes to help. Biggest thing is warm the throttle area and keep the loose snow from drit busting out of the air cleaner.

 

289.... guessing I have to find an old Mustang, chances not so good. So what cars w/ 390's had this heated spacer, I have a few trucks with FE's and have never seen that setup on any of em.

 

It was used on 352 and 390 engined cars in the middle to late 60s. Numberdummy might be able to give you specifics as to years, PNs etc. It is a Holley bolt pattern and probably will have a PCV port on it too.

 

But on the heated spacer the pcv runner doesn't match up with offenhauser intake. You would have a vacuum leak big time.

 

So what is it exactly on the carb that freezes up? I live in Missouri and it's very humid here so I'm sure I will be getting some frozen carb issues.

If it is just everything under the air cleaner that freezes, why couldn't you just spray it with carb/brake cleaner, starter fluid, deicer, or anything else of that nature that won't freeze, would that work very well. I know that would be an easy quick fix (if it works), and not really help the problem, but winter doesn't last long, at least in MO.

 

If you don't pack it with snow like our NE friend does, the icing usually occurs around the throttle blades inside the carb probably in the mid 20 to mid 40 degree range. I don't know the scientific explanation for this dynamic but if you have ever opened the drain valve to bleed an air compressor tank, it won't take long for ice to form on the valve as the air rushes from the tank. Air rushes through the carb around the throttle blades under similar conditions...icing.

 

Well that sucks. So I guess it happens going down the road for the most part.