I have a booklet that was faxed from Federal-Mogul regarding tuning of an AFB carburetor; it includes lots of helpful part numbers for things like a replacement set of linkages and such like. The problem is that Carter seems to have pretty much closed up shop except for selling fuel pumps, and Edelbrock doesn't list any of this stuff on their web site. Am I SOL and should I just suck it up and buy a brand new carb? (and hope that I never lose any of the little pieces)
nate
anyone...?
I've got a perfectly good looking 600CFM Carter laying around simply because I bought it to steal the linkages off of it... would really like to see if it is any good...
nate
800-945-CARB, the Old Carb Doctor
Beat the bushes. Check Ebay. This stuff isn't "walk into Pep Boys" easy to find, but it ain't all that *hard* to find, either.
DS
That's disappointing... I was hoping to be able to avoid paying "vintage parts" prices for this stuff since it's still current (they're going to be making some more Edelbrock Performers today, no doubt.) Whatever happened to Carter anyway? I stopped paying attention for a couple years and they seem to have closed up shop and turned out the lights.
nate
No, Stude 289... not going for "correct" just "works well." I've got a 600 CFM unit that was originally manual choke; it seems too rich for the car and maybe too big as well. Another 600 CFM unit with no linkages; I think that may have been electric (I think this is the one I stole the choke from for the other carb) but I will have to check the numbers. Also a small 60's Buick carb that was running great until I nailed it; now it is flooding badly (dirt?) I kitted it but it still won't behave. I'm starting to reach the point of ultimate frustration; I was hoping I could get the two 600 CFM units together and working so I could sell them and use the proceeds to buy a 500 CFM Edelbrock...
nate
Shep wrote:
You're welcome. ;-)
Drive a vintage car, pay vintage-parts prices. Drive a new car, pay new-car prices.
Only if you drive a 15-year-old beater can you expect to pay cheap prices for parts.
Fuel systems division was broken up and sold off quite some years ago; "Carter" really only survives in name in most of the automotive world, but Edelbrock does make the new AFBs. I wish they'd bring out some new AVSs!
It just frosts my cookies that Carter was so good at making the little pieces parts available and Edelbrock seems to have more of the attitude that you should just buy a whole new carb and be happy about it. It shouldn't be too hard to just pull three little rods out of the boxes and blister pack 'em (like Carter used to) but they don't seem to care. The only parts listed on their web site (not counting adapters, fuel line fittings, etc.) are the jet and rod kits and rebuild kits. Lose a hard part, you're scrod.
Um... I drive an 18 year old beater, and the prices are ludicrous! (um, well, it is a Porsche...)
They do, it's called the "Thunder Series." I am going back and forth whether I want to be the guinea pig and see if the vaunted AVS will actually work on a Stude engine or not. Probably not; I really need to get *something* driveable. The Porsche is still in the (well, yet another) shop having the drivetrain vibration checked out - at least this shop is taking it seriously, but they haven't figured it out yet. If I can get a good working carb on the Stude, I can at least drive that, as it has all the basics (lights, wipers, heater - and not much else) unless there's something else broken that I just haven't found yet (likely, considering the way this car has been fighting me every step of the way...)
nate
Most of the parts from an Edelbrock AFB will fit an original-style Carter AFB with little or no modification. Unfortunately for your hopes to use the reference book, the Edelbrock jet and rod numbering system is different.
Got sucked up in the Federal-Mogul implosion, along with Weber (both were owned by F-M and shared manufacturing plants before the end). I don't know whether Edelbrock just bought the design, or if they also are using the same foundries, etc. But the carb is *identical* to the last versions ("9000" series) of the aftermarket AFB that were built by Carter, as far as I can tell and apart from the different numbering system.
Thppp. That's true, but prices for most parts for my '66 are a helluva lot cheaper than for the same parts for a 2000 model vehicle!
Have you been shining E-code headlamps in your eyes again? :-p
Now what I wish is that they'd stop charging a >$100 premium over the AFB for the AVS....
I actually have an old Carter "strip kit," I was more hoping to be able to replace the little pieces parts I've robbed off my "extra" carburetors to put them back in working order again...
nate
To be honest, my hunch is that Carter sold very few of those "tube" packaged rod sets compared to their complete strip kit. The strip kit is just a much better deal, and Edelbrock sells those.
If you go into most speed shops, you can find quite a few "kit" style parts for Edelbrock carbs. Accelerator pump pistons, check valves, choke kits, etc. I'm not really sure what "hard parts" you're looking for, but I don't ever remember being able to buy linkages and such for ANY carb very easily.
Well, my immediate concern is the little rods that connect the primaries to the secondaries, and the various pieces that make the choke work (not the electric choke kit, the rods between the fast idle cam and the choke plate shaft etc.) I actually have a Carter part number for a "linkage kit" containing all of the stuff I'm looking for; just can't find anywhere to use it to buy stuff. I don't know why, but I seem to be able to find perfectly good looking carbs at swap meets missing "just one or two pieces" for dirt cheap, but then when I go to rob the same piece from a nasty, rusty old mess of a carb that's laying in the junk pile, that piece is invariably a different version that won't fit.
Oh, yeah, "speed shop?" I wish... Pep Boys is the closest thing I have to a local speed shop, but in their defense (am I defending Pep Boys? Who are those four scary looking dudes on horseback anyway?) they do seem to stock a decent amount of Edelbrock AFB-related stuff, so I ASSume if Edelbrock sold what I needed I could order it through them. All the carbs I'm trying to work on are last-gen aftermarket AFBs, so there shouldn't be any issues with Edelbrock stuff not fitting.
nate
Unless you drive a 15 year-old Honda... :(
Yeah, that's the kind of stuff I've NEVER had a good source for. Maybe it was available and I just didn't know where.
Since you mention the Scout, I assume all of the above refers to the TQ.
I run a TQ on my 73 Satellite- and I love the thing. The "leak-down" is probably just the main jet well X-section O-rings leaking- pretty common with age. A kit would fix that. The only negative thing about TQs is that they demand a gentle touch when you take them apart and put them back together. 99.999% of the "failures" with them were due to people acting like gorillas when "fixing" them. You can do that to an AFB, but not a TQ....
Oh, but Hondas *never* break! ;-)
Naw, I just didn't know they were marketing AVSs. (What I really want is a
*small* AVS. Something around 400cfm.)New Thermoquads, big and small, would also be nice. I'd also like to win the lottery. And live in the Pacific Northwest. In a house with a giant, fully-equipped, heated and cooled workshop. And a big hot tub.
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