Help needed - Holley 1960 leak

RCM

RCM

Senior Member
Hi there.
Tomorrow I'll be picking up a 56 223 Customline.
I'll be making a 250 km return home trip (hand palms sweating..) with a leaking Holley 1960 carb. I only drove it once and, from what I saw, the leak seems to come from the float bowl gaskets, although it might come from somewhere else.
Now, any thoughts on how to fix it on the spot so I can make a more relaxed trip? It will get a full rebuild later.
Morac41 over at the HAMB already suggested 1 - tighten up screws, 2 - some sort of silicone gasket sealer, 3 - a couple of o-rings that fit the shape of the bowl.

Any thougths?

Might the gas ignite? Or is gas/money loss the only thing to avoid?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
 
If you are going to rebuild the carb eventually anyways, why not buy the rebuild kit now and use the new bowl gasket to get it home. Chances are you can re-use it when completely going through the carb later. The fuel inlet fitting is close to the bowl gasket too, so could be that instead. Or possibly the carb is flooding a little (high fuel level).
If you have a rebuild kit, you should be able to repair it on the spot, outside of a broken part leaking.
 
when tightening the top of carb do it like tightening heads start in the middle and work toward the ends, make two passes,, the carb base or top might be warped but that can be attened to on a rebuild and do make sure the float isnt set to high, when using silicone becareful not to get any inside the float chamber, and yes a leaky carb can cause a fire from ignition spark and gas leaking on a hot exhaust manifold, not to metion the lose of fuel milage
 
The top fuel gasket is above the fuel, when things are normal it can't leak fuel.
It is probably the fuel inlet fitting, the material those carbs are made from is poor and when people tighten the nut on the fuel line it turns the adapter fitting going inot the carb and strips the threads into the carb itself.
For temp repair, remove the fuel line (use 2 wrenches) and remove the adapter fitting and wrap some teflon tape on the adapters' threads to make them a little fatter and carefully screw it back into the carb and tighten while avoiding restripping. Then screw your fuel line back into the adapter and use 2 wenches so when you tighten the fittings you are protecting the threads into the carb.
Best to look for a replacement carb.
 
If I'm not mistaken, your Holley 1960 is similar to the 1904 with the side hung fuel bowl? You could try a new gasket (you could make one out of PURE cork from Hobby Lobby), but if that doesn't work, you may have to "re-adjust" the gasket mounting face. They tend to get warped from over-tightening.

Here is a video, just scroll down a bit:

http://www.carburetor-blog.com/holley-1904-carburetor/
 
Hey there guys.
Sorry for not replying for a while, but I'm so happy with the Customline that I'm hardly able to sleep. I've been working on it for all of the weekend.
I took my chances and drove the 270km back home. It all went well, fortunatelly, as I was very concerned about the carb leaking over the manifolds, and also about an eventual water leak, brake fluid leak, and so forth. In a way I'm glad I didnt try to solve the gas leak on the spot, since a part of the bowl was broken an secured in place with silicone. When I removed it, it all came apart. I probably wouldnt be able to get back home that day.
Now I've got time to solve things out.
I'm gonna post about the car and the trip soon.
Thanks a lot for the advices and keep it up.
 
1952henry said:
If I'm not mistaken, your Holley 1960 is similar to the 1904 with the side hung fuel bowl? You could try a new gasket (you could make one out of PURE cork from Hobby Lobby), but if that doesn't work, you may have to "re-adjust" the gasket mounting face. They tend to get warped from over-tightening.

Here is a video, just scroll down a bit:

http://www.carburetor-blog.com/holley-1904-carburetor/
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Henry52 for letting me know of such great resource. It is very helpfull.
 
Henry, I really appreciate it. That was just the kind of miracle I was looking for!
I'm gonna PM you if you dont mind.
Man am I happy!
 
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