1st start attempt.........I think I have a problem.
 

So went to start the car for the first time when all of a sudden I heard fuel flowing in at the butterflies on each throat of the carb.....Turns out the relief valve on my fuel pump stuck and I delivered some pressure well above the 3psi required for the car. Now my concern is that I have damaged the carbs in some way, specifically the floats. Do you guys know if that is a likely result of the over pressure or is it possible it may be okay?? Needless to say I am a little bothered by this as I just rebuilt the carbs.

By the way, the car didn't start as I have no spark, even when I jump 12 volts directly to the coil.

UPDATE!! Problem solved.

Over pressure typically just pushes the floats down. You should be fine. Is this a bypass regulator or a deadhead? Deadheads are very risky.

It's a bypass Bosch which evidently wasn't cleaned properly by me. I have the fuel pump working properly now but was concerned that I had collapsed the floats. If the floats are indeed fine I will focus on my lack of spark.

If they are brass they are fine unless they have holes in them
Ernie

They are a yellow metal of some type, not sure what the different types are.

Mike I don't have carbs on mine but have been working on cars since I was about 17 I'm now 66. Yellow would be brass. I doubt they are bad. They do make black foam or something harder then that - never liked that set up
Ernie. 81sc

I would focus on the lack of spark
Please state year that would help
Ernie

Too much fuel pressure will just push fuel out of the bowls and into the engine without damaging floats. Floats are either brass (yellow metal) or ABS plastic (black). Actually, the needle valves should stop fuel flow even with over pressure from the pump and without damaging floats. This assumes all four floats and needle valves are installed correctly & are in good mechanical condition...

Brass floats will collapse if high pressure air is passed through the fuel inlet fittings, vent pipes on the top of the carburetor or possibly through the main jet bungs.

Car is a 69 and the motor is a 71T.

I have the marelli distributor with mechanical advance. Is it normal that I don't see a condenser?

So with the ignition on I have no power at the coil. Checked ground wire and it's good. I hear the whine from the CDI box also.

Checked coil for resistance. Primary has 0.5 ohms and secondary has 705 ohms.

If i remember correctly, you will not measure any power at the coil with the ignition on, the points act as a trigger and the power to the coil is supplied by the CDI box. Very high voltage...so be careful.

regards,
al
__________________
911, allroad

Yeah I just read a little about that. Last night I made the mistake of supplying 12 volts directly to the coil to try and get her to fire up. I sure hope I didn't kill the CDI box because of that!!

I have checked the wire from the CDI output to the coil primary and I have about 0.7 ohms. I suppose the next step would be to see if I have proper triggering from the distributor to the CDI box?

SUCCESS!!! I found that I had almost 2 megohms across the points. Quick clean up with a little sandpaper and got it to zero ohms. Back together and fired right up. Definitely needs some tuning though. Had it running for about 5 minutes and it seemed to be running on 4 or 5 cylinders as a couple of the intake runners were cool to the touch after I shut it down. Did a compression check and got

135
135
132
135
132
130

What do you guys think of those numbers for a 1971 2.2T

They may be a little low, but they certainly are uniform; and that it most important.
Congrats on your success in getting it running. PM or email me with more info about your car. VIN & actual paint code would be very useful.

I was hoping for closer to 140 across the board but I guess I shouldn't expect much more from and engine that only has 8.5:1 and hasn't run in 15 years. I am hoping the numbers will improve once I get some mileage on the car and test it at operating temperature.

I just tested my fuel pump with a fuel pressure gauge and found that the relief valve was still sticking and giving me pressure well over 10 psi. I am assuming that I can contribute some of the difficulty getting it to idle property to that. I fully disassembled the relief valve and cleaned every bit of gummy old fuel off it, now it is regulating spot on at 3.5 psi. Will run it again tomorrow and hopefully it responds better with the proper fuel pressure.