Too lean? Doesn't smell like it!

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4mulaSvaliant

4mulaSvaliant

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Hey peeps, well I have been inching closer and closer to driving the Valiant and tonight I went out and fired it up. Well it has smelled rich (exaust) for quite a while now and I just havent gotten to the point of tuning it yet. Im not real good at it any how.
But what threw me off tonight was, that when I pulled the choke closed a bit, it revved higher.
Now it seems to me that if I give it less air into the mixture by choking it and it revs higher, then the mixture was needing les air to run the setting that it is adjusted at.
Or suggesting it is lean (not enough fuel).
If you could get a wif' of the exaust you would strongly disagree with it being too lean.
Anyone have any input?
Am I thinking the wrong way? It is surely possible! LOL:toothy10:
 
Actually it might be running lean. Too lean can stink too. I know it sounds strange but it does. I used to service forklifts at a factory that ran 5 lifts in a rather small building and CO output became a issue. More times than not when they complained one was stinking like it was rich my exhaust gas analyzer said just the opposite, that it was excessively lean.

In your case of closing the choke and the engine speeding up is a clear indication that it's not too rich. It could be running lean from either a mis-adjusted carb or vacuum leak. Also make sure your timing is adjusted correctly before working out the bugs in the carb. Timing affects things alot.
 
fishy68 said:
Actually it might be running lean. Too lean can stink too. I know it sounds strange but it does. I used to service forklifts at a factory that ran 5 lifts in a rather small building and CO output became a issue. More times than not when they complained one was stinking like it was rich my exhaust gas analyzer said just the opposite, that it was excessively lean.

In your case of closing the choke and the engine speeding up is a clear indication that it's not too rich. It could be running lean from either a mis-adjusted carb or vacuum leak. Also make sure your timing is adjusted correctly before working out the bugs in the carb. Timing affects things alot.
Click to expand...
Yes. Rich and lean have their own distinctive smells. When you have been around cars as long as a lot of us here have you can tell how well the car ahead of you is tuned just by the smell.
 
Well thats good to know. Would you assume that its lean, because of its reaction when I choke it? This was done after it was warmed up plenty. I recently bought a vacuum guage and a nice timing light, so I plan to tune it to the best of my ability. Ill be reading up on it and looking for tips so I can get it tuned correctly. I know it will benefit greatly from being tuned properly.
 
Lean and rich smell the same. Unburnt fuel is unburnt fuel. But, lean and smelling of fuel will have given you other syptoms long before it smells rich, and tying to sniff while your driving is not a great idea...lol In your case, the idle mix is off, or the throttle is open too far, or not enough.. It needs to be tuned. that's all.
 
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