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1980 LeBaron Carb

I was at this NG some months ago, this issue is part of that problem. Problem; no ported vacuum for dist. Fix from this NG was to replace carb. Now the question; Jobber wants to sell me a carb for a 1980 318 CID, Dodge truck, instead of one for a 1980 318 CID Lebaron. He claims the carb is the same except that there is no vacuum connections for the carbon canister, there is zero emission equipment support on this carb (no egr connection port). Everything else appears to be there. The jobber claims the carb is heavy duty (my guess is because it was meant for a truck). The Lebaron does not have the lean burn system, or an O2 sensor, and it passed the emissions test with flying colours, without any of the emissions gear attached (EGR and vacuum advance). So the question is, can I use this carb in this car, or will the lack of carbon canister, egr,etc, cause me grief. Fuel efficiency is the prime concern here. Emissions appear to be well within spec with the current carb. Is fuel consumption going to be higher with the truck version of the carb. I should note that the current carb (not factory orginal) actually has a SEALED, ported vacuum port, (I disassembled the carb and traced the internal channel back to the base casting, and the well that should have been opened to the venturi, (no hole punched in the aluminum casting), from the factory). The engine was rebuilt and the lean burn removed by a local Chyrsler dealer about 30 Km ago, at that time they also replaced the carb.

Reply to
nirodac
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Ah, I just discovered that the current carb is for a 1981 318CID engine w/o feedback (no O2 Sensor).

Reply to
nirodac

He's wrong. And "remanufactured" carburetors sold through jobbers are garbage.

Jobber doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

Yes, but you'd be much better off with a carb that does have the right ports, especially for the evaporative emission containment system (charcoal canister etc.).

Yes. So will fuel loss from evaporative emissions.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

There are tons of carbs on Ebay. I bought one last year for my 84 Chevy Celebrity, it was a feedback carb and the numbers matched exactly, which was amazing considering the number of variations of that carb that GM used. While it was a New Old Stock carb I only needed the selonoid from it, and the carb is still on my shelf in case I ever need it.

If I were you I would find a local carb rebuilder and see if he could drill the passage you need in your existing carb.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

Drilling the hole didn't help, just made things worse. I went with a rebuilt, the correct one for the car, and now the car runs great, no more hesitation and smoother (but not perfect) at idle, also doesn't "miss" at idle as it used to. The rebuilder totally rebuilt the carb, you'd be hard pressed to tell it wasn't NOS. The finish on the carb looks like new (re anodized). I checked the ported vaccum port before I bought it, to make sure it was open. This carb is basic, no feedback control. What amazes me is that this engine was rebuilt through a local Chyrsler dealership. They are the ones that installed a 1981 carb in a 1980 car, removed the lean burn system, then when it didn't work (no vacuum advance, no ported vaccum) they just left it. It wasn't a matter of poor adjustments, it was just a wrong part. The owner at the time was in his 60's, and didn't drive the car much (preferred is Ram Charger) so didn't notice any performance issues with the new rebuild, until it failed the emissions test, then the dealer "fixed" the problem and the car passed.

Had a similar problem with my sons Mazda, three attempts by the local Mazda dealer to repair carb issues (at $600.00 per fix)(failed emissions tests) then the owner sold us the car, we replaced the carb and bingo, great emission test results. Same issue with my Merc., can't these dealers fix cars any more?

Many thanks to all who gave suggestions for the fix.

Reply to
nirodac

I think in any major city you could count the number of carb specialists on the fingers of one hand, these days.

The feedback carb in my Chevy works perfectly right now, I've put time into fixing it, though. I've talked to mechanics at one of the local chevy dealers that I've bought parts from and none of them have seen one of these systems in for almost 4-5 years now, and they say they were a bitch to work on when they did see them.

I personally am far more impressed by the carburetors that were engineered in the 70's and 80's, than a modern fuel injection system today. These carbs impress me because of the fact that they worked at all, and worked as reliably as they did for so long. Truly marvels of engineering. A fuel injection system by contrast, is a lot simpler from a mechanical standpoint.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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