I am going to be rebuilding my old carter carb here soon, and am wondering where I should get the kit from. I have heard plenty of bad things about autozone in the past. There is a kit from oldcarburetors.com, or something like that. It's about 50 bucks though, whereas the autozone kit is not even 20. Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

It's been quite a few years, but when I rebuilt my 1bbl, I got the kit from Napa or Schucks, one of the two. Seemed to have everything and more in it, and did a fine job of rebuilding it.

Two things to check though, that have nothing to do with the rebuild kit.

First is the throttle shaft. If it's wobbly and worn in the throttle plate, no rebuild kit will ever get it running right. Wiggle the throttle shaft up and down and if there's noticeable play, you may need to have it re-sleeved.

The second thing to check is the pump arm, (at least that's what I think it's called.)

(Made this image in Google Sketchup. Picture's worth a thousand words).


That arm moves consistently and it's metal on metal. Mine got grooves worn into it and started to bind up the linkage. If you take that arm off and there's grooves worn into it, it may be a good idea to have the grooves filled. If they get deep enough, they'll bind up everything. I remember before I tracked down what it was, mine was worn so badly that I had to kick the accelerator pedal with quite a bit of strength to get it past the bind point. When it starts to wear, it starts to go really fast, since the binding encourages more wear, more wear encourages more binding, etc. I think mine went from "slightly noticeable" to "dangerous in traffic" in about a month.

Just some good things to look at while you're in there.

 

And pick up a kit to soak the carb in. Usually a gallon can, even a basket for small parts. There are a couple brands. Directions said to soak 3 hrs. but leave it in there at least overnite.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I will be taking a look at those things probably next weekend sometime AB. My buddy has a good chem dip for the carb to sit in overnight/for the day when the time comes.

 

Be sure to take the carb and tag with you when you go to buy a rebuild kit.