Extreme Makeover: Carb Edition!

3041 Views 21 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Motorhead, Feb 21, 2006

Motorhead

Discussion Starter · Feb 18, 2006

A couple weeks back I bought a 750dp main body off eBay to upgrade the Ranger's stock 650dp. The plan was a poor-man's Proform main body upgrade. Sorry I didn't take any before pics, but I'm sure all of you know what a typical grungy Holley DP looks like. Once I got the main body in the mail I immediately went to work on it... so after a couple minutes with the hacksaw:

I also had a 4-hole 1" aluminum spacer that I wanted to massage a little to make it similar to the $100 tapered spacers. Here's the progress on the carb and spacer after some grinding and filing:

Then a couple days later after a trip to Wallyworld for some metallic blue spray paint:

Another closer pic of the main body and now-finished spacer:

And last but not least, the finished product!

Now I just need to make a trip to the hardware store for some parts to raise the throttle cable bracket and she'll be ready to bolt back on and let 'er rip! Hope it runs better than before... but if not at least it looks better lol!

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1 - 20 of 22 Posts

MHumpy

· #2 · Feb 18, 2006

I like it! You did a good job on it, and I hope it runs as good as it looks.
Mike

steharz

· #3 · Feb 18, 2006

looks really good and i too hope it runs well-good to see someone going down this road rather than just hitting the buy-now button and buying new ,good luck

Redneckracer21

· #4 · Feb 19, 2006

Thats awesome! What did you use to grind down the choke horn? What kinda jets do you think your gonna run for your 289?

Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 19, 2006

Thanks guys! I used a hacksaw to remove most of the choke horn, and then used an electric die grinder with carbide burr to finish it off. The stock jets for a 750dp are 70/80, but with the removed choke horn, and the fact that I'm running ram air, but it's also a little 289, I'm starting with 71/78 jets (I don't have an 80 laying around otherwise I'd use it). Honestly I have no clue if that'll be anywhere close to what it needs, but gotta start somewhere so I figured close to stock calibration would be a good starting point.

Randall

· #6 · Feb 19, 2006

Nice job on everything!

I really like the work on the carb spacer

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j351torino

· #7 · Feb 19, 2006

Looks great, I considered doing the same to my carb but I was afraid the paint would come off as soon as gas got on it. Have you tested the paint to see how it handles gas? If it stays on I'd like to know what brand you used.

Jeff

19mach69

· #8 · Feb 19, 2006

My buddy did that, we don't know what if anthing it did, but it sure does look better.

Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 19, 2006

I'm not sure on the gas resistance of the paint, but I have the same concerns as you. I thoroughly cleaned all the surfaces with carb clean, then a brass wire brush, then cleaner/wax remover prep stuff. I used a base coat Rustoleum stops-rust primer, and then 3-4 light coats of Rustoleum metalic paint. I think it will have decent resistance to gasoline, but only time will tell.

gorgan1314

· #10 · Feb 19, 2006

Nice work, move over butter!

sixfink

· #11 · Feb 19, 2006

as long as its not permanently dowsed with gasoline, it´ll be alright. a lot of spray paints are tough enough.

when my eastwood carb paint washed off like watercolors, I switched to plain gold wheel paint, bought from the same source as your metallic blue.

BTW, I really like the work on your carb spacer there!

mstngjoe

· #12 · Feb 19, 2006

Motorhead:

Nice job!!!

Are you coming down to the Portland Swap Meet in April?

If you are....there's a big gathering of Mustang & Ford guys on Friday (Apr 7) evening at "Standfords" in the Jantzen Beach area.

392Bird

· #13 · Feb 19, 2006

If you have problems with the paint, maybe a clear coat of the paint they use on the model planes they fly remote and by wire. I made a few of them years ago, and they have a special paint that gas does not affect. Looks Great!

Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #14 · Feb 19, 2006

Well I got the carb put in last night... haven't fired it up yet because I didn't want to wake the neighbors, but it looks great! While adjusting the float level I doused both fuel bowls pretty heavily with gasoline (guess those screws on the float level adjusters need to be tight before applying fuel pressure, lol), and I wiped the gas off right away, and off some areas the rag stayed clean but others there was a slight tinge of blue, so I'm thinking anywhere I didn't get a really good final gloss coat is more susceptible to the gasoline... but it still looks great and so I think as long as I don't get fuel seepage anywhere the paint will hold up well.
I'm a little suprised at all the comments I'm getting on the carb spacer... I was joking with the wife the other day and said I could buy these for 10 bucks, spend about an hour with the grinder and a sanding wheel, and sell them on eBay for $50-60 and she just rolled her eyes... maybe I'm on to something, lol! I'll bet after some practice I could have the time down to 30 minutes

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Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #15 · Feb 19, 2006

On 2006-02-19 05:42, mstngjoe wrote:
Motorhead:

Nice job!!!

Are you coming down to the Portland Swap Meet in April?

If you are....there's a big gathering of Mustang & Ford guys on Friday (Apr 7) evening at "Standfords" in the Jantzen Beach area.

I've heard about the Portland swap meet from my friend who's dad used to take him all the time when he was younger... I'll bet I could talk him into making a trip there with me this year. Of course that's the easy part... the hard part would be talking my wife into it as well

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mstngjoe

· #16 · Feb 19, 2006

If you've never been......it's not something you'd soon forget.

They say it's the biggest meet west of the Mississippi....

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Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #17 · Feb 19, 2006

Well I got to take it for a drive today, and while the not most accurate means of measuring power in the world, my seat-of-the-pants o-meter as well as the neck-snap meter were saying Holy Sh1t! when I laid into the throttle! Slow rolling start in 1st, lay the throttle to the floor and both rears go up in smoke effortlessly! It's never broke them loose THAT easy! Maybe it's because it's cold outside (20 degrees), but my neck was telling me it was pulling quite a bit harder than I remember! Oh and speaking of the cold weather... the thing fired up and IDLED in the 20 degree weather without me nursing the throttle... it's NEVER done that! Only explanation I have is that when it was warmed up I had to turn the idle mixture screws about 3/4 turn in to get the idle dialed in... so maybe it will be a little more of a bear tomorrow morning with the idle set correctly now. I think the jetting has to be pretty close to correct though, it cruised really nice, responded well in on the primaries, and only a little bit of a lean stumble when I cracked open the secondaries. I'm pumped, this turned out great!! Here's the final pics with it installed:

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Motorhead

Discussion Starter · #18 · Feb 19, 2006

Oh and forgot to mention also, it seems to lug better than it did before as well... like going around a corner in 3rd and letting it pull up from 1000rpm, it doesn't chug at all like it used to. So I'm now a firm believer of the 'no such thing as too-much carburetor' club! I guess maybe the downleg boosters made up for the bigger venturis (the 650 had straight-leg boosters).

fogged408w

· #19 · Feb 21, 2006

nice

Redneckracer21

· #20 · Feb 21, 2006

So this might be a really dumb question but i guess someones gotta ask them, anyway does the taper on that spacer of yours face up towards the carb, or down away? I would think it faces away but i just thought i'd ask anyway. Thanks in advance.

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