Reply to "600 carb issue"

> When I go to adjust the float level (the engine is off) gas is
> spraying out of the external adjusting nuts as soon as I loosen
> the lock screw. I can't believe your suppose to do this with the
> engine running

This is not necessarily abnormal. You need to just barely
loosen the lock screw then back both the adjustment and the lock
off together. In practice, I back the lock screw off until gas
sprays out then I tighten it back up enough to keep gas from
spraying out, then I move both the nut and screw in unison.
Willys even makes a little tool for this.

> adjusted the floats to "inverted level" then reinstalled the carb.
> On startup the motor sounded pritty good, idled fine and after a
> little smoke the exhaust sounded good. I cracked the site plugs
> and found the same results, fuel above the secondary site hole and
> below the primary float hole.

That may be due to the fact the carb is not level as installed.
Most street intake manifolds have a canted carb pad because the
cars they were designed for mount the engine nose high. The
cant levels the carb. The Pantera, however, mounts the engine
level so the carb ends up nose down. That causes the fuel to
drain away from the sight hole (and jets) on the primary side
and towards the sight hole on secondary side. You may have to
lower the secondary float and raise the primary slightly. After
you've got it where you think it is right, do a braking test
from 30 mph or so with the engine in neutral. If it dies, the
primary float is still a bit low (fuel is sloshing away). Don't
raise the float too high or you will run rich across the board.

> I adjusted the levels 1/4 turn and the Pan won't hold an idle,
> falls right off like it's starving for fuel or flooding. If I
> rev up to 2000 it will run but sounds like it's got a slight
> miss.

It is likely too lean on the idle circuit. I'm assuming this
is on an engine that is fully warmed up (and therefore not due
to the choke going open too soon). The higher the level of
fuel in the primary float, the richer the idle circuit will
be. If it's too low, the idle leans out and may not hold an
idle until you start pulling in additional fuel from the main
jets. Even then it may be lean and pop and miss. You must get
the float levels right before doing any other tuning.

> but after runnning the adjuster all the way down on the secondary
> float gas was still spilling out of the sight hole.

That is not normal. Maybe the needle valve is bad causing too
much gas to get into the float bowl. Another possibility is
the fuel is boiling (needs an insulator gasket or spacer between
the intake and carb).

Dan Jones