Paul:

Have you found out why your secondaries won't open?  One common problem is the gaskets where the vacuum housings bolt to the carb.  They can be installed in any of 3 different ways.  One way is right.  One way blocks the vacuum from getting to the diaphragm.  One way creates a vacuum leak.  With the common connection between the carbs, a vacuum leak at one housing will also leak the vacuum from the other one, so neither works.  You probably don't need to ask me how I know this.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John,



What is symptom of non-opening secondaries? Would it be obvious? Just wondering if this might explain why my locally-rebuilt teapot pulls so much weaker that my Pony?

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Hi John,

No, Ted E. couldn't tell exactly why either.  I replaced the diaphram in the rear carb and that didn't seem to help.  The engine is coming down for an overhaul, and I have kits to rebuild the carbs.  Thanks for your interest.  I would appreciate it if you would have Gordon get in touch with me, my e mail is radio@inwave1.com.  We had a great visit at Columbus.  I have an extra 312 I'm going to rebuild too, not 100% sure what I'm goin to do.  It was great to see you again at Columbus, I'm sure your glad I was there too, so you wouldn't be the oldest guy :-)  Thanks for the tip on the gaskets.

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Paul:

Of course I was glad to see you again, and age has nothing to do with it.  If you looked around the pits, you probably noticed how many of us are of the same generation.  I will forward your address to Gordon.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Dan:

Teapots are quite smooth in their transition to secondaries, but typically non-operating secondaries show up when the car runs strong off the line, but "lays down" a bit at higher rpm with your foot on the floor.  Also, you can usually hear additional "roar" in the air cleaner when they open.  Once I fabricated a bracket to hold a piece of electrical wire in a position that the secondary lever would touch the bared end at wide open.  Used that wire as the ground circuit for a light temporarily mounted on the steering column.  Do not try to get the secondaries to open by revving the engine in neutral.  They won't open that way and engine damage could result.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John,



Weak teapot pulls steadily (no lay-down) until orig. cam gives up around 4800 RPMs.



Side note: I once asked the Pony tech. if lighter secondary spring (50s hop-up trick) might be secret of their success. His answer was an emphatic "NO!" Makes me wonder if secondaries did open immediately, would acceleration still be smooth, or would it bog until revs caught up? (Don't know if installed rebuild kit included a new spring).

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Dan:

In the past I have put a screw in the secondary lever slot to make them open mechanically and early.  Result: a bog when you nail the throttle and sluggish acceleration until 3000 rpm or so.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I did try a lighter spring in the teapot on my 56 sunliner and it did run better, but like John said putting a screw in to open the secondaries quicker brings in a bog. Later I went with the later distributer manifold and carb and it did even better. My luck with the teapots has actually been good for what they produced in power and smoothness, they just don't have that snap you get in the later setup in my opinion.

-Gary Burnette-

Gary, i agree with you re the crispy performance from later carbs, holleys etc, my 2 x 4 teapots , FOM are doughy on take off and i just live with it, they are at their best on mid range onwards, at least on my last 2 cars. Best regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Ran screws in the linkage on my '57 Dual Quad set up on my T-bird back in the late '60's when actively drag racing. Worked well on the strip but I was launching it at 5500 rpm's with 7" cheater slicks and a 3.89 rear end. It was hard to catch off the line. Won a lot of street races that way. Haven't run the screws for many years. Much smoother. Does not catch on fire as easily eather!