I have a chevy 350 with an electric choke carter competition carb, not sure which cfm. I was led to believe that these were inferior carburetors and I was about to start looking for an Edlebrock Performer carb to go with my performer intake. Would this be a mistake? Do I already have a decent carburetor?
I hate to answer a question with question, but how does the
Carter work for you? Any problems? To change carbs just because someone told you the Carter is "inferior" doesn't seem reasonable.
Nothing wrong with the AFB,it's a simple reliable carb.
It won't give as good a mileage as a Q-Jet but there's little to go wrong with one and most are plenty of carb for a mouse motor if not too much with the bigger ones.
If it runs good now I doubt you'd see any gain from swapping it for an eddiebrock
I appreciate the input, to answer your question the carter is working fine right now, good throttle respone, but it is a stock 86 350 even with the performer intake and hooker headers I doubt it breaks the 250 hp range. I have plans for performance mods and I was just wondering if the Carter was going to be able to handle it. From what I am hearing it sounds like I may need to look at something a little more performance based. Again I appreciate your input Thanks.
Isn't the Carter Comp carb the same basic carb as the Edelbrock? I was under the impression the were both manufactured by Weber. I have used Edelbrock 600's on many sbc's and they were a good carbueretor. If you do performance upgrades like cam/headers/exhaust you can buy a kit to tweak your existing carb for more performance.
Isn't the Carter Comp carb the same basic carb as the Edelbrock? I was under the impression the were both manufactured by Weber. I have used Edelbrock 600's on many sbc's and they were a good carbueretor. If you do performance upgrades like cam/headers/exhaust you can buy a kit to tweak your existing carb for more performance.
Isn't the Carter Comp carb the same basic carb as the Edelbrock? I was under the impression the were both manufactured by Weber.
The AFB was made by Carter, and was used by GM and Chrysler on many engines. I think Carter eventually became a Federal-Mogul company. The Edelbrock carb is essentially a Carter AFB design with some refinements and is made by Weber. Both are good carbs.
67 sleeper, look down on one of the front feet of the carb right under the mounting bolt, there should be a number stamped into the base there. Tell us that number and one of us can tell you what carburetor you have.
Nothing wrong with the carb you have, if it works then keep it. They are essentially the same design as the Edelbrock Performer carbs yet they tend run about 5-10% cheaper than their counterparts.
The AFB (Aluminum Four Barrel just in case anyone ever wondered what the letters stood for) is one of my favorite carbs and I have been playing with them since the late 60s.
The design and production rights have changed hands several times over the years, but all the changes are very minor and the carbs are all virtually the same with all the required tuning parts (step rods, jets, metereing rod springs etc) being interchangable.
As I recall on the competition series carbs the only real difference is the use of a bigger accelerator pump squirter...they used the larger one normally found in the AVS series carbs, which could actually be an advantage when you start doing performance mods.
Whoever "led you to believe" that these carbs were inferior either was trying to sell you a new carb or didn't know what he was talking about. I would really be interested in what he was basing his comments on.
I think the AFB is a great carb, it's not as easy to tune as quickly as a Holey and that's one of the reasons they were usually replaced in racing applications. I had a 2-4 289 Cobra intake on my '65 Mustang and lived the response and drivability. I think the modern renditions are 2 different types. I think one is the AFB and the other is the AVS(Air Valve Secondaries ) that was produced in the later 60s to help meet the the oncoming emmission standards. They look pretty much the same but the air valve is in the air horn of the AVS.I think the Edelbrock uses the AVS design, and Carter uses the AFB. I could have it reversed, but I'm pretty sure they are 2 different carb models with the same lineage.
There is nothing wrong at all with those carter/edelbrock type carbs .
They are alot better than many of the older holleys in some respects, (ie: they don't have removable fuel bowls to leak, power valve is blow proof,)
The only time I have ever seen an AFB type carb unhappy was when we tried to run one on a 383 chevy with a long duration/big overlap cam and low vacuum. ( I don't remember the exact specs, but the cam was over 300 degrees advertised duration and it made about 8 or 10" vacuum at an idle.)
We could not get any kind of acceptable idle and had some hesitation issues that could not be tuned out. (by us, anyway)
I called edelbrock and after giving all the specs the tech guy told us to buy a HP holley. We did that and after a small amount of tuning, most all of our driveability issues went away.
That was my experience.
I would think that unless you are running some super long cam you should be fine.
The only problem I've run into with the ede/carter carbs is that they can soak up heat from the manifold and boil the fuel in the bowls (hot summer days at the dragstrip). It would make it "lay down" at higher rpms. An insulating spacer may be a good idea, last one I made out of wood - guys at the track gave me loads of crap for using a wooden spacer but it worked like a charm.
The only problem I've run into with the ede/carter carbs is that they can soak up heat from the manifold and boil the fuel in the bowls (hot summer days at the dragstrip). It would make it "lay down" at higher rpms. An insulating spacer may be a good idea, last one I made out of wood - guys at the track gave me loads of crap for using a wooden spacer but it worked like a charm.
We use to make our adapter base plates from phenolic material ~.5" to 1.0", depending on the CI of the build. Your Carter AFB is one of the better carbs to have in your possession. It is just as simple to tune as the quadrajets, and are very diversified in the field. You can actually set one of those up with all your variable conditions and have a speed box in the trunk for your applications. Fuel miser and strip setups, set your carb with the correct metering rods and jets, just ready for any application and fuel mixtures.
Once you have your desired range of usage, your locked in with no complaints. Takes less then 5 minutes to change from one scene to another.
Good luck and trust your instincts on the versatility of your carb.
I have five Carter aluminum four bores, two on chevy 350's,one olds 350,
one each on a 305 and 307. I would'nt trade them for the world. They are easy to work on and for the most part troublefree.
saltydogg
We use to make our adapter base plates from phenolic material ~.5" to 1.0", depending on the CI of the build. Your Carter AFB is one of the better carbs to have in your possession. It is just as simple to tune as the quadrajets, and are very diversified in the field. You can actually set one of those up with all your variable conditions and have a speed box in the trunk for your applications. Fuel miser and strip setups, set your carb with the correct metering rods and jets, just ready for any application and fuel mixtures.
Once you have your desired range of usage, your locked in with no complaints. Takes less then 5 minutes to change from one scene to another.
Good luck and trust your instincts on the versatility of your carb.
I had a problem following the rebuild instructions in the kit. When set up per sequence and directions it wouldn't correctly operate the choke unloader and the back barrels wouldn' fully open. A friend bought the car from a new car dealer and the carb had just been rebuilt. we got a second kit and found the problems. after setting the floats per the chart I started bending linkage and adjusting till it worked right.
Someone earlier mentioned wooden spacers. Here's a couple that I made. The one on the right in the image was for a Pontiac Performer intake- before there was a RPM intake for them.
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