The 69 Diary - Chapter 7

8/31/01 - Jester is rebuilding his Dominator. It really dwarfs my little Rochester! Jase lets me help and explains all the bells and whistles on the monster carb. I will never just remember it all. Jester believes in liberal use of carb cleaner. His garage is closed and air conditioned, but the fumes get to me. After sitting / dozing by his pool for over an hour, he tells me he has disassembled my Rochester and it is soaking in cleaning fluid

9/01/01 - I get a ride in Jester's car. Even without the turbos hooked up, that car is amazing.

9/02/01 - Project for the evening is to rebuild my Rochester. Visiting the auto parts store, we pick up a rebuild kit. It has all sorts of gaskets and little parts.

I'm glad Jase knows what he is doing, because the kit has parts for about

<==== clean carb after soaking for 24 hrs

bowl assembly ====>

four different carbs and I'm not sure I could figure out what I need and what I don't. As we work, I take a

<====Venturi assembly

Venturi assembly installed in bowl ====>

zillion pictures and Jase explains what everything is and how it works. This will become even more vital when I try to reinstall the carb.

<==== idle needle

transition slits ====>

He also lets me do most of the work myself and it doesn't seem too

<==== inserting float hinge pin

completed float assembly ====>

difficult, nor does the working of the carb

<==== pump plunger

installing it ====>

seem too complex for me to understand. Jase gives me hints on how to make things easier and I take pictures to remind myself where things go. He also removed the fuel line

<==== metering jets vacuum line to distributor ====>

fitting and we replace it with a brass nozzle. The opening for the brake vacuum has a piece of hose with a nut in the end and we replace that with a brass nut too. The rebuild takes a while - mostly because I keep asking questions and taking pictures. Jase shows me how to check that it is working properly by spitting water into it. Three of my mouthfuls don't even fill the bowl !! When we are done, I am very satisfied that I have learned alot and now understand how it works. I'm still not capable of rebuilding something as complicated as his monster Dominator, tho.

9/04/01 - My weekend in Florida is over all too quickly and the rebuilt carb is safely packed back in the bottom of the big suitcase. I don't even bother locking the suitcase, knowing it will be searched again. I had two great rides in Jester's car and Jase patiently explained many things about his car. I also visited South Beach and the Everglases, attended a car show, sampled sushi and mangos, and made friends with the pony that Jase claims is a dog. Before I left, Jase took out his Summit catalog and circled everything he is thinking of getting for the 69. There are an awful lot of circles in that catalog!

9/08/01 - LVII Gathering this weekend. I didn't get much done on the car this week at all.

9/12/01 - I'm attempting to put the graphic pictures of the terrorist attacks to the back of my mind, at least temporarily. The carb is back on and everything is hooked up except the fuel line, which needs replaced.

9/14/01 - Kat arrives about 11pm for the weekend. Our plans include replacing that fuel line, figuring out the tranny cooler problem, and checking the brakes.

9/15/01 - Unhooking the bottom connection of the fuel line, we use the hack saw to make a clean cut and a piece of hose is inserted to make the connection to the carb.

The moment of truth arrives as I start the car. It takes a few seconds for the carb to fill with gas and then it starts right up! I am ecstatic, until we notice fuel bubbling out of the carb. We take pics and send them to Jase, who isn't online. I try calling Jester, but there is no answer. A while later, Kat tries calling. Still no answer.

I am impatient to fix this and we remove the carb. Noticing fuel in the one chamber, it seems logical that the bowl is filling with fuel, but not stopping when it is full.

We try to adjust the pump discharge ball guide as it was easy to see it was binding the float. It too two tries to get that right - where we could hear the float rattle when we shok the carb. One the 1st attempt, we noticed the gas leaking from throttle body gasket. Even though the gasket looked good we took it apart and looked and then re-assembled. It still leaked. Kat suggested a film of silicone and lightly applied it. This time there was no leak! The car started and ran better than ever. The choke seemed to actually work and I set the idle a bit lower. I was overjoyed - the first real problem I had encountered and I was able to figure out the solution based on what Jase had shown me about he carb when we rebuilt it.

Before we cleaned up, Kat took a pic of the tranny cooler lines - a hose exiting and making a U-turn to go back in....with no cooling in between. We showered and headed out to dinner at Applebee's, with my supply of catalogs from Summit, the Paddock, and National Parts Depot. By the time dinner was served, we had a shopping list completed and I was feeling great, like something was finally being accomplished, Thanks, Kat!