Carb Asthma?

[OaklandSpider]

Hello All -
noticed today a fun and wonderful development in Fiatland: upon acceleration, my carb appears to be making a wheezing/sucking sound like which I have never heard before. I have the air filter housing off at the moment, and noticed the sound for the first time. Something to be worried about? Does it always make this sound but it muffled by the air filter / housing? Also noticed quite a bit of smoke coming from the larger house that attaches to the AF housing. Again, normal? Not so normal? The sound was not present while not accelerating or in neutral.
All comments welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Peter

[bradartigue]

If you are not familiar with the sound of the carb without the air cleaner (especially if it is the stock air cleaner) then it can be quite loud. The smoke...not sure what you mean by "a lot" - there will always be some coming from the breather but it shouldn't be rich, black, or sooty. Kind of a light greasy smoke that you can't see all that well.

[mdrburchette]

Be glad you don't have IDFs on your car. The roar coming from them can be downright scary!

[So Cal Mark]

that roar takes me to a happy place! Excessive smoke from the breather hose indicates blow-by and could be worn rings. Wisps of smoke are not abnormal. Is the air filter saturated with oil, or dry?

[OaklandSpider]

Mark -
The filter is dry, a bit dirty, but dry.
And it would be a lot cooler if it were a roar, but it's more of a gasp...
Peter