A while back I rebuilt an Edelbrock AFB for the HEMI. The local parts store I stopped at as out of stock on rebuild kits so I figured I’d just order one on line.

I checked Amazon and at the time they didn’t have any of the kits made by Edelbrock. They did carry AFB kits however that not only included the gasket, needles and seats etc they even included a new pair of brass floats…..all for $20. I figured the kit was probably junk but what the heck I’ve wasted $20 on a lot worse.

When the kit arrived and I rebuilt the carb I wasn’t real impressed. The gaskets left a bit to be desired and overall just not a really impressive product (which I kind of expected at the price). The original floats in the carb were already brass so I reused them and just threw the new ones in my float pile.

Anyway I started the HEMI for the first time yesterday (more on that later). After I got everything hooked up on the engine stand I filled the carb with fuel to just to make sure it wasn’t going to flood over. I decided to go to lunch and when I got back started the engine to break in the cam. The old engine fired right off then ran for a few seconds and shut down. A quick check showed that fuel was getting to the carburetor but not in to it.

I just put on a spare carburetor and did the break in. I had some time to do a postmortem on the carb this afternoon and found what I expected. The rubber tips on the needles had swollen and shut off the fuel supply. I stock needle and seats so I threw a new pair in and stuck it back on the engine. Seems to be doing good now.

Long story short I got what I paid for but you never know unless you try. Anyway thought I’d post this in case anybody else is thinking about trying to save a few buck……don’t try it with these kits.



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