1917 reo touring

[bob k]

hello, I'm new to the group, a friend and myself recently purchased a 1917 Reo, from my friend Ele Chesney's estate, she passed in January, our issue is that it sat for about 5 years and now we cant keep it running it starts but stalls out after a minute or 2 and gas leaks out the bottom  it has a Rayfield gL3p carb any help would be greatly appreciated and if anyone can let me know what it is worth  also, thank you, Bob 

Ps. here is the car

Edited September 1 by bob k
Add picture (see edit history)

[JFranklin]

It is worth what was paid for it. A gentle cleaning of the carb and fuel system may be what is needed.

[John_S_in_Penna]

9 hours ago, JFranklin said:

It is worth what was paid for it.

I don't think that oft-repeated sentence gives

him the information he needs.  But we definitely

would need more pictures and information

for an accurate assessment.  AACA members are

happy to help.

 

Welcome to the forum, Bob!  There is a wide

variety of expertise here, and congratulations

on buying the Reo.

[playswithbrass]

Assuming you made sure it has fresh as in new gas in it you have to diagnose whether it is running out of gas or running out of spark

[TAKerry]

You say gas leaks out of the bottom, of what? The carb?  I am probably the farthest from a mechanic from most guys on this forum but I would suspect from my antique motorcycle experience that at the very least the carb needs a bit of attention. Especially after sitting that long. Good Luck, beautiful automobile.

 

[Terry Bond]

Most likely a sticking fuel inlet needle. Carb certainly needs a thorough cleaning, gaskets and maybe an improved needle valve assembly and float check/adjustment. 

 

Value? Impossible to accurately assess that with a single photo. Get an appraiser to do that instead of relying on forum guesses. As a post 1916 it's use is somewhat limited to show and fun driving. Glidden and the AACA tours are enjoyable and your car would be a welcome participant. Are you an AACA member? If not, join the fun.

Terry

[mercer09]

Value around 15k give or take..............

[bob k]

Hey guys, I'm reading some of e comments, thank you very much, I went away for a week so I haven't been around, got back  last weekend,we  tried working on  car again, I took the vacuum fuel pump canister off the firewall gave it to a mechanic friend of mine he took it apart and told me that the thing was clogged, so he cleaned it all out, we put it back together and it's still doing the same thing, it runs for 30 seconds to a minute and then it stalls, dies out, so I know it's probably something stupid, some little thing where someone that knows about these cars can probably just come over look at it and tweak a couple screws and it'll be running fine, That's what I feel like, it's definitely some kind of fuel issue, I'm thinking of maybe putting a low pressure fuel pump in line to pump gas from the tank, any ideas on that has anybody ever done that before, thank you in advance

[ramair]

What ever clogged your vacuum tank most likely also clogged your carb and fuel tank. I would suggest you set up a temporary fuel tank up on the cowl it can be something very simple like a 1 gallon tin can with a fitting that will allow you to hook to the carb fuel inlet. This eliminates bad fuel in tank and vacuum tank, if it still doesn’t run for long it’s most likely your carburetor.  
  I encourage you to search through past discussion here on the virtues of our modern fuels and how they turn to jello after a number of years.  The days are over as far as parking a car in a garage for a few years and being able to jump start it and drive it without a lot of work

Edited September 1 by ramair (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

The fuel pressure for carburetors designed to work with a vacuum tank is what it gets from gravity...in other words it is VERY low and it unlikely, if not impossible, to find an electric pump that will work at a pressure that is even close to what is wanted. To test it, I would arrange a tank to simulate this. You could even take the mechanism out of the vacuum tank and just use the canister, being sure to seal off the vacuum line. If it doesn't stall after a few minutes you know it isn't likely to be the fuel system from that point back to the tank.

 

ramir makes a very good point...whatever debris was clogging the vacuum tank is almost certainly in the carburetor as well...the fact that it starts tell us it's not an electrical problem but it is very unlikely that it's something just a few adjustments will fix.

 

Problems like this must be addressed in a methodical manner...one issue at a time. If you start making all sorts of changes and adjustments without knowing exactly what the problem is you'll end up with a major problem rather than this minor one.

 

 

Edited September 1 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

22 hours ago, bob k said:

thinking of maybe putting a low pressure fuel pump in line to pump gas from the tank, any ideas on that has anybody ever done that before

 

Many, many people have tried that! Often causing more troubles than they fixed. Sort it out methodically, as others have said.

 

There are a couple people on this forum that rebuild vacuum tanks for cars that use them.

However, any car that has sat for some time needs to have the fuel system thoroughly cleaned and repaired as necessary. Fuel lines, the tank itself, any rust or other debris in the system, all needs to be corrected, otherwise rebuilding the vacuum tank will be wasted effort as it will just become contaminated again.

There is also a fair chance that most of your trouble there is mostly in the carburetor itself. Gumming up, or other debris in the float valve or jets or other internal passageways often result in the symptoms you describe.

Another common mistake made? Is replacing the float valve with a modern type. Sometimes this works well? Often it causes more problems than it cures. Original type float valves are usually better for the low pressure early carburetors.

[Terry Harper]

I agree with Joe and Wayne. Adding an electric pump adds complexity and doesn’t address the root problem. We had a vehicle in the collection that had sat for over 20 years. It would run for a minute or two than sputter and die. We did a thorough disassembly and cleaning of the carb and lines and tested with a temporary fuel supply bypassing the vacuum tank. It ran great so we could now rule out the carb. Then we turned our attention to the vacuum tank which after inspection and cleaning, and again drawing from a temporary fuel supply, worked as intended. Again, isolating and testing each component of the system before moving to the next. That left only the fuel tank which was gummed up with rust, scale and sediment which was spreading joy through the whole system.

 

again, isolate, test each component independently of the others. Discovering what isn’t the problem is just as important as what is the problem.