When to cut your losses

G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to t25torx: I know how to do a spark test and a compression test, but how do you do a fuel test on a carbed car? It's not like there are any injectors to pull, and the primaries and secondaries work perfectly fine.

Two ways.

Assuming it has a mechanical fuel pump, disconnect the hose from the carb, stick it in a glass bottle and crank the engine. Fuel should shoot into the bottle.

Second, fuel in the bowls. I'm not sure what kidn a carb it is (get a manual), but there should be a way to pull the covers off and make sure fuel is in there and floats and float valves are working.

Also, if you can have someone crank the engine while looking down the carbs, you should see fuel squirting out of the jets. Just be careful it doesn't back-fire into your face. If possible, look through a clear peice of plastic.

In reply to Ian F:

Fuel pump works, otherwise the engine would barely run. Fuel is in the bowls, I checked it on Wednesday. I'll try and see if the jets are good.

Ok, you are starting to sound like I do sometimes.

Step back and look at your situation. You are a young guy. 16 years old and working on your own car? That's fantastic! Right there you are ahead of the game. Many of us on here are cut from the same cloth, so I know most of us were wrenching or trying to at 16, but still, that's a good thing.

You have a lot to learn. The best way to do it, as others have said, is to learn from doing. Look at your car as less a car and more as a learning tool.

When I bought my CSX, I had no idea how to weld. Hell, I still suck at it, but I am learning. It was a lot rustier than your Cutlass, and no one makes repair panels for it so I had to fabricate my own. Of course, I had some help from friends, but I also spent hours and hours reading tutorials and watching instructional videos on Youtube. I didn't have Youtube when I was 16, so you are already ahead of the game!

When I first started out wrenching, I would get old blown engines from people and tear them down to see how they worked. I have done this twice: once with a Chevy 350 and another time with a Pontiac 389. Like Woody suggested, I harvested the hardware for my Magic Bolt Bucket, and scrapped the rest. See if you can get some cheap/free engines and do the same.

Don't get emotionally attached if possible. It makes things harder. I am attached to my Trans Am, and 13 years later, it's still a POS money pit sitting in my driveway.

That's all I got. Good luck!

SilverFleet wrote: Don't get emotionally attached if possible. It makes things harder. I am attached to my Trans Am, and 13 years later, it's still a POS money pit sitting in my driveway. That's all I got. Good luck!

Too late.