Carb and Manifold Ice

[Duane Scarborough]

Hey guys,

I know we've discussed it before, and I looked back in the old threads, but didn't find what I was looking for.

A friend at work has a VW dune-buggy that has been having sever carb ice problems lately. His dune-buggy has been parked because of it. We've had very high temp and humidity here in NC lately.

He has an after-market intake, which does NOT have the original heat riser, and a Solex carb.

So, in an effort to help him, I found this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carburetor_heat

What he's going to TRY, is to run his external oil filter hose around, and around, and around his intake manifold. (tightly wrapped, with insulation) I don't know if it'll work, but the cost will only involve a few feet of 3/8" hose to try it.

I thought that it may help some of you too.

Duane

[buster]

Hey Duane,

I think the carb ice talk was in my Aircat build thread, far be it from me to out guess you at finding stuff.

I don't have time right now to look for it, but my carb ice problem went away. That's right, and the only thing I remember that I did, was I switched to a better grade of gas.

I always put "the cheap stuff" in my cars and trucks, but in MN, that means ethenol blend.
Get the alcohol out of the gas and It may not ice up. That has been my experience.

Dave

[Papee]

Mine doesn't ice any more since I am using the stock boot Buster gave me. The vent tube goes into the boot now I'm good to go.

[Duane Scarborough]

Buster,

I also "think" the original discussion was in your build thread. I just was not able to find it.

Here in NC, we have "some" ethanol blended gas, but I try to avoid it. I'm not sure what gas has been going in the dune-buggy. Good point.

I need to ask him that question.

Duane

[Duane Scarborough]

Mine doesn't ice any more since I am using the stock boot Buster gave me. The vent tube goes into the boot now I'm good to go.

Papee,

I was NOT ignoring your reply.

I was confused because the order of the replies changed. Used to be newest on bottom. Now it's newest on top.

I'm not complaining, O.K., ? I like it that way. But was it something I changed, or something that YOU changed?

Anyway, running the crankcase vent into the carb inlet would HAVE to increase the temp of the air going into the carb by at least a little. Even just a few degrees should make a BIG difference.

Thanks,

Duane

[Papee]

LOL Duane I didn't do that, it's a setting in your user panel. I did change the way the board knows if you looked at a post to your cookies though so you could see if there was a change for you. Mine has always been newest on top.

[buster]

Papee,

Yea, I didn't think about that before. You have vacuum from the carb intake sucking engine fumes in all the time. Positive Crankcase Ventilation, That's probably a good thing.

[Duane Scarborough]

I gave Gary a call today, and asked about the fuel he'd been using in the dune-buggy.

We concluded that ethanol is not his problem, but "old gas" may be. He couldn't remember when he last filled the buggy's gas tank. It may have been as much as a year ago.

Let's see, about a 9 gallon tank, and it gets driven about 100 miles a year. That could be a problem.

His problem may be more fuel related than we thought. The dune-buggy stays parked in the barn with a tarp over it most of it's life.

DUH

He pulls the battery out, and puts a fresh one in when he wants to run it.

He's gonna drain the fuel tank, and refill it before he does anything else.

Thanks for the insight guys.

Duane

[buster]

Duane,

Glad to help when I can

BTW, Tell him to get busy and use that buggy. It's not meant to sit around collecting dust
That's from a guy that built about three dozen dune buggys, back in the 70's.

Dave

[Duane Scarborough]

Duane,

Glad to help when I can

BTW, Tell him to get busy and use that buggy. It's not meant to sit around collecting dust
That's from a guy that built about three dozen dune buggys, back in the 70's.

Dave

Buster,

Gary and I had THAT conversation. No, I can't have it.

It's a beautiful '70's Meyers Manx. The sad thing is that it normally only gets driven a few miles, on the Outer banks, each year. He tows it there, and then uses it to play on the beach.

When I asked him about it today, he told me that he always fills it up after a trip, to reduce condensation. But he only uses maybe 3-4, maybe 5 gallons per trip.

The last couple of years, he's only been able to make 1-2 trips a year. So the "freshest" gas may be 4-6 months old. And there may be stuff in there that's as much as a year old, or older.

So, he's going to drain the tank completely, refill it with good gas, and try it around town.

Thanks for the help.

Duane

[Papee]

Just a thought but why not just run the fuel pump hose into a fresh can of gas and run it before draining it? No sense draining the tank if there are other issues. Should be an easy thing to do with no body or not much of one to deal with.

[buster]

Papees' idea might be worth a try. Easiest way might be to hook a longer hose on in the rear, just ahead of the engine.

Either way I would suggest to him to keep an ample dose of "Sta-bil" in the tank when in storage.

The first buggy I built was with a genuine Meyers Manx body. Most of the rest of them were Manx copies that I bought locally for about 1/3 the cost. The copies seemed to be about as good a quality, so what the heck! After all, the mold was made using an original manz body. A lot of that stuff was going on back then.

Dave

[Duane Scarborough]

Buster, and Papee,

It's too late. Gary drained the tank yesterday, re-filled it with "good" gas, and drove it to work today. No problem reported so far. He came to work at 7:00 AM.

It was sorta' foggy this morning, so I guess the humidity was fairly high. He left at 3:30, and by then the humidity was definitely high.

I talked with him a few minutes ago, and he didn't have any problems driving home either.

We have concluded that he did NOT really have a carb icing problem. We think he had a old gas problem. (or maybe an icing problem caused by old gas)

Anyway, he's going to drive it around some to find out before he does anything else.

I'll pass on the Sta-Bil advice to Gary. I've never used it. When I know something is not going to be used for a while, I empty the tank, and run the carb dry.

That's what Daddy taught me, and it's worked pretty well...

Some folks may think this is not mini-airboat related, but I think it is. The VW engine is used on some Minis, and they are not a lot different from a 4A084.

Thanks,

Duane

[buster]

Duane,

Glad to hear Gary got his buggy going. He may need to clean the residule crap etc. from the old gas out of his carb if he has any more problems.

I think your dad had the right idea about draining gas tanks etc., but if I did it that way it wouldn't get done most of the time. I procrastinate a lot, you see. Also, some things get used at unknown intervals, like the generator when the power goes out. Sometimes it gets used a number of times a year, but yesterday I needed it, but had not used it for nearly a year.

Dave

[Duane Scarborough]

Duane,

Glad to hear Gary got his buggy going. He may need to clean the residule crap etc. from the old gas out of his carb if he has any more problems.

I think your dad had the right idea about draining gas tanks etc., but if I did it that way it wouldn't get done most of the time. I procrastinate a lot, you see. Also, some things get used at unknown intervals, like the generator when the power goes out. Sometimes it gets used a number of times a year, but yesterday I needed it, but had not used it for nearly a year.

Dave

Buster,

I didn't mention it yesterday, but Gary did a "quick aerosol carb cleaning" when he drained the tank. He just pulled the top of the carb, and the big plug on the side, and used an aerosol spray carb cleaner to get out all of the crud that he could that way. You know, shooting through the jets, etc. He mentioned that there was a LOT of crud in the bottom of the bowl.

He took his wife to dinner in the buggy last night, and he said it's running great now.

That "quick aerosol carb cleaning" may have been all that it really needed, but he's got fresh gas now too.

We discussed Sta-Bil, and he's going to start using it, and/or start driving the buggy more often.

He said to tell you "Thanks" for the help.

BTW, I volunteered to take it to Ocracoke on our vacation in October, just to help him out. I got an unrepeatable answer.

It's running right again, and that's what counts.

Thanks,

Duane

[Flathead]

I've had an interest in dune buggies for quite some time.....I bet that will be my next project once the Fatcat is finished up. Let's see, Mini Airboat/Dune Buggy Association. Got a nice ring to it.......

Flathead

[buster]

Duane,

I'm glad it worked out good for him. Sorry you won't have a buggy to use on your vacation, but if you twist my arm, I might be persuaded to build one more. Just send me a blank check and I'll try to finish it by October

Dave

[Duane Scarborough]

Duane,

I'm glad it worked out good for him. Sorry you won't have a buggy to use on your vacation, but if you twist my arm, I might be persuaded to build one more. Just send me a blank check and I'll try to finish it by October

Dave

Buster,

How nice of you to volunteer your services. I'm sure you'd do a jam up job. Unfortunately, I'm fresh out of blank checks...

I let an old Meyers Manx slip through my fingers a couple of years ago.

But I'm more of a sand rail guy. I've thought about building another for a while now, but I really don't need one. (Just like Gary doesn't need his buggy)

My 4x4 Chevy Colorado pickup works just fine on the beach, and it has windows, and air conditioning for when either the skeeters or the heat is more than I want to deal with.

Our favorite fishing/kite flying spot on Ocracoke has about 2 miles of slow marshy access road. About 2 years ago, we followed a couple in a sand rail down that road. Boy were we glad that we had windows and air conditioning.

Them was some hungry skeeters, and there were literally thousands of them. That couple in the sand rail were being eaten alive.

Of course, once you get to the beach, the skeeters and heat are not a problem. The steady breeze runs both away.

I do very much appreciate the offer though...

Thanks,

Duane