See through carburetor and high speed camera

MBDiagMan said:
I was thinking: “you mean there’s someone who doesn’t know how a carburetor works?”:eek:

Then I realized, I am 72 years old. There is a whole generation in their thirties that have never driven or even ridden in a vehicle with a carburetor.
Click to expand...
You have to also remember he’s pandering to people that don’t know. I suspect he was much more familiar than he pretended
 
I was literally about to start a thread showing this very same video. Destin does some interesting work and he’s about as ah-shucks-what-a-nice-guy as you can get on YouTube.

if he added a screw to go into the tube that draws out fuel from the bowl, he could simulate how the mixture control works. Maybe add temp gauge or shine a laser thermometer at the cylinder to show how the lean engine gets hotter.
 
Carburetors were stupidly simple. So easy to work on and fix. More importantly easy to modify for specific operations.

So why does this play in the back of my mind as I watch dad explain how a carb works.??

 
MBDiagMan said:
I was thinking: “you mean there’s someone who doesn’t know how a carburetor works?”:eek:

Then I realized, I am 72 years old. There is a whole generation in their thirties that have never driven or even ridden in a vehicle with a carburetor.
Click to expand...

I always find something new to learn from these things, even if I know all the basics well. The high speed imaging adds an extra dimension to our understanding.
 
I have rebuilt carbs many times on my small engines and knew how they worked, but to actually see the inner workings of one working in real time is very cool. I will be using this to teach my girls about engines before they get the PPL so they can see for them selves. Now if he could make one ice up for us...that would also be cool. Very well done video! Thanks for posting
 
Brad Z said:
Destin does some interesting work and he’s about as ah-shucks-what-a-nice-guy as you can get on YouTube.
Click to expand...

Yup. On the cooking side of the internet, Brad Leone is the ah-shucks-what-a-nice guy.

 
MBDiagMan said:
I was thinking: “you mean there’s someone who doesn’t know how a carburetor works?”:eek:

Then I realized, I am 72 years old. There is a whole generation in their thirties that have never driven or even ridden in a vehicle with a carburetor.
Click to expand...

Destin Sandlin is an actual rocket engineer at Redstone with a masters in aerospace engineering. Not a stupid guy.

Just out of curiosity, do you know how dynamic random access memory works?
 
Well, yeah, but my understanding of RAM started with core memory which did not have to be refreshed like DRAM. I was writing machine code in 1974 on a DEC PDP8. Semiconductor memory came much later.

How does this relate to a carburetor?
 
Zeldman said:
Carburetors were stupidly simple. So easy to work on and fix. More importantly easy to modify for specific operations.


Uh no. I always had trouble with the old Carters 2 bbl and Holley 4 bbls. And then trying to get them to synchronize on a high rise intake, whether as a 6 pack or dual quads, was a real challenge sometimes. And then there are the English carbs on the early Triumphs - what pieces of ****tize. Might stay in tune for a 100 miles but no more. And leak - everywhere.
Click to expand...
 
Holley were junk to start with. Really hated paying 500 bucks for a Holley and then spend another 700 bucks to get it to work just like a junk yard carb.

We used to use Rochester Quadrajets on our short track cars. Wonderful carbs when done right. Too many folks that did not understand carburetors would try to rebuild a Quadrajet, screw it up and blame the carb.

Then Edelbrock came out with their version of the thermoquad and made carburetors even more simple.

I had a tri power 455 in a junkyard Trans Am. Synchronizing 3 Rochester 2 BBLs is way too easy. Really could feel it when those two extra carbs opened up.

I did plenty of carb work on customers race cars and street rods. Dual quads, simple once I talked folks out of the Holley crap. I did a tri power straight 6 once with 1BBL Carters. I would not let the customer watch because then he would see how simple it was to set up. The secret to Carters was to get one that had not been worked on, that is screwed up by someone else.

When throttle body injection came out we learned it was nothing but a pressurized carburetor. A little modification on them would really wake them up, and increase fuel mileage.

I would send foreign cars to my friend that specialized on foreign cars. Then he would call me..:lol:

One thing to remember, I stopped working at the race shop in '92 and drove my last race in '95, to start a flying career. Technology has improved a lot since then. I got one last hot rod left in me to build and I think I will go old school. I'm thinking rat rod with a BBC with a tri-power set up, possibly using throttle body injection. With LOTS of rear tire..:yesnod:
 
Stupid question. Can someone explain the choke in terms of an airplane carb? I don't have a knob for that.
 
Zeldman said:
Holley were junk to start with. Really hated paying 500 bucks for a Holley and then spend another 700 bucks to get it to work just like a junk yard carb.

We used to use Rochester Quadrajets on our short track cars. Wonderful carbs when done right. Too many folks that did not understand carburetors would try to rebuild a Quadrajet, screw it up and blame the carb.

Then Edelbrock came out with their version of the thermoquad and made carburetors even more simple.

I had a tri power 455 in a junkyard Trans Am. Synchronizing 3 Rochester 2 BBLs is way too easy. Really could feel it when those two extra carbs opened up.

I did plenty of carb work on customers race cars and street rods. Dual quads, simple once I talked folks out of the Holley crap. I did a tri power straight 6 once with 1BBL Carters. I would not let the customer watch because then he would see how simple it was to set up. The secret to Carters was to get one that had not been worked on, that is screwed up by someone else.

When throttle body injection came out we learned it was nothing but a pressurized carburetor. A little modification on them would really wake them up, and increase fuel mileage.

I would send foreign cars to my friend that specialized on foreign cars. Then he would call me..:lol:

One thing to remember, I stopped working at the race shop in '92 and drove my last race in '95, to start a flying career. Technology has improved a lot since then. I got one last hot rod left in me to build and I think I will go old school. I'm thinking rat rod with a BBC with a tri-power set up, possibly using throttle body injection. With LOTS of rear tire..:yesnod:
Click to expand...

Hard to imagine anyone who’s done a lot of carb work hating Holleys. They are very straight forward to dial in. The only time I ever hated them was when something weird like a metering block would warp or something. The tuneability is very complete from the main jets to the power valves, to the accelerator pump, to the vacuum secondary diaphragm,….

it’s amazing that they sold so many million of them with them being such junk.

The Edelbrock is virtually a Carter AFB. The problem they have is that the metering rod pistons and their bores wear out as do the metering rods s they ride in the jets.. They are indeed pretty easy to dial in when new though.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Stupid question. Can someone explain the choke in terms of an airplane carb? I don't have a knob for that.
Click to expand...
"Whoever said there is no such thing as a stupid question has never taught middle school history" Middle School History Teacher.

As mr. DiagMan said, you have a primer. But the video had one glitch - 6:15 it left the impression that the choke was more like a mixture in general and opening it gave you a lean mixture. But the choke is generally just for cold starts - rich for the start with it closed, normal mixture for running when it is open.
 
If anyone wants to see a walk through talking about all the bits inside the Bings from my Rotax... (no high speed action shots, and generally pretty boring)

WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!!
I could get paid a whole half a penny if you watch this. If you are offended by that idea, don't ****ing click on the video.
Oh, and to be clear, I ain't no A&P.
WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!!
 
MBDiagMan said:
it’s amazing that they sold so many million of them with them being such junk.
Click to expand...

I know, that is funny. But like I said, my knowledge is 30 year old technology. Lot of water went under the bridge in that time.

Somewhere in my pile of obsolete parts is one of the 3 BBL Holley Carbs. A pretty much misunderstood and hated carburetor. It was actually pretty good in its day. Once it was modified to work correctly, that is..:lol: I ran it on a highly modified 454. It was supposed to give gas mileage on the primaries and yet develop HP when the secondary opened, and it did just that. Remembering 11mpg was considered good for a 454 back then...:yesnod:

The biggest problem with Holley was the power valves rupturing, warped metering blocks, leaking accelerator pumps and the throttle plate rod wearing out the inside of the hole were it runs through the body. Then the man made problems of everyone thinking they could easily modify it so stripped out threads were very common. Of course that happens to every carb.

Computerized fuel injection that can be adjusted by a laptop or even a smart phone has taken the fun out of everything.
 
I agree about the fate of a Holley at the hands of a hack.

The power valves gave no trouble until there was a backfire. If things were right, they would last a long time. The accelerator pump diaphragm was no problem either from where I sat.

The three barrel was a good application for NASCAR work where more flow and fewer drivability issues were the combination.

….but, the best carburetor ever built, whatever that was, couldn’t hold a candle to most any electronic fuel injection system.
 
Last edited:
resolutions-insta_1000x1000.png
https://www.blipshift.com/products/resolutions-iv
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ted
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
"Whoever said there is no such thing as a stupid question has never taught middle school history" Middle School History Teacher.

As mr. DiagMan said, you have a primer. But the video had one glitch - 6:15 it left the impression that the choke was more like a mixture in general and opening it gave you a lean mixture. But the choke is generally just for cold starts - rich for the start with it closed, normal mixture for running when it is open.
Click to expand...
Yup. Aircraft carbs don't have chokes because they're one more thing to ice up.
 
Dan Thomas said:
What? One carb per cylinder??
Click to expand...

Yes, or at least one Venturi per cylinder. On an N/A engine I like my Webers. Nothing sounds or runs better in my opinion.

Even VW guys have used them for decades. Here’s a type 1 with 48 IDAs.
 

Attachments

  • 20DC8284-67DB-4AA8-9F10-C279B59D84FB.jpeg
    20DC8284-67DB-4AA8-9F10-C279B59D84FB.jpeg
    140.4 KB · Views: 17
Dan Thomas said:
Makes fuel injection look simple. What do they do for an air cleaner?
Click to expand...

There are various air cleaner options for applications like that. Some are better than others. If you look at the top of the stacks on the VW you can see the screens/filters on them. They hurt performance so there are a lot of guys that don’t use filters at all, depending on what they’re doing.
 
Multiple carbs (1/cylinder) are common because they allow extra-short intake manifolds. Common in motorcycles.

Short intake manifolds minimize mixture starve-out on rapid opening of the throttle, and reduce or eliminate the need for an accelerator pump. Aircraft engines having long intake manifolds, don't have this problem since the power needs are comparatively constant. Even so, some A/C engines don't even have accelerator pumps (many of the the Lycoming O-235s generally) but instead depend on the operator to be gentle with power advancements. All is to save some money (Ha!).:rolleyes:
 
MBDiagMan said:
Hard to imagine anyone who’s done a lot of carb work hating Holleys. They are very straight forward to dial in.

it’s amazing that they sold so many million of them with them being such junk.
Click to expand...

I worked in auto parts for a numbers of years and one way that the Holley Carb got a bad rap was from dem good ol' boys that came in and bought an 850 CFM double pump for their wore out 283 chevy ... then came back a few days later wondering why it didn't make another 200 HP and had black smoke pouring out the stock exhaust. Trying to explain the results before the sale was found to be worthless because them boys couldn't be bothered with facts from some stupid counter sales guy ... :dunno:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top