SaltyMike Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Hey everybody, Recently I finally completed the Weber swap on my 1982 Brat that I bought this past summer. It originally had the 1 BBL Carter/Weber which desperately needed to be replaced, but I could not find any aftermarket support for this particular carburetor, so my next best option was to go with the 32/36 Weber. Along with the new carburetor, it also has the EA82 intake manifold swapped on it. once everything was hooked up and adjusted, I tried to start it up, however it ran like garbage. I made the bonehead mistake of not realizing I had swapped two of the spark plug wires when putting everything back together, so once this was fixed it was running great. However, after running the engine for about 5 minutes once the firing order was corrected, the engine suddenly died. I tried starting it up again, and it would run for a second or two and then die. The engine was getting spark, so I wondered if it ran out of gas because a lot of raw fuel was dumped when the firing order was not correct. Plus, the gas gauge currently does not work so I cannot go off of that. I filled the gas tank with about 5 gallons of gasoline and attempted to start it, but it still starts for only about a second or two before dying. Using a multimeter shows that the fuel pump is getting power only when the engine is cranking. I thought that was odd, but after reading some of the forums here I discovered that this is normal for these vehicles. It's getting fuel through the lines, but I don't know if the flow amount is enough to keep it running. Does anyone have any idea why the engine would suddenly die like this? Considering the dumb mistake that I made with the spark plugs, I wouldn't be surprised if it is something equally as obvious. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 It’s always the carb. My friend just bought a chainsaw with fuel injection. Dinosaur tech. Clean it. Adjust it. Look/spray for vacuum leaks and check vacuum hoses. Carb is low fuel pressure. So probably not fuel if you’re getting any. Pull fuel line and crank engine. If it flows out you’re good. Spray starting fluid into intake - does it start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George1943 Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Is your aternator/charging system working? I had an earlier Brat that died when the alternator died. When cranking, the fuel pump worked, but once it started the pump quit. Replaced the alternator and all was good again. Sounds like that may be your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasse Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 I’d follow-up on the power to the fuel pump. The fuel pump un my 82 Brat is always on. I am pretty sure it should always gave power when the engine is running…. my $0.02 good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltyMike Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 On 11/22/2021 at 1:38 PM, idosubaru said: It’s always the carb. My friend just bought a chainsaw with fuel injection. Dinosaur tech. Clean it. Adjust it. Look/spray for vacuum leaks and check vacuum hoses. Carb is low fuel pressure. So probably not fuel if you’re getting any. Pull fuel line and crank engine. If it flows out you’re good. Spray starting fluid into intake - does it start? I haven't gotten the chance to yet, but I'll try spraying a little starting fluid into the intake to see if it starts up. There is fuel flowing when I disconnected the fuel line and cranked the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltyMike Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 23 hours ago, George1943 said: Is your aternator/charging system working? I had an earlier Brat that died when the alternator died. When cranking, the fuel pump worked, but once it started the pump quit. Replaced the alternator and all was good again. Sounds like that may be your problem. I haven't checked if my alternator/charging system is working properly, but I'll have to get a multimeter and check it out. A couple months ago I had brought my Brat over to a friend's house who does body repair and was kind enough to do a little rust repair. During the time it was being repaired I believe it had been sitting for a little over a week. When the work was done and I started it up, I noticed that all of the warning lights on the dash were illuminated and stayed illuminated during the drive home. They have stayed on since, but I assumed it wasn't something necessarily unusual because it is an old car. They were never on all at once until it sat for a little while during the body work. I tried to do a little research into why it was doing this, and I found that it could possibly be related to an alternator/charging system problem. I'll check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltyMike Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 41 minutes ago, Sasse said: I’d follow-up on the power to the fuel pump. The fuel pump un my 82 Brat is always on. I am pretty sure it should always gave power when the engine is running…. my $0.02 good luck I may have read it wrong, but I thought I read in another post on this forum that the fuel pump should not have power going to it once it is running? Right now though it only has power when the engine is cranking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasse Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 On 11/23/2021 at 12:32 PM, SaltyMike said: I may have read it wrong, but I thought I read in another post on this forum that the fuel pump should not have power going to it once it is running? Right now though it only has power when the engine is cranking. Get the electrical issue that causes all the dash lights to stay on figured out. My bet is that will solve your fuel problem. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 On 11/23/2021 at 2:29 PM, SaltyMike said: I noticed that all of the warning lights on the dash were illuminated and stayed illuminated during the drive home. That’s a power related issue: A: corroded, dirty, or loose terminals. Clean them up good. Check voltage of battery *posts* and voltage at the end of the metal terminal furthest from the battery. Make sure power is getting from the battery through the cable terminal B. Alternator - check output at alt terminal C. Alt belt slipping (alt isn’t spinning fast enough) D. Crank pulley separating (alternator won’t spin fast enough). Draw a line across the face of the crank pulkey and make sure it doesn’t separate after driving. Don’t condemn the battery or alternator until those other items are tested or ruled out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 All warning lights on dash indicates alternator issue. It should still run until battery dies though. On 11/24/2021 at 6:32 AM, SaltyMike said: I may have read it wrong, but I thought I read in another post on this forum that the fuel pump should not have power going to it once it is running? Right now though it only has power when the engine is cranking. On the earlier models like yours they run all the time. Sometime near ‘83 or ‘84 the introduced the little power interrupt relay box to cut the fuel pump in the event of a crash. Cheers Bennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaltyMike Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 Hey everyone! Update: The Brat is alive! So after doing all of the electrical tests and finding that everything checked out fine, myself and a friend who knows a little more about carburetors than I do decided to take the carburetor cover off of the carburetor body itself and found that the seat for the needle (I believe that is the correct terminology) was backed all of the way out, preventing the proper fuel flow. Now with it properly adjusted, the Brat is running great. Thank you all so much for your help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasse Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 Glad you got it figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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