Edited on 2015-01-11 23:15:14
Edited on 2015-01-11 20:59:21
Edited on 2015-01-11 20:58:24
Joe, as caretaker of a collection of classics/collectibles/exotics I spend a fair bit of time with my hands inside old carburetors. And, speaking of Corvettes, my present project is a '64 coupe --250 horse with the old WCFB Carter which, actually, I just overhauled a few days ago!
Anyhow....
I'm just not seeing any problems that I wasn't seeing umpteen years ago, before E10 was a common thing. Or, at least not seeing problems that I can say, with any certainty, are E10 related. How would a person tell? I remember in the late 70s/early 80s when those 'new' blue gaskets came out for the Holley carbs. Such an improvement over the old ones and, of course, this was way before E10 was an issue.
A couple years ago I had to replace one float on an XK120 that has been in storage. Not both, just one. It was leaking. E10 related? Yes? No? How can one say? Lord knows floats were leaky long before E10 came along. Remember those floats in the old Q-Jet carbs? They were a black composite material of some sort....the exact name escapes my memory at the moment. I remember those floats 'sinking' back in the 70s. And they're still giving trouble today on the cars that still have 'em! It's hard for me to blame E10. But I'm pretty darn sure a lot of people do blame E10. Same for the old leather accelerator pumps used in so many old carbs, including AFBs. They were notorious for drying out 40 years ago and they're still drying out...the few that are left... in 2015. (I found terrific modern replacements at NAPA, by the way! Bought 20 of 'em!)
I'm not saying E10 problems flat-out can't happen. I just think that the situation is overblown, that's all. Sorry about getting on such a high horse!
All's well!
Cheers
DD
