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MG MGA - Dizzling Carbs

Both of the carbs on the 1500 are drizzling gas from around the jets. Can I tighten a nut up to slow the flow or does this mean an inevitable rebuild?

Recommendations on rebuilders is welcome. I am not going to have the time to do them myself.
Wray

Hi Wray. A number of parts can be causing the leakage you describe. You can try tightening the two large nuts that holds the jet assemblies in place in the carb bodies. Doing this will compress the large cork seal a bit, and might stop the leakage. The leakage can also be coming from the forks on the jets themselves. The two jet forks have a stud which threads into the long cylindrical brass jet. Gas can leak between the jet and the thread. Trying to unthread the fork from the jet (to apply sealer) usually wrecks the jet! You could replace both jets, and see if the leakeage stops. If these "repairs" do not cure the leakage, then it is likely time to pull the carbs off, and do a thorough rebuild. Hope this helps! Glenn
Glenn

Joe Curto on Long Island is highly recommended for the rebuild.
M. D.

For a couple of years I "cured" several carb leaks using the Hylomar sealant from Permatex. It worked very well, but seeing the blue "gook" around the unions bothered me. Last winter I bit the bullet and took the carbs to Curto - they were due for an overall rebuild anyway. We put over 7000 miles on the car since then and the carbs are great - I'd rate his work as excellent.
- Ken
Ken Doris

Another excellent source to have you carbs rebuilt is Blair Engle (The Classic MG Shop) in Tallahassee, FL. Blair can be reached at:
850-385-2821 or bengle001@comcast.net
Gene Gillam

With the H4 carbs, if tightening the big nut with the cup washer and cork seal stops the leak you might count yourself lucky. Fuel dripping at the bottom usually means leaky jet seals, where the seal parts cannot be "repaired" and must be replaced.

Since the mid 90's I have rebuilt a few sets of H4 carbs using Teflon O-rings in place of the original jet seeals. So far they work first time every time with no sticking and no leaking. The set on my car now has over 100,000 miles with Teflon O-ring jet seals. They may need throttle shaft replacement again by now, but still no stick or leak.
Barney Gaylord

Blair Engle has retired last I heard. The fork stud is a normal spot for leakage to occure and can be cured as Glenn stated. It is best to hold the jet in a padded vice to loosen and retighten the fork. The jet seals tehmselves are a Parker part number 2-010 'O' ring, but don't go down to NAPA and get them. Auto parts houses just carry Nitrile 'O' rings which swell when exposed to gas, even Viton 'O' rings tend to cause the jets to become very difficult to pull out witht he choke cable. As Barney suggests, teflon 'O' rings are the way to go. I got solid teflon 'O' rings from Tom Bryant (207-443-6338), which work quite well but you need two at the top and two at the bottom to get them to seal well. It is also necessary to make sure there are no sharp edges on the jets that can cut the teflon as they are being pushed on. The large jet retaining nut seal can be replaced with a Parker 'O' ring, part number 2-211. In this application, where the 'O' ring is solidly trapped in place and nothing moves once its installed, the Nirtile 'O' rings at NAPA will work fine, although installing this 'O' ring can make it tough to center the jet as the nut is tightened as it will move a bit until things are completely tight. Once it is done though, there are no more leaks. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Dave,

Blair did retire but he's back in business now - couldn't stay away from it. He's also back as a Moss distributor and generally has some good deals on parts.

He did let his distributor rebuilding equipment go to Mike Lewis in New Orleans but kept the carburetor portion for himself.

Gene

Gene Gillam

Gene - Thanks for teh update, glad to hear that he is back. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

This thread was discussed between 22/09/2006 and 25/09/2006

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