Red Pepper Racing

Little info about the car. It is a 86 dx with 46,382 original miles on it. Its been sitting in and out of a garage off and on for about 20 years now(started and driven down the road a few times inbetween that time.

Over the past year i have been working on getting it back onto the road. Ive replaced front and rear brakes, alternator rebuilt, new tires, and all fluids drained of course.

It runs like new, unfortunately I have realized(from getting it on the road the first time) the final step to getting her going is to replace the carburetor. Ive searched around the web and have seen them go for anywhere from 200 to 500 dollars.

Any advice on where to buy/specs of a 86 carburetor?

(so far the most cost efficient site I have found is National Carburetor) Any info on the quality of their products?

Thanks for the help and hope to hear from you soon.

First off, where did you find an '86 dx with 46k original miles?!? We need pics!  

Second, before you call the carb a complete loss, have you had it cleaned? Rebuilt?  Chances are, the carb can be rebuilt.

Im getting some pictures together right now. will be posting soon.

My grandpa was the orginal owner and as far as i know he stopped driving it around 1990(the tabs are from 89). He handed it over to me about ten years ago as a graduation present.

Also i went and talked to a mechanic who specializes in imports, and he said most of the time the are gunked up so bad that and it would cost as much or more to fix rather than replace.  

Well, I'd just take it off and look before buying another one.  The old one has to come off anyway.  The car has sat for a considerably long time, so the fuel may have turned to jelly, but that can be dealt with by a good parts cleaner.  Gunk makes a great solution that drys quickly and rinses off with water.  You can get it at advance auto.  I suggest giving it a soak before you call it quits.  

Here it is! a few minor scratches and chipped paint but otherwise pretty solid

JAW ON FLOOR! 

Thanks. Ill take it off and look into cleaning it, then go from there.

OMG shes so beautiful !!! good luck with her.

she is more than solid, she is mint i would check if the carb to see if it actually needs to be rebuilt, might just need a good cleaning like mentioned before with such low miles it should still be a hell of a good carb. And always get it rebuilt because the new ones are rebuilt ones anyway and it is better to stay with the original carb that came with the car if possible, if you get it rebuilt make sure they rebuild your original (write down the number on it somewhere)and not send you someone else's carb. How exactly is it running? too rich? idle too high? dies on you? might need some adjusting which the carb experts on here can chime in to help you fix it

I also had carburetor ills and finally my mechanic determined that my car was not staying running because of my carb not pulling in the gas.  I put a used one that I purchased from a fellow RPR member, but the choke was no good and that carb went bad within 50 miles.  I looked around and found few carb rebuilders are willing to rebuild a (Honda) Keihin carb.  From 1stGenHybridCR-X's advice, I steered clear of the Carburetor Exchange in El Monte, CA (sells on evilBay).  I looked at National Carburetor for one of their rebuilt units, but found very little feedback online.  I steered clear of the Tomco units at O'Reilly and the Autoline unit at Autozone (little feedback available about the latter).  Napa Auto no longer shows one available.  Finally, from running out of choices and wanting to get it right, I sent my original carb to Recarbco in Pittsburg, CA.  It was the most expensive option ($490 + tax + shipping), but seemed like the best one given their good reputation with many of my car friends over the years.  I got my original unit back last week.  From appearances, they did an amazing job cleaning it up.  I haven't had much time this week, but I hope to be finished with the installation tomorrow evening.  I'll post later to let you know how well the carb works. 

Before you pull your carb off, give it a good cleaning like others above have advised.  Run some Chevron Techron in your gas and make sure you check your base gasket (carb insulator) for leaks (lightly spray some starting fluid lightly at the base of your carb.  If your rpm's surge, the base gasket is leaking).  Though it is 20 something years old, 46,000 miles still seems early for a rebuild.

GLHS988

It runs like new, unfortunately I have realized(from getting it on the road the first time) the final step to getting her going is to replace the carburetor. Ive searched around the web and have seen them go for anywhere from 200 to 500 dollars.

 

Any advice on where to buy/specs of a 86 carburetor?

(so far the most cost efficient site I have found is National Carburetor) Any info on the quality of their products?

 

Thanks for the help and hope to hear from you soon.

 

A Little more info on how its running:

I starts and runs fine when parked. Then I took it out on the road and it was fine for the first quarter mile or so. Then once i reach about 30mph or so it just kind of starts sputtering and the rpms just keep going up, but no acceleration when i give it gas.

Almost three years later, I can finally report that the Recarbco unit is working great and my car passed the dreaded California Star Smog Test today.  The carb had to be sent back to Recarbco because of vacuum leaks.  After getting fixed under warranty, my car has had a myriad of other problems.  This caused having to put on a used carb that was known to be working find on 1stGenHybridCR-X's car (but ran too rich on my car even after replacing the float).  This luckily made me turn back to the Recarbco rebuilt unit and finally finding somebody from 1stGen's recommendation who could tweak and tune the carburetor right.  Finding somebody that can work with these carbs is priceless.  It "ain't" no Rochester or Motorcraft!

Add to the myriad of problems a new Catalytic Converter - the one that attaches to the exhaust manifold.  The market has finallycaught up.  A CARB approved converter, unavailable for the last 8 years, is now on the market.  It is made by Magnaflow and is not cheap.  But we do what we have to.  Nobody has ever said I was smart for owning old cars.  

So as of today, possibly the earliest known VIN 1g on RPR in the U.S. is back on the road! 

GLHS988

I also had carburetor ills and finally my mechanic determined that my car was not staying running because of my carb not pulling in the gas.  I put a used one that I purchased from a fellow RPR member, but the choke was no good and that carb went bad within 50 miles.  I looked around and found few carb rebuilders are willing to rebuild a (Honda) Keihin carb.  From 1stGenHybridCR-X's advice, I steered clear of the Carburetor Exchange in El Monte, CA (sells on evilBay).  I looked at National Carburetor for one of their rebuilt units, but found very little feedback online.  I steered clear of the Tomco units at O'Reilly and the Autoline unit at Autozone (little feedback available about the latter).  Napa Auto no longer shows one available.  Finally, from running out of choices and wanting to get it right, I sent my original carb to Recarbco in Pittsburg, CA.  It was the most expensive option ($490 + tax + shipping), but seemed like the best one given their good reputation with many of my car friends over the years.  I got my original unit back last week.  From appearances, they did an amazing job cleaning it up.  I haven't had much time this week, but I hope to be finished with the installation tomorrow evening.  I'll post later to let you know how well the carb works. 

 

Before you pull your carb off, give it a good cleaning like others above have advised.  Run some Chevron Techron in your gas and make sure you check your base gasket (carb insulator) for leaks (lightly spray some starting fluid lightly at the base of your carb.  If your rpm's surge, the base gasket is leaking).  Though it is 20 something years old, 46,000 miles still seems early for a rebuild.

 

GLHS988