First of all, these carbs are the later style (circa 1968) SU HS6s with the self-retaining spring. Those are really nice, but it's hard to detect problems with the springs in place.

So... I decided that since my original carbs were gargling gas and spitting it out, but performance and idle were excellent, that I needed to eliminate variables. So... I installed the pair of SU HS6s from my 1967 wagon. I did not have much time to tune them after I installed them, so I set the idle, balance and used the lift-pins to test the mixture. The next morning I drove the car to work and experienced the single worst volvo driving experience ever. The engine idled fine, but the car would not run over 45 mph. Leaning or richening the mixture had no positive effect. I limped the car home wasting 1/4 tank on a 15 mile trip. I yanked those carbs and threw them back into the box. They have ovalled throttle shaft openings and need new bushing as you describe.

My 68 carbs are in similar, but much better condition. There was detectable vacuum leakage around the throttle shafts so I made up some temporary sealing rings from my spare carb parts and copper washer collection. I removed the throttle shafts (they *are* noticeably worn) and installed the temporary seal. I torqued it all back up and after installing I found that some carb cleaner sprayed around the shaft ends no longer affects the idle noticeably. I realize this is a temporary fix, but it should do until I can get the other pair of HS6s re-bushed.

So, to top off the fun, my trip home from work yesterday afternoon led to the smell of raw fuel and the discovery that my #1 bowl was leaking fuel out of the cap and another 1/4 tank of fuel loss. This fries me (fortunately not literaly - I've got a BC extinguisher in the car if that happens).

The car idles and pulls wonderfully with those 68 carbs. There is almost no poor performance and if I am staving on fuel from too much air, or if I am drowning in fuel, the engine hardly notices.

To me it seems logical that if I am sucking extra air, then the mixture would be going lean. But, when I managed to prevent the carb bowl fuel leakage, fuel consumption is as though the carbs are *way* too rich, but performance is right about where it should be.

I'm getting both frustrated and confused from these carbs, these are as simple as carbs get, but it does not seem to matter how many times I read the VClassics SU articles, or the MG SU articles, or my haynes or greenbook, I just can't seem to get this problem figured out. I hope that new shafts and bushing will help.

I could not work on the car further as I discovered a 1958 Caloric Ultramatic Gas Double-Oven for $75.00 and devoted the rest of the day to getting the 400 lb stove into my wife's 940 and then getting it back out and into the house without seriously damaging such a nice vintage oven.