Quick Fuel float adjustments

So I have finished doing the protec to carb swap and I have been trying to work the bugs out. I had the floats adjusted to spec with the boat on the trailer. We took it out and ran the boat and the carb started flooding out the engine with gas actually dripping straight into the intake with the throttle in neutral. So I figured I was getting to much fuel pressure so I adjusted the floats down so I could barely see the fuel in the sight glass. I added a fuel filter right before the fuel pump and took the boat out and it ran decent, it acted like it wasn't getting enough fuel, So I adjusted floats back up and ran good, still not the greatest at wide open throttle out of the hole. If I eased into the throttle it would take off better, no sputtering. I adjusted the secondary's so they kick in about 35 mph.

This morning I took it out and it was hesitating at about 30 mph. Did a couple hole shots and it seemed flat, didn't run anything like it did the last time I was out. I checked the float levels and the secondary bowl was good, the primary was to high again and the gas was running into the intake again with the throttle at idle. So I adjusted the float down and it started running good again. I went skiing and it ran good other than it seemed like it was flooding out when it started up... had to open up the throttle in neutral to get it to start.

This is getting long winded and I'm sorry about that but I am running out of ideas on why I can't keep the floats adjusted properly. Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks

If you have a piece or pieces of junk just upstream of the needle and seat randomly getting stuck in between them and bouncing around it'll drive you crazy trying to adjust the float level as the piece moves around..

I'd pull the bowls and look and make sure the fuel inlet and your fuel line from the pump don't have junk anywhere.

That's about where I am, I've messed with carbs a bit but never really fine tuned one. I've never had issues with setting the floats.

I was kinda leaning towards taking the bowl off and checking,
Thanks Guys!

Ahh. It was 2 years ago when I dealt with warranty. I returned it to summit.

1994 SNOB with a new QF M-600. One morning it started running super rich. Couldn't get the engine to idle. Ran fine at wide open throttle, but idle was 1,500 rpm or engine would die. I pulled the flame arresor off and saw fuel running into the mains. Back at the hacienda, I pulled the float bowl off and found that a small piece of brass had become lodged in between the needle and seat. This prevented the needle/seat assembly from stopping the fuel flow into the bowl -- hence the fuel running into the mains. So, I put in a new needle and seat assembly in the carb and it has performed flawlessly since.

The piece of brass looked like a small remnant left over from the machining process. I don't know where the brass came from, but I'm guessing from the fuel tank as I had recently replaced some of the brass fittings there.

JQ

Duane in Indy wrote: TRBenj wrote: Believe Holley purchased QF ~5 yrs ago. Last year is what they told me

+1

Same story I got from QF / Holley when I called to get recommendations for secondary jets.

JQ

I hope 1994 Nautique is out playing with his carburetor instead of getting distracted by all this

Well, took the Nautique out and so far so good no flooding. So the only thing at this time is when I hit it full throttle out of the hole it hesitates until about 2600 rpm then it takes off like it should. If I ease into the throttle it takes off no problem. I opened the gap on the plugs to .055 when I installed the dui, I was thinking I would close them to .050 and see how it runs. Any thoughts??

1994nautique wrote: Well, took the Nautique out and so far so good no flooding. So the only thing at this time is when I hit it full throttle out of the hole it hesitates until about 2600 rpm then it takes off like it should. If I ease into the throttle it takes off no problem. I opened the gap on the plugs to .055 when I installed the dui, I was thinking I would close them to .050 and see how it runs. Any thoughts??

I don't predict the gap to cure that.
tell us..
Whats your initial timing at?   
What PV is in the carb?
How did you set the idle mix?

My idle screws are turned out between 1/2 and 3/4 turn. They were more than 1-1/4 until I moved them in. That seemed to help on mine.

Turned the idle screws in this morning to 3/4 turn and she ran like a champ! I will try and post a picture with the vacuum gauge, This quick fuel carb has the two ports on the bottom underneath the primary bowl.

Reeeeally high ha, at 6 am - the boats running good - and we're ripping up glassed out water    
Elevation wise about 4200 ft.

Thanks for the help!

Ok, I will try it, do I need to have anything tied into the port coming of the metering block?

That port off the metering block is also a "timed vacuum port" sensing above throttle plate vacuum so you don't need anything hooked to it.

I'd just cover it with a small cap.

I'd probably also take JQ's advice on jets for your altitude.

Yes, I changed jet sizes. I went with the rule-of-thumb of 1 jet size for each 2,000 feet of elevation. As such, I decreased jet sizes by 2 for primary and secondary metering blocks. One nice feature on the QF is that the secondary metering block has changeable jets. The 4160 does not.

Since the jets are fairly inexpensive, I bought jets for one, two and three sizes smaller. The carb also has changeable air bleeds, but I kept those at the stock setting.

Most of my boating/skiing is at Utah Lake (4,400 feet elevation) so the 2X size reduction is spot-on. Out of the box, the accelerator pump was OK and the idle air mixture screw setting was also good. I have not had to adjust choke or vacuum secondaries.

Where in WY are you? What is your elevation?

JQ