By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:21 pm:

Ok, not really, but i'm certainly at the end of my rope. Here's the deal. I have a 75 civic 1500 cvcc. When I bought it it needed an exhaust manifold. I got one, when I went to round up my intake manifold it was missing, replaced that. Got everything put together and it wouldn't start. the plug order was wrong(many of you may recognise this because most of you helped me figure it out), got the plug order right, the car was starting and idling just fine. Then got it out on the road, up until you hit 35, drove like a dream(or as near as one can hope in a 27 year old honda!) then if you tried to speed up it would bog out and try to die. It had horrible acceleration and no speed. Then I got my hands on a set of headers, I took everything back off, put the headers on and put everything back in place just like it was before, now the damn thing will barely start and when it does it will only idle at half choke and then it's pulling about 4000 rpm the whole time. I did find out that the dwell angle on the points was only 22 degrees and I fixed that, it's now at 52. I have checked the timing and it's dead on. The vacuum advance on the distributor was bad so I replaced that. Then I got into my book and start checking things on the carb and I think I went too far beyond my skills. In attempting to adjust the primary float on the carb(the one on the right according to my book)I think I turned it too far and now when I try to crank the car gas flows from the adjustment screw. I'm thinking that I may just spend what i'm sure will seem like an ungodly amount of money and take it to a mechanic to fis the damn thing just so I can get it on the road and enjoy my $300 car(which has to date cost me $700 more in parts). If anyone has any ideas what may be wrong with it, and/or how to fix this little screw up of mine on the carb, please let me know. Sorry for the length of this post, but it was a long story!

By farenheight101 (24.69.255.202) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 11:10 pm:

If i were you mike...just get someone to rebuild your carb...
my sister tried on her '86 Civic's carb but she got frustrated on a screw that holds a diaphram on and gave up...hehe...
she can't even get the oil pan off to change it's gasket without getting mad at the exhaust pipe which is in the way...hehe...
anywayz...ya...rebuild it and tune it to the specs...
you don't haveta listen to me if you don't want to...but its just my advice...

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 11:19 pm:

No, that's really sound advice. The only issue I have with that is the carb was re-built right before I bought the car. I don't think it could have gone bad, but then, who knows.

By mo (24.69.255.202) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 12:19 am:

sounds like it (the carb)is gummed up .. i had a similar problem with my dual sidedrafts .. the symptoms were pretty similar. i put a fuel regulator on .. had it adjusted a bit too low . . brought up the pressure a bit, runs great .. but then had to tweek the mixture ..(it was a bit rich)
also, give the carbs a good clean .. plugs too ..
maybe add some carb cleaner to the gas to really get in there ..

it helped my problem.
good luck mike!
mo

By Zippy (Zippy) (152.163.194.186) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 03:27 pm:

Fuel, fuel, fuel. How is your filter, pressure, pressure while flowing, etc. I see a fuel problem, or mabye air, or electric, wait, fuel. Yeah, fuel. Could be a carb problem but based on the problem you were having before you put on the header, and that it runs under heavy choke, I'm leaning toward a blockage in the line or clogged fuel filter resulting in low fuel pressure. Try blowing out the lines with compressed air. Check the filter{yes I now you are not stupid ;-) }. Check your fuel pressure (how far will the gas fly if you unplug the hose).

Don't hate your car and good luck, Roger

By farenheight101 (24.69.255.202) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 05:50 pm:

hehe...you sure do get excited about carbs...hehe...
it'd be cool to convert a 1200 to fuel injected...but I doubt its possible

By Adrian (Civicguru) (165.228.11.61) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 05:56 pm:

Of course it's possible to fuel inject a 1200. It just depends on the size of your credit card ...

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 08:22 pm:

I've checked the filter, it's clean. I don't have a fuel pressure guage and I can't afford to buy one right now, so i'm not sure if it's up to pressure, but I did try a simple fuel flow test and it pumped right on out of there. I'm going to pull out the plugs and clean them(thanks for the suggestion mo!) and i'll run some more carb cleaner in there. As of right now though, I can't get it to even start. Maybe if the weather isn't to horrible tomorrow i'll do some of these things. As for conversion to fuel injection, i'd love to, but my credit card is very, very small!

By mo (24.69.255.202) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 10:03 pm:

hey there ..

try taking the air filter off and .. wait, are your carbs stock??/ ..
in anycase, try taking of the air filter housing, and see if more air helps .. your plugs should give you a clue to the mixture .. the fuel pressure regulator i have has been very useful inlimiting the pressure .. it seems when the pressure is too high it has the characteristcs you're describing ..
also, that in combination with .. when i over adjust my idle screw it seems to do the same thing ..

just a couple of thoughts ..
best of luck!!
mo

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 10:19 pm:

Yes the carb is stock, I know, i'm crazy! I just can't afford the weber right now, and i'm contemplating just swapping motors anyway so i'm not sure I want to clunk down the cash for something i'll only use for a little while. All of the things that are occuring are with the air cleaner off, so I don't think air is the problem. I'm betting that it's as most of you think, fuel pressure, which all goes back to carb adjustments. If I pull the plugs out, what shoudl I look for to clue me in? And what type of fuel pressure regulator do you have mo? Does it attatch back by the pump or in the engine bay, pre carb?

By mo (24.69.255.202) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 12:40 am:

if the plugs are black = too rich
white = too lean
go for a light burnt amber ..
and make sure all your gaps are correct ..
check the mixture adjustment ..
oh ya, also, there is one other thing .. there is a wee electrical connection that hooks up to the carb .. is it secure?
that will be the problem if it's not hooked up ..
i remember this from my engine swap .. fixed that up and all was well!! same sypmtoms you're describing ..

By natcho (208.195.243.203) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 11:33 am:

I think you're talking about plugs from a 1200, right Mo? With a CVCC like Mike's you'll have black-ish plugs most of the time, at least in my experience.

By mo (24.69.255.202) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 07:02 pm:

hey ..
ya, i wouldn't know about that nasty cvcc stuff .. oops! was that my "outside' voice??
uh .. sorry ..

mike, another thing you might wann ado is stick the airbox back on and make sure the heatshield/preheat hose is attached .. and that the little flap-a-ma-jig is operational ..

.. but then again, it's only in canada that icing is a problem .. well, apparently NOT for CANADIAN WOMENS HOCKEY !!!! WOOOO HOOO ! GO GOLD!!!
oops, outside voice again!
cheers ..
mo

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 08:17 pm:

You can have the gold if the plugs are the problem! I'll get it for you personally! I pulled them today, they were black, which according to my book is right based on carbon build up in the pre-combustion chamber(whatever). I cleaned them anyway, just to be anal, then I checked tha gap on all of them. They were alledgedly pregapped since they are direct factory replacements, but one was too small, by maybe .002 in, the other was to big by about .005 in. I regapped, put em back in and then tried to turn it over, no good, battery is shot to hell. I need to put a charge on it then go from there. As for the electrical connections on the carb, yep, all hooked up and solid. And my flappy thing works just fine, thank you very much!(all these entirely too personal questions!)lol.

By errol (64.12.105.29) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 11:06 pm:

Mike from what I remember, those early manifolds tended to 'puddle' fuel and would make for a flooding condition. I think it was the runners from the little cvcc port under the carb that were cast to low and would gather there.
What about the head? Was it rebuilt/refreshed? The reason I ask is that sometimes the cvcc valve seat isn't 'seating' and since the forementioned problem you may be flooding through those.
Another thing might be the little aux valve mixture screw (under the front accelerator bracket) may be 'off' or out of adjustment. two 8mm screws hold it on. Loosen one and take the other out. pivot it out of the way and count how many turns it takes to LIGHTLY seat. I think mine was around 3 1/4.
On several ocasions, I had to screw it in (lean it)almost 1 whole turn!
Yeah, mine leaked also. that's why they use a yellow sealer on top of those two float screws. (clear nail polish works good to repair) Think of the floats as the plunger in the back of your toilet. (OK here it comes) if you screw it clock-wise it's shutting off the fuel faster, and letting it flow more going counter clock-wise. So if you turned right you leaned just go back a 1/8 turn at a time, and slow!
Is the contact of the points clean? rub a emery board between them to clean. Make sure that all four points on the 'cam' that opens the points are equal. I got my wagon from a guy that happened to adjust his on a lobe that was about .020 short which made all the others way off! How is the condensor (now that is a cheap part!)
Call me tomorrow night and we can talk

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 11:52 pm:

Thanks errol! These are things I will check tomorrow. I may not get to call you till Saturday since I work at night, but i'll give it a shot. The contact on the points is clean and the 'cam' is fine, all points equal. I'll let you know!

Mike

By farenheight101 (24.69.255.202) on Friday, February 22, 2002 - 09:55 am:

can you fuel inject a 1200...
what was I thinkin...it wasn't even late either...
sometimes I get embarrassed at what I ask on this board...
oh well...pitty ain't it?

By Bruce Harmeling (66.20.228.37) on Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 06:54 am:

Personally I leave the carb alone and get/pay someone else to fix it, I can rebuild the engine and fix just about anything on it but hate carbs, anyway, check to see if the accelerator pump is working. Also check your book in the carb section and see if they have a base set for that screw, turn it in all the way then back it out, I would start at a turn and a half, I am at work now and will look when I get home.