Carburetors.

I used to like carburetors because they were cheaper than FI and were easy to work on.

In terms of performance and economy, I now think that the carburetor is in the stone ages.

I am not sure if carburetors are still being manufactured, brand new.Maybe I missed part of what that guy on the Trucks! tv program said.Maybe somebody is buying old carburetors and rebuilding them as good as new, or even better than new.I saw a big USA label on the one barrel carburetor the guy was talking about. cuhulin

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3172.bay.webtv.net:

Well surely the muscle car "replicators" (for lack of a better term - you know the guys that make all the parts for those cars and sell them on line. There's several) certainly would need to have them. And then as well, I've yet to see a lawn mower run by injection, but I'm sure

*someone* will find a way if it reduces costs - you can't even get one where you can adjust the lean and rich anymore.

You can still buy a LOT of new carbs. Holley, Edelbrock, Barry Grant, Carter, Weber are all still out there.

Carbs are still being made in the aftermarket & performance parts.

I doubt any new cars still have them (at least in this country)

The carburetor was a pretty neat device that was in a high state of development towards the end. OTOH, even a crude throttle body FI system could probably do everything better than a carburetor without all the metering jets and valves and pumps and thermal and dashpots and cams and linkages and chokes. OTOH, getting a carb to work well was a lot of fun

- for me, at least.

There haven't been since 1989. (of course not including replicas and other small volume stuff)

Yeah, but when the EMP hits you'll want that carb ;) (and points)

I agree with both the good and bad. When I REALLY don't miss them is here in Minnesota on cold mornings. For many years I would replace the auto choke with one of those manual conversion kits, but it was a pain continuing to push them in as the car warmed up. Finally the auto chokes got good enough, but they never did match the modern fuel injection in cold weather startups.

Don Stauffer wrote in news:4ca0ecde$0$499$ snipped-for-privacy@news.qwest.net:

We have a curiosity up here you may be interested in. In almost every residential parking lot they have outdoor electrical plugs. One per parking spot. No we don't have wierd trailer park rules. They're called block heaters.

You may see a great slowdown in carb sales with NASCAR going to EFI next year. I suspect other divisions and sanctioning bodies won't be far behind. It also give NASCAR another more precise control over speed and HP. Who knows? We may someday see the end to restrictor plate racing.

Lugnut

Notice engines easily last past 100,000 miles now. Starters last a lot longer. Remote control start. Emissions are way down. There must be a 100 reasons why fuel injection is better. I don't miss those carburetors. I had cars that I never could get the automatic choke to work properly, no matter what. Who even bothers to carry jumper cables any more?

The automatic choke on my 1941 Chrysler works great. I just make sure that it is lubed a little bit and works like it should. Starts that old flathead "6" great! The one-barrel works great, after a re-build, and gets around

20mpg.

Haven't had one of those since my 1973 Plymouth Fury III station wagon in northern Nebraska. Needed it there. Came out one day and my car was buried in snow! When I first moved there, I was advised to have one installed. Good advice!

My mom owned a 1952 Ford car, six cylinder, manual shift.In the coldest weather, that manual choke started that car up first time, every time. cuhulin

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3171.bay.webtv.net:

With dad to tune it, It's hardly surprising. Two shots of alcohol always works too: one for you and one for the carb.