Merc Driving Vid

[RalphG]

An evening drive in the 52 Merc testing out the intermittent carburetor problems. Close up view of the accelerator pump output seems to show it is lacking a bit but that should not affect it during a steady cruise situation. Yet something does. Guess I'm going to have to attempt a repair and install the new gaskets and parts in the spare carb I have from the 53. Assuming the automatic equipped cars used the same internal parts as the standards?
https://youtu.be/6WPzowbzYlM

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by RalphG

An evening drive in the 52 Merc testing out the intermittent carburetor problems. Close up view of the accelerator pump output seems to show it is lacking a bit but that should not affect it during a steady cruise situation. Yet something does. Guess I'm going to have to attempt a repair and install the new gaskets and parts in the spare carb I have from the 53. Assuming the automatic equipped cars used the same internal parts as the standards?
https://youtu.be/6WPzowbzYlM

[RalphG]

Ok, answering my own question partially anyway. It appears the only difference between the carburetors on the automatic and standard transmission equipped cars is the dashpot for the automatic transmission. Working on the spare carb from my 53 that had the standard transmission I see it does not have the dashpot. I wonder how important it is to have it running an automatic equipped car?

[cas3]

I can't be of much help, but its always fun to see the family Merc still cruisen the Canadian prairie. have you tried a "hill billy carb rebuild" ? Rev it up...cover the carb with your hand and let the high RPM vacuum suck some crud out. Sometimes one drop of water will move around in there and cause questionable things to happen. Common on our cars that rest all winter.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by RalphG

Ok, answering my own question partially anyway. It appears the only difference between the carburetors on the automatic and standard transmission equipped cars is the dashpot for the automatic transmission. Working on the spare carb from my 53 that had the standard transmission I see it does not have the dashpot. I wonder how important it is to have it running an automatic equipped car?

[38 coupe]

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I have gone through a couple of these carburetors, they are not that hard but look strange. All the normal parts of a carburetor are there, just not in the normal locations. Be gentile threading the fuel inlet brass fitting into the float chamber, the pot metal threads in the float chamber like to strip out.
I have removed the dashpot on a 53 Ford automatic transmission car with no problems.
The first picture you posted looks odd to me, like there is a gap on the left between the base and the float chamber. I don't think there is supposed to be a gap, either gaskets are missing or something is loose. I could be wrong, it has been a while since I went through one of these.

[mfirth]

I had a "teapot" as we called them, and it was very sensitive to any contamination. Good luck Ralph. Love your videos & pics.

[Merc Cruzer]

Quite often, I have to "feather" mine too from a stop. I have just learned to live with it, after numerous hours of trying to correct it. If you increase the idle it seems to help a bit.

Just a few pictures. The dash pot keep the carb from slamming shut and possibly stalling when you come to a stop.

If there is something specific, let me know and i will attaché additional photo's.

Good to see you again RalphG.

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by cas3

I can't be of much help, but its always fun to see the family Merc still cruisen the Canadian prairie. have you tried a "hill billy carb rebuild" ? Rev it up...cover the carb with your hand and let the high RPM vacuum suck some crud out. .

I've heard of that trick but it would pretty hard to do on this type carb. Would pulling the choke on full have the same effect?

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

Quite often, I have to "feather" mine too from a stop. I have just learned to live with it, after numerous hours of trying to correct it. .

I learned to live with that feature too but lately it has become noticeably worse. Mid range throttle setting just opens up a whole interval of roughness and cutting out. Above that and full throttle it smooths right out. Co-incidentally this seems to have showed up since I made the recent dwell and timing adjustments. I will check again but did not notice any play in the distributor shaft. Points and condensor are decades old but it starts and idles perfectly smooth and steady. Vacuum reads in the 16+ range at idle.
Thanks for the pics. I assume your distributor vacuum line was only temporarily disconnected?

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

Quite often, I have to "feather" mine too from a stop. I have just learned to live with it, after numerous hours of trying to correct it. If you increase the idle it seems to help a bit.

Just a few pictures. The dash pot keep the carb from slamming shut and possibly stalling when you come to a stop.

If there is something specific, let me know and i will attaché additional photo's.

Good to see you again RalphG.

[Merc Cruzer]

RalphG,

Take it out on the highway and run it at speed (55 - 60 mph) for a 20 mile run and you might find that the issue will resolve it's self. I do a 3 lap total of 20 miles, from time to time. I find that the fist lap is terrible, the second lap is better and by the time I get through the third lap, the 53' Merc is running great. If you remember, we used to call it blowing out the carbon.

[Merc Cruzer]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

Thanks for the blow ups.

[rjlester]

Definitely not a big enough pump shot. Although, if you did a video of the engine NOT running showing how much fuel is coming out, that might be easier to tell.

Those carbs are pretty simple to take apart and clean. I ran my 54 Meteor for over a year without cleaning the carb, after it sat for 55 years. It ran great, then one day I figured I would take it apart and it was totally full of settled rust and stuff, it was amazing how well it ran with that garbage in there!! lol.

[TomC750]

I have found that tightening the air cleaner down too much will distort the carb and cause problems.

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

RalphG,

Take it out on the highway and run it at speed (55 - 60 mph) for a 20 mile run and you might find that the issue will resolve it's self. I do a 3 lap total of 20 miles, from time to time. I find that the fist lap is terrible, the second lap is better and by the time I get through the third lap, the 53' Merc is running great. If you remember, we used to call it blowing out the carbon.

I've heard that expression for sure. And definitely runs better when the engine is hot. It had a pretty good 20+ mile run to the Cupar car show recently. Sometimes ran ok. Other times lots of hesitation when trying to maintain 50 mph. Almost a if something is floating around the carb and occasionally blocking the flow of fuel.

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by rjlester

Those carbs are pretty simple to take apart and clean. I ran my 54 Meteor for over a year without cleaning the carb,

I have been testing my skills on the spare 53 carb. dismantling and cleaning it out. It was not terrible but all the tiny jets were plugged. I made a long boring video of working on it that I will upload to the channel when I get time.

[Merc Cruzer]

Originally Posted by RalphG

I have been testing my skills on the spare 53 carb. dismantling and cleaning it out. It was not terrible but all the tiny jets were plugged. I made a long boring video of working on it that I will upload to the channel when I get time.

Look forward to hearin,g if that helped the issue.

[dean333]

Sal Cicala is THE man for refurbishing teapot carbs.