Putting a new carb on tomorrow

Torque Junkie · October 4, 2001

Well, after much thinking and discussion, I've decided to replace my Carter with an Edelbrock Performer 600CFM Electric choke.

My last fillup, I got less than 8 mpg, and that's just totally unacceptable - even with 4.56 gears.

My dad drove it, and was fairly certian by driving it that the carb needed a rebuild, and after talking to a guy at the shop and describing my symptoms, he' sounds pretty confident that the jets could be bad.

Since I've never rebulit a carb, have heard horror stories about doing it, and have looked at an exploded image of a carb, the only way I'm going to tackle a rebuild is if a new carb costs $10,000 $234 for a brand new carb, or ~$40 for a rebuild kit + the hours on end of frustration I'd endure... I"ll pay the extra $$$.

If anyone has any recommendations of a better carb for my aplication, please do so ASAP. I'm picking the carb up tomorrow morning before work and am going to put it on after work. FYI, I already have the Edelbrock Performer Intake and Cam package, so the Performer carb should compliment that setup nicely

Torque Junkie · October 6, 2001

Well, I got it on.. very suprisingly, it only took me about an hour to swap it! I'm proud of myself for that.

At anyrate, WOW! What a difference...

Smoother idle, MUCH MUCH better throttle response (something I never even knew was there before) - especially from idle starts, I can actually feel and REALLY hear the secondaries opening :0 :0 , and so far, better mileage (when I keep the secondaries closed :blush: in a Ralph Wiggam voice And the doctor said that I wouldn't use so much gas if I could just keep my foot out of there"

At any rate, it was well worth the $234. I'll post pictures of how nice and shiney it looks on the intake when I can upload them to my server (they're switching over to another server)

76BBSub · October 8, 2001

WOW, sounds like your old carb was pretty far gone. Glad you bought the new carb instead of fixing the old one, as you said it would have been alot of work and frustration and may have never been right.

Let us know how the mileage turns out next time you fill up.

Jeff

TDS 854X4 · October 8, 2001

I have made a couple attempts at re-building carbs......

I would definitely have bought a new one in your case, too.

It is just so much easier.

The first one I tried, and realized that I didn't get it right, I ended up taking in to a local shop and had them re-do it. I didn't learn from that though. I thought that if I maybe had less beer while doing it, I could get one together right. Uh-uh! Wasn't as bad, but still.....I have realized that my weekend-mechanic skills are not up to that task yet.

I have been thinking about an Edelbrock carb for my Camaro. Let us know how you like it after a while. Sounds like it's good for you now at least.

Torque Junkie · October 8, 2001

Quote from 76BBSub, posted on Oct. 08 2001,09:30

Let us know how the mileage turns out next time you fill up.

I drove the truck to work on Friday to get a highway mileage number and I pulled 10 mpg in the 60 miles to and fro.

This next full fillup is going to not be that good though becuase of my 2 new found barrels

I still think, though that the only way I'm gonna get the mileage I wan't from that truck, I"m going to have to put an O/D tranny into it. If it wasn't for my 33" tires, those 4.56 gears would be spinning my engine at 3600 rpms at 65 mph. Luckily because of the tires, now they're only turnning the engine 3000. If I can get that 30% O/D It'd be running about 2100, which is much more livable and should acheive the 12 hwy mpg I'd be content with. I've a few separate claims a 30-40% increase in mileage, so 13-14 isn't out of the question.

I was quoted $750 for a reman 700R-4 and ~$400-600 for labor at one of the shops in town, so that should become a reality in a couple months.

Anyway, the new carb was a good choice, and I"ll keep you all posted as to how it continues to work.

-Mike