so after some excellent advice on here and taking a little time with diagnosing on my car, it's time I look to rebuild my carb. I'm finding it hard to find very much info on the 2-bbl (Rochester?) carbs.

Does anyone have any experience with any rebuild kits for them or recommend on over the other? It looks like Ames offers a couple in their catalog on page 153, one is by Echlin, the other is The Carburetor Shop. They don't have a price listed for the second one, but it looks like they offer one for the 2-bbl too.

swapping to a 4bbl is not an option in my mind.

What's the car doing?

You could try these guys. They have just about every carb known to man. Daytona Parts Group

If the car sits for more than a day it takes a huge amount of cranking to get it started, as if the bowl is empty. once started it runs great, and is easy to re-start.

I cannot advise on a kit, sorry.

But to confirm your suspicion of a dry float bowl, just let the car sit for a couple days, then pump the throttle to the floor while looking down the throat. If there if fuel in the bowl, you should see a distinct squirt of fuel from the accelerator pump, which is priming the engine with fuel before cranking.

If you do not see this, it means either 1. you are correct and to float bowl is dry, or 2. your accellerator pump is not functioning.

If you DO see a squirt of fuel, then you do not have either of these problems, and more likely you need to look at the choke for proper operation.

Incidentally, not to insult you or anything, but just to confirm: What is your method of starting your car? If carb is adjusted properly, it should take ONE pump before cranking to prime the manifold with fuel and set the choke/fast idle, and then turn the key. That's it. If that doesn't work something is indeed improperly adjusted or not working right. I ask because I know some people will pump these carb'd cars like mad while cranking, which does nothing but cause a flooding situation (if everything is working correctly)...and the resulting hard starting due to flooding.

a rebuild won't fix that, and to put your mind at ease the Q-jets do the same after a few days sitting.

Jarett, were you able to determine if the accelerator pump is delivering a squirt of fuel into the venturies AFTER the car was just running? You say it starts good the next day so I am suspecting it is working. If the accel pump is working, then it does sound like the bowl is empty after a few days. You just need to figure out why.

The book I have from Jim Hand says most of these base plugs leak on these older Rochesters and the bowl is empty after a few days. You need to disassemble the carb to repair leaking base plugs anyway, so you may as well put in a carb kit while you are in there.

I still maintain (and not all agree) that the design of the rochester fuel inlet will allow the fuel to flow back to the gas tank if the 2 check valves in the fuel pump don't seal, and the carb needle doesn't seal or is off the seat. The pump will still pump fuel up to the carb even if the check valves don't seal. To check you will have to crimp off a rubber hose in the line somewhere, but if you are all stock it will be all metal. Then you would have to remove the fuel pump suction line from the tank and see if any fuel is coming back from the carb, through the fuel pump (may take a few hours to see).

Others say the new $hitty gas evaporates out of the carb when the car is shut off and the engine is hot. If you start up the car then shut it off right away before things get hot, maybe you can rule out this one.

My money is on the leaking base plugs, but if you can rule out a few of these others, it may save you from tearing apart the carb and finding out it didn't fix the problem.

Others are Mikes carbs (carburetor-parts.com) and carbkitsource.com and daytona one is a good one too

yup, the accelerator pump is giving squirts after the car has been started and shut off. I'm pretty sure it's the plugs in the bowl leaking. The gas goes away far to fast for it to just be evaporating. I've found a local carb guy who is highly recommended so I'm gonna take it to him for a rebuild.

Jarret,

Make sure he is going to pull the carb plugs and epoxy them in place. It sounds like that might be your problem.

Larry

Well, it didn't need a full rebuild. turns out is was a combo of small things. The float was gummed up and not allowing the bowl to fill properly, the rod that operates the choke was bent a little and causing it to stick, and the accelerator pump was not squirting as much as it should.

A thorough cleaning, adjustment, and replacement of the accelerator pump and it's starting up as easily as a fuel injected car even after sitting for several days.

good to hear.

Way to go Jarett! A good example of figuring out what is wrong with a perfectly good original part!