WTB 40+mpg in N. Mississippi Area

[Ryland]

I would never sugest swapping a carb from a vehicle as differnt as an escort, I would go for the same modle and year if you can, those vacuum hoses are part of what makes the car run right, sure you might be able to get it to work right for a single day but those vacuum line control the fuel cut off and make it run right in cold weather and hot weather.
what I would do is get a used carb from a junkyard car-part.com is good then get a rebuild kit, rebuild your new carb and install it, at that point it should be good for another 15-20 years and should cost you $100 or so and a few hours time.

Originally Posted by bnmorgan

I have a carb from an 82 escort that is supposed to be a better, simpler unit. all that vacuum crap is likely what's wrong with the festy. I just don't know enough to do it right. I made adapter plates for it (I'm a machinist/engineer) but I'm just short on confidence when it comes to things that involved if i've never done them before. Carbs being a perfect example. I haven't been able to find anyone around who DOES know enough to walk me through.

[thatguitarguy]

$3000 is a lousy price for a 95 Honda that needs a head gasket. It should be close to perfect for that price. I'd sell you my 95 EX coupe, but I'm in Colorado.

[Ryland]

If I was looking for a car $2,000 for a vx seems reasonable, I recently bought my 2nd civic vx, I paid $1,200 for it, it did need a muffler and an o2 sensor but at some point any car is going to need exhaust and the o2 sensor should last 10 years or so, mine is completely free of rust and for some reason sat on craigs list for 3 weeks before I realized I should my friends were to foolish to buy it.
Call up your favorite mechanic and ask what they would charge for a head gasket replacement on that car and then make them an offer based off the car being worth $2,000-$2,500 after everything is fixed.

[bnmorgan]

Would I be just as well trying to rebuild the carb on the car now? That vacuum stuff just looks like a spaghetti bowl, i think 3/4 of it is dedicated to feeding the engine it's own excrement...err, exhaust, for emissions. I just want a reliable car

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by bnmorgan

Wait...a what?? From what I see about it, i don't know how megasquirt is gonna help me.

MegaSquirt is an aftermarket, programmable ECU that can do multi-port fuel injecton and variable ignition timing. So it can replace a carb and/or a distributor, when you add fuel injection / ignition hardware off a more modern donor car. It's neither easier nor cheaper than repairing what you have.

[Ryland]

Nope, there are maybe three hoses that have to do with EGR, the rest of the hoses have to do with the auto choke, the warm air intake thermostat controls, the fuel cut off for when you shut the engine off or engine brake, 3/4 of them have to do with the engine not running lean and burning up and to do with better mileage.
The only reason I recommend buying another carb is so you have a 2nd set of parts in case anything is broken or missing or if something does go wrong, you can also take your time in rebuilding it without taking your car appart, instead of doing what I did and taking it appart one evening and having to be at work the next morning, so my car had to be put back together and working a few hours later, it all worked out well and it was the first time I did a carb rebulid, but I like taking things appart..

Originally Posted by bnmorgan

Would I be just as well trying to rebuild the carb on the car now? That vacuum stuff just looks like a spaghetti bowl, i think 3/4 of it is dedicated to feeding the engine it's own excrement...err, exhaust, for emissions. I just want a reliable car

[thatguitarguy]

The first time I did a project like that ( and every project since) I took a lot of pictures and video of what I was doing and where everything went, as well as marking everything with masking tape and a sharpie. If you are anything like me, it's way to easy to get confused by all the hoses when what they do isn't obvious. The one from the filter feeds the fuel to the carb, and beyond that you better have a good idea of where everything went before. It takes a lot of time to mark everything like that, but it sucks when you hook something up wrong and it doesn't work, and you can't find an expert when you need one to say, "Well this one goes here, and that one goes there, and presto..." A book may or may not help you in that case. Good luck!