Icecobra
Well-Known Member
Edelbrock AVS Carburetors - Edelbrock's Thunder Series AVSSo my goal seemed simple enough to replace the Carter AVS carb with a new one. My belief simple a new carb would be less likely to have issues with the new ethanol added fuels. The back ground is easy I know the alcohol in ethanol fuel additive's play hell on rubber anything (hoses, seals o rings etc.). So my restoration is getting up in years and hoses and seals are likely to start to crack and fail on the fuel system with ethanol fuel additive. The car is running rich and likely to kill someone if they were to stand behind the car to long and have to breathe the exhaust. Now I am no professor and other than smell I had not proof of it running rich. So I am a Dakota digital dealer and have a AFR gauge sitting around so I added it with a O2 sensor to the exhaust. It just confirmed what my nose was already telling me. It was rich, Jed Clampet rich. I figure I can order a rebuild kit for the carb but I might as well swap in a new one in the mean time and store the old one for the sake of having an all original parts car. I jump on the forum and to say the least you get a lot of opinions on carburetors. Everyone seems to have a favorite and one they hate so I surf my *** off.. Long and short of it I don't like to have to change it but as long as I am I might as well get one that I like. So I surf and check and read. Surf some more and get a brilliant idea, what about EFI.. Then reality hits and it will not look at all stock so I decide on a Carb. I call Edelbrock and ask what do I need. Tech tells me just need a 1411 and a thermal spacer and your golden. I ask about linkage he tells me with a manual trans you don't need anything else. So summit gets my items shipped and I impatiently wait for the parts. This is not my first rodeo so I am not 100% confident this is just going to bolt in. But I did call the guys who built the carb and asked so I have some solace they will make it right if I have any issue. So the excitement of Christmas morning builds and waiting for the big brown truck.. So I hear the truck and hopeful excitement arrives and I can not get it out of the box fast enough. I plop it on the manifold and check fitment. Poof excitement become disappointment the throttle linkage is not going to make it. What went wrong, what have I done? Hello Edelbrock tech support. SO now I have a tech on the line and our conversation goes about like this. Mr. tech I have just received the brand new Edelbrock and to my disappointment it does not fit. I called you guys before ordering to ask what I might need to make this fit. Please tell me everything I need in advance and make sure I get everything on one order. But now I am stuck with linkage that does not fit the application. Mr tech responds.. Well let me look in to this. 20 minutes elapses.. Well I checked and I am not seeing anything you need. I will have you speak to a supervisor. 20 minutes. Hi I am the tech support supervisor how can I help you. We rehash the problem and he says you need part number 1481. I ask WTF I called you people I asked what I would need and no mention of this part previously. He says well hold on, 7 minutes, Ok he says all of us in tech support know that on a Chrysler application you need 1481 to make sure the auto trans kick down works. I said well ok, but I don't have an automatic. He said then you don't need the 1481, it only pertains to the transmission linkage. So he says hold on, 10 minutes later, Ok I have checked everything and my best answer for you is we don't have anything to make it work. He said go buy a throttle cable like a Lokar and that will let you cut it to fit. I was dumb founded, I am the first person on this planet to install a Edelbrock carb on a 440 manual trans car. So I hang up and start to look. I find an old popular hot rod story about when the new Edelbrock AVS carb first came out. They said in the story they needed the 1481 to make the linkage work. Now I am not happy and have this new carb now sitting on the living room floor. I decide since I have received 3 different answers from the tech guys its time to call corporate. Hello corporate I need to speak to R&D team to get some answers. The poor lady answering the phones was please hold, and transferred me to them. I explain my story to the guy on the phone and how I have been unable to get a straight answer. He tells me hold on, 5 minutes, he says the 1481 will allow the linkage to the carb to connect. He tells me go to Autozone, O'riellys, Pep boys etc and pick one up. I call around and this part is not to be found anywhere near me. Hello Summit racing, the guy says we have them, 9.97 will have it to you tomorrow. So now I am waiting again and hopefully this resolves at least this problem... Stay tuned for pictures and more info.... I can tell you Edelbrock had a chance to send me the part and refused, had a chance to be a hero and drop the ball . So I will post more to this tomorrow...
4/25 Nothing goes according to plan about 5 minutes in to the plan poof, it never fails.
So I was able to get things connected up and the pictures will speak for themselves, Edelbrock lacks customer service and product knowledge.
Next task will dialing in the jets and I have the jet kit from Edelbrock to make everything run smoothly. I will say the Carb is far superior to the almost 50 year old carb that was on this. But it should be. I will see how well the tuning kit works and I will up date and close out the task at hand... Sure seems like it ought a be easier than this.
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