John Poet
Recruit
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2014
- Messages
- 5
Bought a 1989 Celebrity Challenger with a 3.0. Hard starting but ran strong and fast. From idle it accelerated like a bat out of hell. Again, ran great even at WOT. Restarting was difficult. Saw fuel dripping in the Mercarb throat. Opened the Mercarb and noticed a ton of build up. In order to get right back on the water I bought a rebuilt Mercarb (one mixture screw). Started fine after that and still accelerated very well. However, after a short while of running WOT or anywhere down to half throttle, it felt like I was running out of gas. It bogged down and wanted to stall. Half throttle and below I could and did run for quite some time with no problems. After which I could again go WOT for a short while with the same results. Carb bowl running empty? The supplier (148 miles away) had me 1:check the float level,it was good but he said to keep adjusting it up until flooding started. Did that with the same results. 2: Replace the accelerator pump even though it never bogged during acceleration. Same results. 3: Install a new needle and seat set. Same results. 4:Install second Mercarb. Same results. I checked the fuel pressure and it was about 8.5psi the entire time from idle to acceleration to WOT and even when it bogged down to half throttle. Any ideas? Power valve? Wrong jets? Builder using the wrong top to the carb? ie Not Mercarb, resulting in restricted fuel flow regardless of pressure? Gremlins?