Whoa! Did I just flood my engine?

[crazypete]

This is my first carb ever, so I'm still learning as I go along...

Thanks for all your patience

I was setting the floats on my new holley 670 street avenger. These have the little windows, but I hate them cause they fog over in seconds and you can barely see anything through them. I looked like the primary bowl was WAAAAAY too low since it looked totally clear (the secondary is nice and golden) so I kept raising and raising the float level but it still didnt look right, so I kept going. All of a sudden, the rpms drop from the nice 1000 or so idle that I set to like a couple hundred. Seemed like the engine was fighting something. Then it died. I restarted it and it still seemed like it was fighting something. Then I went back op front and there was gas everywhere! It was all over the carb to air cleaner gasket, so it must have blow up through the carb. I propped the primary and secondary plates open and pulled all the plugs. They were black. Pitch black. Looked like #3 and #7 were wet (#3 especially). I have a fan blowing air in through the top of the engine right now

What should I do next?

[MEDIK418]

If you still have the plugs out turn it over a few times to help blow any excess gas out of the intake and cylinders. I'm guessing that you have the floats set way too high. I hate the windows Holley uses in those things. Do they come out? If they do, you can set the floats easily with them out. Just set the level where the gas just barely starts to come out of the hole. You can fine tune the level to meet your needs after that with the holes plugged. Just remember not to go more than a quarter turn at a time until you have it where you wan it. Hint, you might want to shine a real bright penlight into the opposite side of the float bowl to insure you are actually looking at the gas level and not a funny colored window. You need three hands for this trick. Get help.
Float levels affect more of the engine's performance than some folks realize. Make sure you have them where you need them before you try any other adjustments. Good luck.

[crazypete]

Whoa, that's so cool! With the plugs out, when you crank it it makes a really funky noise. Sounds like a minigun. I thought the starter was free spinning again and I was getting ready to start swearing till I noticed the fan was spinning. Cool

I'm gonna let it air out for a few more hours

[crazypete]

Oh my God!!

There's _water_ in my carb!!!!

No wonder it was clear. There's perfectly clear liquid in my carb. Funny, though, the secondary bowl had nice dark gas in it. I drained both and I'm venting out the house (it was filled by the black smoke that was pouring out the pipes). Heh, after three full clowwise turns, the fuel level just started to be seen on the top of the window.

The only thing I did to this carb was to pull my 570 off and send it to holley for some warranty work (secondary-primary shaft was blocking secondary opening/spark port misdrilled). I had paper towels jammed into the intake and the fuel lines sitting there open (ok, I know it's stupid). But there was like half a fuel bowl worth of water in there. It's been sitting for maybe 3 weeks.

[PKRWUD]

Originally posted by MEDIK418
Hint, you might want to shine a real bright penlight into the opposite side of the float bowl to insure you are actually looking at the gas level and not a funny colored window. You need three hands for this trick. Get help.

Holley bowls only have one sight plug. How is he supposed to shine it in through the other side? Curious.

Ditch the clear plugs right away. They will become scratched and discolored, and completely useless before long. They also become weak from their exposure to the gasoline, and will crack in half when you try to remove them if you wait too long to replace them. Get the regular sight plugs, and replace the plastic ones.

Take care,
~Chris