Mastiff's carb rebuilding thread - help appreciated!

[Mastiffen]

The next few days I'm gonna do my best to tear apart the car and rebuild it with a new kit. Scarily what I've seen so far doesn't look half bad (for my totally untrained eye). So maybe I have to look for my problems another place when this is done. The carb is as far as I can see a Rochester 2G, but I'm not sure if it's an E or a C.

Edit: It's a 2GE, because there is a bowl vent on top of the air horn (at least I think that's what it is, the description mentions spring, plastic vent and two screws, and that set of parts is underneath a small cover on the top of the air horn).

So far I have removed the carb and gotten the air horn loose, with the floater and a few other choice items.

1: The first hurdle: In the shop manual it says "Remove power piston by depressing stem and allowing it to snap free". And I'm depressing the stem (a long, thin brass rod with a spring around it) like a trumpet valve, but nothing snaps free! Any ideas? Also, should I remove that, or isn't it necessary?

2. I have the float bowl free. But there's one part in it that I haven't managed go get loose: Underneath the Venturi cluster assembly (does it show that I have the shop manual? I almost fool myself into thinking I know something about this! And I am good at following instructions, as long as they are clear) there's a T retainer with a spring and a small ball (unlike my own, that has to be bigger than I thought because I haven't given up yet!). It's hard to get out, and I'm scared I may mess up that retainer. Do I need to pull this out?

[Monza Madness]

Mastiffen, if I'm thinking right, the rochester 2g is the front half of a Q-jet I think you can follow the q-jet article in car craft that I posted you just have the primary side to set up, you don't have to worry about the secondary set up.

[Mastiffen]

Roger, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what article you mean. Can you please show me?

[Monza Madness]

Also don't confuse the metering rods with the power piston (excellarator pump) it is about the diameter of your index finger.

[Monza Madness]

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/57178/index.html

[Mastiffen]

wow! Then I'm confused. I have the Monza '78 shop manual, and in that I see what I believe you're calling a metering rod with a long arrow pointing to it and the name "power piston". Is the book totally off the rails?

[Mastiffen]

Thanks for the article! I'll look at those photos.

[Mastiffen]

I may have found a main problem here! There's a metal T vacuum vent screwn into the middle of the backside of the throttle body, and the thread on that was totally messed up. I could get my male threading tool into the throttle body (that's a tap, I cuess), but it seems very difficult to fix the threads on the vacuum vent. So it was almost loose. And on the front of the throttle body there's a regular vacuum tube, and that was so loose that ut went with the hose, not the throttle body. I guess those could be leaks, right?

[gt350fme]

Any vacume leaks anywhere will cause the engine to run less than perfect, your on the right track.

[SunbirdMan]

Mastiffen, if I'm thinking right, the rochester 2g is the front half of a Q-jet I think you can follow the q-jet article in car craft that I posted you just have the primary side to set up, you don't have to worry about the secondary set up.

You're thinking of the Dual Jet. He's got the 2GE 2 Jet.

[Mastiffen]

That explains it! I couldn't see much in those photos that looked like what I have here!

So I'm down to three questions all in all (rather impressive I think - I would have thought that I'd have at least ten when the thing was disassembled):

1. What should I soak the large parts in over night? I was thinking kerosene, but would white spirit be better?

2. I'm still wondering if I need to remove that T retainer and the spring and ball underneath it.

3. And finally is the thin rod with the spring a power piston, as the shop manual says, or something else, and do I need to remove it?

[SunbirdMan]

1) How bad does it look? Is it all full of gummy build up? Personally, i don't soak carbs anymore if they don't look that bad inside. I wash them with hot soapy water. I use a heavy duty detergent type degreaser. Scrub the dirt off with a toothbrush. Then rinse with hot water and blow it dry with compressed air. then spray out the passages with an aerosol can of carb cleaner. The kerosene sounds like a good idea but I've never used it .
2) and 3) You're moving too fast on this for me. i probably got some parts around to look at but I'd have to dig them out.

[Mastiffen]

There's a lot of dirt in it, yes. I think it needs soaking. So I take it that you're supporting kerosene. That shouldn't be too far from gasoline and at the same time not explosive (I don't think I would sleep very well with an open container of gasoline in the cellar!). I'll wipe what needs wiping and use my air compressor to blow throuh everything. Then I'll do the carb spray and finally do another round of compressed air. That should clean up a lot of the mess!

[Monza Madness]

Sorry, the spread bore 2 barrel rochester must be for 79 & 80 only.

[vegatex]

Mastiff,

I have Oslo layovers on February 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27. I think we're still staying at the airport Radisson hotel. I will probably visit Erik Askjem sometime also. Let me know if you are around and have time for an afternoon visit. We fly in in the morning and leave early in the evening, so we're only on the ground for about 12 hours and part of that is rest time. Always great to meet other h-body guys during my travels!

Best,
Dave