At our Okie FTE GTG last weekend we did several projects, including clean, powder coat, and re-assemble an Edelbrock 1405 for Bruno. (However, the completion of the assembly didn't happen until today.) And, we thought y'all might like to see some of the pictures as well as a few words about the process.

Bruno bought 3 Edelbrocks some time ago off of CraigsList, and brought 2 of them with him to the GTG - a 1405 and a 1406. Since his Bronco has a high performance engine he wanted the "power" version of the carb, the 1405, and not the "economy" version, the 1406. So we merged both carbs to get the best of the parts over onto the 1405. For instance, since the 1406 had the electric choke option we moved it over to the 1405. And the 1405's inlet fitting had a burr on it, so we swapped the fittings. And on it went.

We pulled the carbs down and put them through the blast cabinet using walnut hulls. On all the parts that were to be powder coated we set the air to 80 PSI, which gave a texture that the powder could adhere to. But, on the 1406, which may be used au naturale, we dialed the pressure down to 45 PSI, which cleaned but didn't change the surface of the metal.

Unfortunately we didn't do a good job of taking pictures of before and after, but we do have a couple of before, and lots of after. Here's the story in pictures:

This is a poor picture, but you can get a feeling for what the carbs looked like - dirty but not greasy:


When we pulled the air horn off the carb one of the floats was stuck in the varnish at the bottom of the bowl:


With a bit of blasting the carb's innards cleaned up nicely:


And, the outside came out looking good as well. Not perfect, but quite adequate:


Here's one example of how the hulls cleaned up the innards, with the before on the right and after on the left:


And, here's an idle mix screw comparo, with before still on the right:


Ok, I think you get the picture of how things cleaned up. But, how did the 1405 turn out? Here are some after shots of it, ready to be installed with the exception of the new decal that Edelbrock is sending to Bruno gratis:

 

In the pic at the top you can see how dirty the 1406 was . However, the 1405 was much dirtier. Ron cigarxtc can testify to that. We blasted away on it until the surface was ready to go. Gary suggested we bake the parts in the oven at 400° to get all the nasty stuff out of the pores after the blasting. Then Gary put the powder to it. We baked it, but when it came out for some reason the powder didnt take in a couple of places. Gary suggested we hit it with the powder again while it was hot and put it back in the oven again. When the carb came out this time it looked totally awesome.

I cant tell you guys how pleased I am with how the powder coat turned out. I am grateful to Gary for all the work he put in it as well as letting me use his powder and equipment. Especially the extra mile with the overhaul kit.

I had no idea what kind of shape the innards were in on these carbs. I bought them on CL for next to nothing and they did look rough on the outside, but boy were they rough on the inside. The 1405 was so dried up on the inside that all the rubber and plastic parts were about to disintegrate and blow away in the wind. The 1406 had made its own adhesive inside and glued itself together. Both of these carbs needed the works inside and out. They got it too!

 

LOOKING GOOD...

Bruno, ya'll did one heck of a job on those carbs...
As good as (or better than) new.....Trav.

Course I'm biased on my opinion...a 1406 on my 85...a 1405 on my 76

 

That's outstanding! Hope we get a pic or two of it mounted! Looks great!

 

I called Edelbrock again today to see if they sold the idle/mixture screws for the 1406 and mentioned that I needed one. They sent me one out for free once again. I am starting to really like their customer service. You cant go wrong buying stuff from businesses that have CS like that. If I ever do build a street racer I will probably go with as much Edelbrock stuff as I can afford. They have sold me.

 

That IS customer support. And, their stuff is made in the USA.

I'm sorta getting there with Comp Cams - I sent a note to them about the problems with CamQuest and the 335 Series engines. Got a response back about 10 days later giving me the direct-in # to one of their cam techs so I could bypass the queue. But, by then I'd figured out how to tell CamQuest I'm running a 351C with a 4" stroke, which gets me their roller cam options. Anyway, going back and forth with them they mentioned that they have/are re-writing CamQuest, so I've volunteered to be a beta tester. Dunno if they'll take me up on it, but.....

 

I'll agree 100% with you Bruno...When I called about a kit for my 1406 they were VERY helpful...Sent the kit, a DVD instructions, and a coupon for a FREE air cleaner (BIG ONE) when I purchased my 1405 for my 460..

Later on, Autozone had the same deal going .(free air cleaner with Purchase of new carb)..

Anyway, they were outstanding on their CS....They said if I had ANY questions, Call them...I'm happy...

 

Another thought I had was about the Edelbrock badge. If they really do come off and go back on as easy as Ray the tech says I believe I would pop it off before I did the next PC carb that way it would get the powder behind it too.

Would a make up brush like women use to apply powder work to possibly prep the hard to get areas (nooks/crannies) on the carb? You know like take a small one and try to apply it to those areas before the initial shoot?

 

Good idea on the badge.

As for the makeup brush, I don't think it would work. The powder gun is hooked to one end of the high voltage system, say the negative, and the part is hooked to the positive. So that way the powder gets a charge and gets attracted to the part. But the makeup brush wouldn't do that.

I'm thinking part of the problem is my gun, which is the old "original" Eastwood gun. They have a later model that has switchable voltages and that's supposed to let you work in tight corners, like a carb has, or large areas. But, oddly enough, they say lower voltage is what's needed for corners, and that's probably what I already have. So, I don't know what to do.