Lean metering rods for YF

Hi, I am new to the forum and this is the first time I have used a forum so hopefully I am doing this correctly. I have a 56 CJ5 with a stock Fhead. I bought it about a year ago and fixed it up a bit with the intention of using it in the local mountains here in southern california. As far as the engine goes, I changed fluids and gave it a thorough tune up (points, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, etc). I also rebuilt the stock carb (carter YF) with a $10 rebuild kit from Krage. Included in this rebuild was bushing the thottle plate shaft which was very loose. Jeep runs pretty good at my house at sea level, but not as good in the mountains (about 6K-7K ft). After a trip to the mountains I checked the plugs and they were very sooty. I even did some driving a sea level and checked the plugs under these conditions and they are still a little sooty. I think it is running rich and would like to try a leaner metering rod a jet, but don't know where to buy some. I am also open to other suggestions if anyone has any.

Thanks
Tom

 

a hotter spark plug,and or a hotter coil may cure it,and if you are ideling around alot will cause it also, float not set right will cause this as well,dont know that much about the YF,the WO has an adjustment for the metering rod

 

Thanks for the input. I called john at the carburator shop and he was very helpful and knowledgable. He agreed that I should use the lean rods above 4000 feet, but unfortunatley he doesn't stock them. He can however custom make them for $80 each plus the price of a rebuild kit ($55). I am not sure I am ready to step up to the plate for that yet, but I may not have a choice. He also mentioned to check spark as someone has mentioned here and to make sure I am not using resistive type spark plug wires. Reminds me of a saying someone told me a long time ago "90% of carburetor problems are electrical".
Thanks again for the help.
Tom

 

Welcome aboard Tom! Glad to hear of yet another '56 CJ5 being saved!

 

the Jeep ones show up on ebay once in a while.
the part numbers are;
std: 120213
first size lean: 928049
2nd size lean: 928048
just FYI

 

I thought I'd update this post and let you guys know how I solved this problem. I talked to a local carb shop that has been around a long time hoping he might still have some of the parts laying around. He didn't, but had a good suggestion to call a carb shop in somewhere like the Denver area (highly populated high altitude area). I called Don's carburetor and they told me they didn't have metering rods, but they had jets and that is how they would fix the problem. I remember seeing somewhere that this wasn't the way to do it, but the more I thought about it, it seemed like a good idea. I even used the factory jet and metering rod dimensions to make an excel spreadsheet to compare how the area of the opening would differ by changing the jets vs the rods and it was almost the same. So, the standard jet is .0935 (42 drill) and I bought a 43 and a 44 (.0890" &.0860") for about$15 including shipping. I installed the 44 and have run it several times in the local mountains (Big Bear Lake, Ca area). Motor runs great and when I check the plugs after a while they looked great too, not black and sootly like before. If you follow the attached link there are some pictures and videos of the jeep on holcomb creek trail. The trail was a bit over my head, but a couple of my brothers friends got me through it by pulling a little on 2 occations and by moving some rocks to pave a way through the 2 boulder fields. The jeep performed very well, although some bigger tires and maybe a slight lift would have helped a lot.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kcicc77/BigBearHolcombCreekTrail

Thanks again for the help.

Tom