Three months and nearly four thousand miles and it is still, well, Chinese. What a piece of junk. I have had this carburetor off at least fifteen times. Never worked from the get go. In Mid-May I did try it on the old F motor, 1 bbl carburetor, just to make sure I had everything sorted before the car went in to have the "new" 2F motor installed. Fuel level was good, required a minor idle adjustment, seemed fine. Took it off and put the 1 bbl back on. When I went to pick up The Beast with the new motor it was sitting there idling, but the mechanic told me the carburetor was not working right, fuel plunger wasn't squirting. I lived with it for a couple of weeks while sorting out other things with the car and the installation, like flexible connector from the header to the tailpipe stuff. Picked up a kit, nice kit, made in Japan, and replaced the fuel plunger and squirted carb cleaner through the ports on the body and top of carburetor. I did not separate the bottom two pieces as it seemed fine on the highway, just didn't start good or pick up when leaving a stop. Worked fine for two weeks and started acting up again. Went to the Toyota parts man I use mostly (got the kit from another Toyota parts place, it is way different down here) and he had a fuel plunger, wasn't new, I bought it. Tried it, no change. Over the next couple of months I lived with it, choke required hot or cold to start, flutter the gas pedal to get it up on the mains to go, real aggravating when you live where there are many vertical stop lights.
Fed up I took the top off, again, cleaned things out, seems to be pumping okay. Spilled the fuel out of the bowl into a clean container and see a little black spot. Flush everything again and put it back on the car. Now it is way rich, idles but like crap, runs like crap up high as well. Got a whopping 5.4 miles per gallon on that tank, you could practically see the gauge drop as I drove. Off it comes again this morning, this time completely apart. Can't say I really found anything "major." I did note that the isolator gaskets are not bonded to isolator like Aisan. They were spot glued and I feared vacuum leak so I used a razor blade to cut through the glue spots. Cleaned up and ready to put back together the way they came off and I note that they are not quite symmetrical, they only go on one way, opposite of how they were installed. The way they were installed the holes that feed the vacuum curved circuits were partially or completely blocked off. The long slow jets up by the venturis don't have numbers and without a set of pin gauges I have no idea what size they are so I installed the ones out of the kit which are stamped 65 and 90 into their respective bores. Put it back on and it idles, pops a little when hitting the gas, time to go get the dogs from the vet. Pulling up hills it starts off and then falls on its face. Onto the highway, same thing. Once settled into my normal 40-45 mph it is smooth. Doesn't die at a stop. Requires a little choke and crossed fingers to start but settles right into a nice idle.
The really aggravating part is that my mechanic had told me an Aisan carburetor was hard to find and cost $800. When I stopped by the other Toyota place for another kit (I have the old Aisan carburetor complete with frozen throttle shafts) he drops a brand new Aisan on the counter. How much I ask, $390! I was immediately sick to my stomach. While the Chinese copy was only $315, it was $445 when it got to me down here. The bottom line is that made in China is like buying a carburetor from Harbor Freight.
Fed up I took the top off, again, cleaned things out, seems to be pumping okay. Spilled the fuel out of the bowl into a clean container and see a little black spot. Flush everything again and put it back on the car. Now it is way rich, idles but like crap, runs like crap up high as well. Got a whopping 5.4 miles per gallon on that tank, you could practically see the gauge drop as I drove. Off it comes again this morning, this time completely apart. Can't say I really found anything "major." I did note that the isolator gaskets are not bonded to isolator like Aisan. They were spot glued and I feared vacuum leak so I used a razor blade to cut through the glue spots. Cleaned up and ready to put back together the way they came off and I note that they are not quite symmetrical, they only go on one way, opposite of how they were installed. The way they were installed the holes that feed the vacuum curved circuits were partially or completely blocked off. The long slow jets up by the venturis don't have numbers and without a set of pin gauges I have no idea what size they are so I installed the ones out of the kit which are stamped 65 and 90 into their respective bores. Put it back on and it idles, pops a little when hitting the gas, time to go get the dogs from the vet. Pulling up hills it starts off and then falls on its face. Onto the highway, same thing. Once settled into my normal 40-45 mph it is smooth. Doesn't die at a stop. Requires a little choke and crossed fingers to start but settles right into a nice idle.
The really aggravating part is that my mechanic had told me an Aisan carburetor was hard to find and cost $800. When I stopped by the other Toyota place for another kit (I have the old Aisan carburetor complete with frozen throttle shafts) he drops a brand new Aisan on the counter. How much I ask, $390! I was immediately sick to my stomach. While the Chinese copy was only $315, it was $445 when it got to me down here. The bottom line is that made in China is like buying a carburetor from Harbor Freight.