Carb Rebuild kits

I have managed to track down a couple, most notably off of Autozone. I have read that some folks have had bad experience with some kits because of the use of ethanol in gas. Has anyone used the kits off of autozone? They sell kits from edlebrock and GP Sorenson. If not, has anyone used any kits from another company? I have a 4BBL. Thanks!!

Autozone ... don't you mean Circuszone ... lol From our experience that company is run and operated like a circus ... and 99% of their employees are clowns and should be wearing name tags that say BOZO. But each their own ... just my $.02 worth lol

Keith

Yeah, I try to stick to Napa, especially since they are right in my area. But they don't have one according to their website. I will just have to go in and see if they may be able to get it. I take it you haven't ordered one then?

Bill wrote:Yeah, I try to stick to Napa, especially since they are right in my area. But they don't have one according to their website. I will just have to go in and see if they may be able to get it. I take it you haven't ordered one then?

That would be a big NO, cause I threw my carb in the scrap pile, along with many other carbs ... lol

Keith

I forgot about you and your fancy fuel injection. I guess you wouldn't know!

Bill wrote:I forgot about you and your fancy fuel injection. I guess you wouldn't know!

Fancy? ... Nothing fancy about it ... LMAO ... Its all stock parts nothing aftermarket and it all fits correctly, functions and works properly and never needs fine tuning or adjusting! Now that is what I call a "win win" situation.



Keith

Bill--

Here's a link to an ad on EBAY -- this company is located in Justice, IL.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1961-63-CARB-KIT-BUICK-SPECIAL-215-ENG-ROCHESTER-4GC-4JET-4-BARREL-4-MODELS-/251430308747?hash=item3a8a6a0b8b&vxp=mtr

Good eye. I just sent him an email about its tolerance to ethanol- some of his other auctions claimed the kits were alcohol resistant, but not this one for some reason. I will let you know what I find out. Thanks for the help!!

Please keep us informed BUT I doubt you'll find a kit that is ethanol resistant simply since the carb is eons old and I doubt they even produce the kits anymore -- anything you're finding is likely NOS.

Josh

I talked to him and he said it is ethanol resistant. I had read that some kits are made with a rubber that holds up better to ethanol than others. Maybe it is bs, but I will give it a try. I will order it next week.

WOW! That's good to know! Ill have to keep this in mind.

I pulled the trigger today- I was out west for two weeks, or I would have done it sooner. By the way, he updated his listing to show the ethanol tolerant statement, for what its worth. Thanks!!

I run a Carter/Edelbrock in place of the old Rochester. The problem with the OEM carb on mine was that it needed a new cylinder for the power valve and probably new bushings on the butterflies. The sticky power valve is a known issue on these rochesters. There are places which will fully rebuild them and repair the power valve cylinder and butterfly bushings, but they are not cheap.

I do not know how you would make one of these carbs ethanol tolerant... Ethanol will harden any rubber bits over time which will affect the accel pump and float seats. Teflon is usually used to make things alcohol 'proof' but that will probably not work on the floats. Maybe the accel pump could be made tolerant if it is redesigned a bit. Fuel injection is ethanol tolerant assuming you use modern injectors. I am resigned to rebuilding the carb (accel pump and float needles) every 5-10 years or so to keep it running right.

The carter decided to not seal at the float valves this summer when I started it up. Flooded the engine once. The rebuild kit from Amazon fixed it. That was about 10 years since the last 'reseal'.

Keith

The power valve on my carb worked fine. Here is the info from my kit - Thanks again to Josh for pointing it out on Ebay.

This note came with it talking about the neoprene as opposed to the usual rubber to mitigate the ethanol issue-


Here is the flyer that came in the package as well as the packaging stating it is ethanol tolerant (for whatever that is worth).

Bill--

Have you actually rebuilt your carb already? Did the kit seem complete and like it was a good buy? I bought an Edelbrock for the Sky awhile back, have not installed it yet, and may consider just rebuilding the stock 4bl this winter if you think it was a good deal.

Josh

I rebuilt it the past weekend. Kit was complete, and I am happy with the results. My car used to hesitate all the time and stalled frequently in gear. It has solved all the hesitation issues and 90% of the stalling. I took the carb apart on Friday and soaked it all weekend in the solvent I bought from NAPA. I re-assembled it on Sunday and only had two snafus. The first was I forgot to put a spring back in for the pump, which I realized right away and fixed it while it was on the bench. The second was really stupid. The first picture I posted shows the new valves and needles that came with the kit. I put in the new valve, but put in the old needles because I thought the new ones were missing some hardware. The first time I started it up it ran fine until the bowls filled up - and then overfilled all over. I put it away for the night and thought about it and figured out I had reused the needles and that they weren't seating right. It was a 20 minute fix the next day.

I will tell you one thing that helped me out. I used my go pro to videotape me taking it apart. I then used it as a reference to put it back together. It only took me 2 hours total including the fix the next day to put it back together.