'51 Land Cruiser's first big day out

[DougHolverson]

I drove up to Discount Tires and back for some new wide whites. It run great. Until it out of the blue decided to quit and not even try to start about 17 blocks away from home. It got hauled the rest of the way on a flatbed. After cooling down it tries to fire but won't quite start. My two best guesses are vapor lock on this 88° day or something got into the needle and seat. It seemed to be dripping a little gas from the carburetor. Any guesses here?

Otherwise: It still doesn't like to charge at idle. The oil pressure is low at idle. The temp gauge doesn't work. The front and rear engine seals leak. Two studs on the left rear hub are messed up.

[thunderations]

If dripping fuel, the needle seat may have something in it causing the fuel bowl to overfill. The car may be flooded, causing it to not start. Sometimes you can hold the throttle to the floor, not pumping it, and crank the engine. That way it is getting full air through the carb to help dilute an excess fuel problem.
Pretty sure your problem is in the carb fuel bowl. Either junk in the needle seat or a bad float. The old cork floats tend to absorb fuel and sink, causing the same flooding symptoms.
Good luck.

[TWChamp]

Put a couple tablespoons of gas into the carb and see if it fires up. Also remove the fuel line at the carb and check flow and pressure.

[mbstude]

Don't bother, it sounds like a worn out, needy old car. Send me your address and a good time to show up with a truck and trailer.

[tomlewis]

I certainly hope that the float in the carburetor is brass and not cork.

Tom

[Mrs K Corbin]

Laughing at Mathew!

[DougHolverson]

FWIW, an hour or so after being hauled home, I tried starting it. After quite a few seconds of not quite starting, it started. Then it settled into a nice idle. So what does the possible problem look like now?

[jclary]

It kinda reminds me of my experience with my Land Cruiser back in the early 1990's. Ran great in the yard, but within a half mile after leaving home, it would begin to buck, skip, even attempt to backfire, and I would have to turn around and limp back home. Everything checked out. Fuel line, fuel filter, fuel pump, etc. I lost count of all the times I tore down the carburetor looking for the problem. (I have told this story so often, I feel like I must offer an apology at this point.)

Finally, on the last carburetor tear down, I removed the fuel inlet fitting and found that blasted little screen filter that came with these carburetors. There it was... some kind of hard shell black beetle wing. I don't know how, or when it got there, but apparently it would allow gas to flow into the carburetor at idle speed, and even let the engine accelerate great when romping on the gas pedal. However, sitting in the driveway running an engine requires much less fuel demand than actually driving down the highway. Apparently, the higher flow of gas while driving would make that danged beetle wing flip up like the "check" in a check valve and restrict fuel flow. I don't know if that is what is happening in your car, but removing that bug wing sure cured my problem.

Your problem could very well be similar or something entirely different, but you might want to check from your gas tank pick-up tube all the way to the carburetor. The way these old carburetors work, kinda like your toilet tank, the low-pressure fuel pumps keep the reservoir full and the engine sucks it in. If there is some restriction causing low fuel flow, it's gonna drain the carburetor bowl and stop running.

It reminds me of working on my outboard motors. I can get them running great in a test tank at home, but out on the lake, I have learned to take enough tools to do the fine adjustments before getting too far from the boat dock.

[TWChamp]

Be sure the gas tank is venting OK.

[studeclunker]

Don't bother, it sounds like a worn out, needy old car. Send me your address and a good time to show up with a truck and trailer.

Laughing at Mathew!

[studeclunker]

It takes time to work all the bugs out of these cars. Sometimes it takes a tow truck too.

[Mrs K Corbin]

Mine got a tow-truck ride due to a 50 cent wire inside the distributor.

[TWChamp]

My neighbor's 50 Champion would sometimes die. I finally found a bare spot on the points wire inside the housing. That bare spot would rub on the distributor body and short out, so I cut a piece of plastic pop bottle to line the housing.

[DougHolverson]

At least it looks sharp on its new wide whites. I still don't quite trust it to go across town and back yet.

To Runza maybe....

[TWChamp]

Your paint looks better than the black paint on my 1950 Land Cruiser, and your's would look even better after a good Turtle Wax Polishing job. It sure improved mine, but my front clip is too far gone to shine up like your's would.