Holley 1904 dumping gas on passenger side

[thetodd]

I have a 1969 Scout 800A 196 cyl. with 1904 Holley carb. It's been running awesome for about a year now. Unfortunately it died on me on Friday after driving around town. I thought I was low on gas or had bad gas, however, upon further inspection I could see gas coming out the bottom of the holley carb upon acceleration. The amount of gas was significant leaking below the passenger side carb component that says 'Holley' on the side and gas quickly covered the engine block. I immediately turned her off to avoid the fire hazard. What would cause this to happen? Why would it happen all of a sudden after running fine? Do I need to get a rebuild get for my carb or upgrade to a Weber carb? Any information and thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Todd

[Lava]

I don't have enough experience to just tell you what,but is the gas coming out of the vent on the top of the float bowl?
If so, that seems like a gas filter failure, and maybe some debris got into the needle seat, but it could be other things I suppose, where is the gas coming from?

[thetodd]

I've attached a pic I found online showing the holley 1904 carb. There is a red arrow pointing to where the fuel was pouring out. Thanks!

[Lava]

take off the air cleaner, and look to see if the gas is coming out of the vent on top of where the arrow is pointing
if it is I'd say send it to Mayben
I've been thinking over just telling people to attempt these rebuilds on their own,
right parts and practices first,
then maybe

[rlireland]

Originally Posted by thetodd

I've attached a pic I found online showing the holley 1904 carb. There is a red arrow pointing to where the fuel was pouring out. Thanks!

The gasket on the bowl cover could have dried out causing your leak. This is a common ocurrance with the 19xx series Holleys and those four mounting screws tend to be overtightened in an attempt to stop the leak. When you take the bowl cover off, check the edges with a straight edge to see if the cover is warped out of shape. If it is, you'll probably need to try to find a replacement carb in a junk yard as the covers are not available anywhere else. The good news is that the 1904 was used on thousands of 4 and six cylinder engines in the 50's and 60's so they should not be too hard to find.

Roy

[76 Terra]

Looks like the fuel bowl is leaking. The quickest fix would be to replace the gasket and give it a try. When you get it apart, inspect it for cracks or damage. Probably always leaks but more gas gets delivered to the carb at higher rpms (assuming you run a mechancal fuel pump). This should be an easy fix. Good luck!

TRO

[thetodd]

Very cool as I like easy fixes! Where would I find this gasket? Thanks again, Todd

[1977ScoutII]

Don't know if you can get them by themselves, I know they come in the rebuild kit.

[kcgibbons]

You can get the rebuild kits just about anywhere, Mayben says to use the Wells kit, I have have success with others. You could make your own gasket from a sheet of Felpro or the like, it is thick about 1/16". If its not a bowl/ gasket problem (they can be warped from cranking on the screws), Then the gas IS coming from the overflow on top of the bowl, this is caused by a bad fuel inlet needle valve (included in the kit) or a bad float (not included in most kits). While you have the bowl off you could try cleaning out the needle valve housing and checking the float for a hole. Shake the float and listen for guel inside or submerge it and look for bubbles.


Keith
1963 S80

[ChrisProcykatwork]

I want to chime in on making sure the needle valve is sealing. A leaky gasket would* just dribble, at a rate normally not noticible unless you are actually under the hood looking for something else. Something that you were hoping was your only problem....

If the leak immediately reduces when you shut the engine off, then it's definitely coming out the top.

My 1904 has done this a few times.

So replace the float bowl gasket and the needle valve, like everybody said you'll probably wind up buying both anyway. (Don't get excited about all the extra stuff that comes in the kit, if your carb ran great otherwise then just leave that crap in the box and save yourself a lot of potential heartache!).

So:

1)Take off the fuel bowl
2)Remove the float (it's pretty easy, in fact it may just slide off, I don't remember). The important thing is to note which side of the tiny spring the float tab rest on. It's not the side it seems like it should be.
3)Remove the fuel line, and see if there is a mesh filter in there. If there is remove and clean it. Spray a ton of carb cleaner in thru the hole.

Re-assemble with the new needle valve and bowl gasket. I hope your screws are not stripped out.


*Normally, but for every rule there is an exception that us self-appointed experts claim proves it!!