Carter problem

Ok, My brother just switched to a '66 carter 4-barrel on his '66 Catalina 389 and it has a flat spot under light acceleration. Someone had said it might be the accelerator pump but I don't think so because you can hold it at the point where it stutters and it will keep stuttering. I tried putting new jets (edelbrock #1426 .095 orifice) in it and forgot to put the rods in and it ran good but when I put the rods (edelbrock #1455 7042) in it was back to stuttering. The step-up springs are edelbrock silver 8-in. Hg.

oh, and the idle mixture crews don't react

Yeah, I had already been there. But the kit that I had bought only had 3 rods 3 jets and 4 step-up springs so I'm trying to get an idea of what range of rods & jets I need to get

I have had great sucess w/Carter(Edelbeock) carbs. I have bought around 25 from Summit. I buy the one w/a electric choke.
Good luck....

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Originally posted by '60buickrod
I tried putting new jets (edelbrock #1426 .095 orifice) in it and forgot to put the rods in and it ran good but when I put the rods (edelbrock #1455 7042) in it was back to stuttering.

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You had it running good, why not go back to that setup?

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Originally posted by pro60chevy
You had it running good, why not go back to that setup?

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Because I had forgot to put the rods in it, so it wasn't really tuned right. Then I tried to take the rods out again a few hours later and it ran really bad.

micharl h. that carter shouldnt have run good with the metering rods left out unless maybe something like the choke was on and that could override the rods. who knows. maby some vac trouble?

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Originally posted by lt1s10
micharl h. that carter shouldnt have run good with the metering rods left out unless maybe something like the choke was on and that could override the rods. who knows. maby some vac trouble?

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The choke was open and the vacuum is good. When I tried running it the second time it ran really rough but not at first so I think what happend was that we just started it and immediatly started testing it so it didn't have time to start missing.

It's been a few years since I last worked on a Carter, but if I'm not misstaken the metering rods primary purpose is to restrict fuel through the primary jets at idle. To me that would indicate that your primary jets are too small or the metering rods are too big. If the motor has a healthy cam it will add to your problems.

It's got a stock cam

Has the carb been rebuilt lately and what size of carb?

Tech, as usual is right on the money. The manual explains it all.

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Has the carb been rebuilt lately and what size of carb?

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It was rebuilt about 4 months ago and was being painted for 3 so it didn't run much. It is a 625cfm

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Gerig, if you'll do what I suggested you do in the first place, your problem will be solved. Go to the owner's manual and read "Calibrating the power mode staging". It describes exactly the problem you're having and the fix for it.

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I have already read the manual and that is not what I'm looking for, I have already changed the springs and that didn't help, it just says that it could be a metering problem but I already know that. I'm pretty sure I need to lean it out because the idle mixture screws don't work but I don't know how many stages back I need to go and I want to get an idea before I go out and buy more jets and rods that won't work

:3dSMILE: If I am tryin to find out about what size jets/rods i need first to save money I don't think i'll be able to buy another carb. :CRY::LOL:

If I could I would but he just got it painted (which reminds me. I'll post pics. in another post) and we haven't gathered anything to sell as I'm 16 and haven't had time to really get a collection of parts and we have moved twice in the last 10 months so I have already had to get rid of stuff that I had gotten.

Keep pluggin away at it Gerig. You will eventually figure it out and when you do you will be a better mechanic. This is how you learn things. I know it is sometimes frustrating but replacing it is the expensive and easy way out. I can't tell you how many times a customer brings in his car with a trunk full of replaced parts only to find that he still has a problem and can't figure out why he is broke! Its amazing they have a short in the wiring and by the time he gets the car to my shop it has a new alternator, new battery, New cables, new starter etc. And theres nothing wrong with the old parts! Hell we put our shop car together from mostly customer discarded parts! Its hillarious! I would suggest taking the carb completely apart and soak everything in carboline for a few hours and and put it back together with a new kit and all metering rods and jets that were original to that carb. 9 out of 10 times a piece of dukey is blocking an orifice and reaking havoc on your engine and mind. This is probably why everything that you have tried that should have worked didn't.....Goodluck.

I have just went through many troubles with my edelbrock and im gonna give my 2 cents, if you have the manual,( which after reading 40 times still never helped me) then go to the part about setting floats, it very well could be a metering problem but set your floats, it describes how to do that, make sure you set the floats BOTH WAYS, not just upside down, with the top sitting the right way there should be appox. 15/16s to 1 inch between the top(with gasket on it) and the top of the end of the float, make sure you bend the tabs at the right spots also. I could be wrong but it couldnt hurt to take the screws out and check this. GOOD LUCK, keep us updated. Also check your plugs, and be sure to check your fuel pressure and fuel filter, tons of "carb probs" are actually other stuff. good luck again.

71 Nova makes an excellent point. Many times people replace their carb only to find that the problem lies somewhere else.....

Just a idea you said you have no change when you try to set your air mixture. Try spraying some carb clean around the base
of the carb to makesure you don't have a small vac leak. I had a
simular prob with a q-jet once. It turnerd out to be a air gape
about as thick as a peace of paper under my mixture skrews.

I'll try that, I didn't even think of a vac. leak. Tommorow I'm going to check out all of the other systems to make sure they are all working right. I took one of the plugs out and it is really sooty so even if the stuttering is from another system I'm still gonna hafta tune it right.

Sounds like maybe you're not really on the idle circuit at idle. I'ld pull the carb and look carefully at the butterflies. The primary should be just about ready to expose the tiny transfer slot in the bore. Also make sure the secondaries are shut. I don't know about yours, but there's usually a stop screw in the baseplate that can hold the secondaries open. This is usually adjusted for big cams so you don't have to open the primary so far as to get into the transfer circuit. The transfer circuit handles the transition from idle to the main circuit, and if your on it the idle mixture adjust screws won't have much effect. Hope this makes sense.