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I want to go to a four barrel on my 360, which will be
replace with a 390 when it gets rebuilt. I would like
to put a Carter AFB on which I believe has vacuum
secondaries. I will be looking at the local salvage yard
and would like to know what to look for so that I don't
get a Carter with mechanical secondaries. I don't know
much about the Carter carbs so any help would be appreciated.
First of all the three main Carter carbs (AFB, AVS and Thermoquad) are all vacuum secondary. Carter did not make a mass produced (like the before mentioned) mechanical secondary carb.
Second, the most common junk yard Carters you will find are either the 1 barrel paper weights or Thermoquad door stops.
T-Quad carbs suck, seriously. If it isn't the top plate leaking it is something else.
If you really want to hit up the boneyards for an AFB, look in mid- 60s Mopars especially the intermediate to heavy weight cars (Cornets, Chargers, Imperials, New Yorker)
Good luck finding an AVS which unfortunately is the superior carb of the bunch. You can spot the AVS (Air Valve Sensing) in that it 'looks' like it has two choke doors or flaps. The one over the secondary is a spring loaded air sensing door instead of the AFB's vacuum sensing.
I don`t want to steer you wrong unioncreek but I have a carter on my 390 and I don`t like it.
I`m going with a 600 holley w/ vac secondaries.
Just my 2 cents,
John
Well, lets try 3 replacements from Summit and absolutely no help from Federal Mogul whatsoever.
I find it a little hard to understand why, on a stock 390, they (Fed Mogul)tell me to drill holes in a brand new carb to help with adjustment. HUH!
after numerous calls and no help, I`ll try my Holley.
It`s been workin on my 428 mustang now for about ,Idunno 30 years!
No offense meant to anyone, just my .02
John
Is there a specific place to drill and how small did you drill?
I know that it`s called for with a big cam sometimes but i wouldn`t think it`s necessary for a stock grind.
Thanks for the enlightening bullitt.
I have a carter on mine, I bought new, I haven't had any problems with it (had it for 5 years now). My friend put a new holley on his 390 we were out hunting this last weekend and I couldn't believe how many times the truck dies going up hills, mine never does that. His froze up too, I think it was the accelerator pump or diaphram or something, on a bran new carb.
My 2 cents
1969 Ford F-250 4X4, 390 bored .030 over, carter 4 barrel carb, Terminator mufflers, NP 435, NP 205 Transfer case, HD Dana 44 w/ discs up front and Dana 60 in the rear. 90% completly rebuilt from ground up.
1995 Ford F-250 4X4, Powerstroke Diesel. Supercab longbox. 70 hp chip, isspro pyrometer and boost guages. Other than that its stock. Plans: 4in exhaust, propane injection, cd player, and possible intercooler.
Also on these carbs along with the Edelbrock carbs they dont like ALOT of fuel pressure. Holleys like alot (8-10psi) but the Edelbrocks and Carters do not like so much pressure (4.5-5.5psi). These may be causing your dislike for this carb. If you use a good fuel pressure regulator which you should be doing anyways you will be much happier I bet
lata
CHRIS
I love my Edelbrock 750 by the way NO carb better for a reasonable price!!!
Edelbrock, 1405 600CFM out of the box, set the idle and air screws and 26000 miles and three years later I have not touched it. Except to change the air filter. Honest, no BS! Consistent 12MPG. I am using a stock (napa) fuel pump and a stock Ford 4V intake.
William in Atlanta
Im using a AFB on my 79...liked it so much I bought a brand new one, Its simple and actually quite fun to experiment with jet/rod combos using the Carter Strip kit...
Ive had it running so rich that it was spewing black smoke like a diesel getting 4 mpg and squeling tires all the way down the block, to the opposite extreme of 11 mpg moderate acceleration but nice highway cruising :-)
Now MY only problem is trying to fix the vacuum leak with the carb base gasket...(see post under heading "still blue on that rough idle" in the 73-79 conference)
I shouldve taking notes the first time...cant remember which gaskets I used...or even if I made my own...getting old sucks
I've never seen an engine have more power while blowing smoke from being too rich. A slightly lean engine usually makes more power than a slightly rich enigne.
Nothing scientific just seat of the pants...we were sitting around one night and decided to experiment with as many combos as we could dream up...fun, but not very productive...we tried every combo in the the strip kit and a bunch of stuff we had laying around...
My point was the simplicity of the carter options...although the floats can be a little annoying in my limited experience