[carbking]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Getting a 'true' 'AFB' carb that is rebuildable is an issue tho.

If you're going 4bbl, the support, ease of tuning, and available parts of a Holley is still a better choice than going QJ, AFB, and an OE intake.


.

Everyone to their own, but have found very few AFB's that were not rebuildable. Sometimes, finding a rare specific number (i.e. 3443s) or a specific date code may be challenging, but once found, they are virtually all rebuildable.

I won't argue the availability of parts to most; but it has NEVER been a problem on Carter carbs for me.

Personally, I find the AFB's and the Q-Jets, with their metering rod technology, MUCH easier to tune than the Holleys.

By far, the biggest challenge with the AFB's has been checking each one when it came in to make certain some previous Dr. Goodpliers (the evil twin of Mr. Goodwrench) had not "married" multiple carburetors into one.

(Opinion) the AFB is absolutely the easiest 4 barrel (other than the Stromberg 4A) to rebuild that has ever been produced.

Jon.

[HWYSTR455]

Ok, I was too generic on the comments, admit that. The issues I had with real AFBs was the bodies became porous. I would pop the hood and the entire body would be beaded up with fuel. Granted, those were like 63-65 AFBs, but still.

Yes, I had an issue with cobbled together ones too, and that's how I ended up with a box of parts. I think at one point I even sent you a bunch of stuff (bodies, top plates, etc) Jon, like in the 90s, but don't specifically recall.

I did find them pretty easy to tune, though changing a jet would still require removal of the top plate. Not that big of a deal, but would have been nice if it could be accessed without doing so. Direct Connection sold the Strip Kits for like $30 almost forever.

My biggest issue/complaint with them was float adjustment, seems they worked well for straight-line apps, but you pitch a car into a hard turn they would spew out the vents. Some reason I could never find a good balance of float level and bowl reserve.

I recall there was a chart that showed all the jet/rod compatibility, which made it easier to avoid a rod/jet mismatch.

I ended up with some Black Stallions, which were coated bodies, and ran those through the 80s and into the 90s, which solved the porosity issue I experienced.

Holley support is much more wide-stream, which is where the comment came from, and most can get those running well, and with a little advise/testing, even better.

You go to a local cruise and ask if someone can help you with your AFB, you will get much less willing to help than if you had a Holley, same with a QJet.

I'm not a fan of the Edelbrock 'versions' of the carb, I haven't tried the new ones, but the original ones were not very friendly and IMO had issues.

.

[carbking]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

My biggest issue/complaint with them was float adjustment, seems they worked well for straight-line apps, but you pitch a car into a hard turn they would spew out the vents. Some reason I could never find a good balance of float level and bowl reserve.

.

We modified a number of AFB's for road racing (SCCA, etc.). The solution was two-fold. First, I fabricated a baffle for the primary jets similar to that on the secondary jets. This kept the primary jets covering with fuel during hard cornering.

As far as the spewing out the vents, I fabricated an overhead vent similar to that which Carter had designed for the WCFB's (think Chevy dual quad carbs) that was a tube connecting both sides, with 3 small vent holes in the top of the tubes.

These mods allowed using stock float settings.

For racing purposes, we would use the smaller floats, which allowed a larger bowl volume.

And yes, the Holleys are much easier to make go fast around corners, but the AFB's with the above mods, will as well.

Jon.

[Sirrotica]

Beside what Jon has said already, the better metering of the AFBs and Q Jets most times translate to much better metering at part throttle on a street engine Translating to better fuel mileage and the engine not running pig rich at part throttle. Many closed circuit races have been won with better fuel mileage over someone that didn't consider how important it is in the overall scheme of racing.

All my oval track cars used modified Q Jets on them so if you can't starve an oval track race car with a Q Jet, it'll work just fine on a street car.

Many NASCAR cars that came equipped with AFBs ran them on the high banks of Daytona without problems as far as fuel starvation. If it came with an AFB that's what you raced it with back in the day, when stock cars were actually stock cars. No holleys allowed unless it came with one from the factory.

[Big Bear]

Looking at OP pictures the valve covers don't look to be 389 and the later carbs have the choke on the base plate like the one in the picture. The 66 carb would be on the horn.

[Tomaso]

Would a 68 Ram air 4bbl intake work? I found one for 100 bucks. But not sure if it would work?

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Tomaso

Would a 68 Ram air 4bbl intake work? I found one for 100 bucks. But not sure if it would work?

Mike,

Yes it will fit.

Just don't pay extra for the Ram Air name. If it's not bolted on a RA engine, it's just another 68~69 cast iron intake. Nothing on those intakes to identify them as RA. A late 68 date code would make it a 69 intake that came on all V8 4bbl engines except RA-IV that had aluminum intakes.

Make sense?
Clay

[Tomaso]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Mike,

Yes it will fit.

Just don't pay extra for the Ram Air name. If it's not bolted on a RA engine, it's just another 68~69 cast iron intake. Nothing on those intakes to identify them as RA. A late 68 date code would make it a 69 intake that came on all V8 4bbl engines except RA-IV that had aluminum intakes.

Make sense?
Clay

Yes! Makes sense! Thank you.
By any chance do you know if there’s any specific carb I would need for it? Or can I choose Holley or afb?

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Tomaso

Yes! Makes sense! Thank you.
By any chance do you know if there’s any specific carb I would need for it? Or can I choose Holley or afb?

Quadrajet only... The adapters to put a square bore carburetor on a factory spreadbore intake don't work good at all. Primary throttle bores don't line up worth a hoot. Half the fuel/air flow hits a wall and creates puddling.

Should have a pic here that shows the problem.

Found it, Black is square bore throttle opening and silver is the primaries on a spreadbore.



Clay

[Tomaso]

So in your opinion. Would this be a good upgrade if I can find a quadra jet?
I'm waiting for seller to respond back as I think it's a fair price. I cant find a lot in my area as it is.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Tough call on that without knowing why it doesn't want to get-up-and-go now.

A good quadrajet would be an upgrade over the 2bbl if everything else is up to it. Everything being; over all engine condition, fuel supply, ignition system, etc..

Myself, I'ld be tinkering with what you've got
At least for now
Clay

[Tomaso]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Tough call on that without knowing why it doesn't want to get-up-and-go now.

A good quadrajet would be an upgrade over the 2bbl if everything else is up to it. Everything being; over all engine condition, fuel supply, ignition system, etc..

Myself, I'ld be tinkering with what you've got
At least for now
Clay

That sounds good. I was looking for quadrajets and they’re not cheap.
I’m better off rebuilding the 2bbl for now and saving for an rpm performer intake later on...

[Dragncar]

We had a AFB on our 66 Catalina station wagon, it got 19mpg, pretty good for a car that heavy. I still have the intake and carb. Have 2 AFB intakes, one is almost flat and the other has a little rise to it.

[Skip Fix]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Quadrajet only... The adapters to put a square bore carburetor on a factory spreadbore intake don't work good at all. Primary throttle bores don't line up worth a hoot. Half the fuel/air flow hits a wall and creates puddling.

Should have a pic here that shows the problem.

Found it, Black is square bore throttle opening and silver is the primaries on a spreadbore.



Clay

Funny using an open adapter swapping a Demon 850 DP on my 455 at the track same day on an HO intake on a healthy 455 and a Brad urban Qjet picked up 0.2 seconds-so must not have hurt it too bad.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by Tomaso

That sounds good. I was looking for quadrajets and they’re not cheap.
I’m better off rebuilding the 2bbl for now and saving for an rpm performer intake later on...

You may really like the 2 Bbl, after it is rebuilt! Of course there are other tuning parameters that need to be addressed, before all can be called “good”!

[Tomaso]

I didn’t rebuild the carb yet. Bet we sprayed some carb cleaner and now she’s running good? We will still rebuild carb since I bought the kit. But we wanted to try the carb cleaner.
So far, she’s not dying out and actually going into gear and moving now.