paul sober: Carbeurator Tuning

I have a 1981 Toyota Pickup that is having some fuel consumption issues. It's a great old vehicle and it will be out of smog requirements pretty soon, which is when I plan on converting it to natural gas or e-fuel, depending on what's available in our area. In the mean time, I need to tune the carbeurator so that it can pass smog and reduce pollution. It's been sitting in my driveway for a while now, just looking pretty.

So the problem that it has is black smoke from the exhaust, paired with excessive fuel consumption. It's a pretty straightforward carburettor, so it shouldn't be too difficult for me, although I'm not any kind of car repair expert. First step for me is to clean out the jets.

front view of aisin carb (single jet)

It's an Aisan 2 barrel carburetor, at least I think it is, except that it only has one jet. The carb has to be removed from the engine in order to access the main jet, even though the main jet access bolt is easy to remove, it's just at an odd angle and I can barely see inside the port, let alone figure out how to get the darn thing out and cleaned. Ordering a complete kit is $53 at Napa.com. I may only need the lower flange gasket, which is $1.53. I guess the next step is to remove the bugger and see what is going on. Coolant is drained, most of the fuel is out of the carb itself.