Carter Carb Swap

Out with the old:



In with the new!







The Holley model #1940 was mysteriously placed on my van's engine before I purchased it.  The van started running crummy a while back and I figured it just needed a tune up.  Instead of messing with the points and condenser I decided to do an HEI upgrade.  That helped a lot.  So did finding out my gas cap was not vented!  :-O  Still, when I would let out the clutch in first or second gear it would sputter and want to die unless I gave it a lot of pedal.  I figured it was likely a problem with the old carb. So rather than mess with the wrong carb for the engine, I decided to put in an NOS Carter I picked up off eBay shortly after purchasing the van.  The sellers put in a kit to replace all the old seals and make it ethanol mix ready.

I figured for sure there would be some gotcha on the swap but it went real smooth.  I put everything back together and with no primer at all, the motor turned over about a half dozen times putting fuel in the line and it fired right up!  It immediately just purred and runs smoother than ever before.  Stoked!!

It needs a little fine tuning like setting the idle (it's too fast), replacing one of the barely usable manifold bolts, and bending some hard lines for fuel and vacuum to make it look nicer.  And I am missing the parts that bolt on to the carb and the hold the choke cable.  But so far, no need for choke...

I do have one question.  In the pic below there is a hole next to the mounting holes, but I don't know what it's for.  There is no matching hole in the manifold, maybe I am missing a riser/spacer that has a port?  

The 4 slots in the base gasket let vacuum sneak into that hole,,,,,its the vacuum source to the accelerator pump on a YF,,,,,,,,

Aha.... I have the wrong gasket, it just had the two mounting holes.

But I could cut those slots... or buy a new one now that I know what it looks like.

Dang, not finding a part source for that gasket. I did find that it's either a Carter 1A-31 or 1A-41, found this link and hi resolution picture via Stovebolt:

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Carter_Chevrolet_YF_flange.jpg


Don, if you are using a Carter YF do you have a picture of the choke cable attachment assembly? Probably a salvage yard part....

Home Depot L bracket - Genius!

I put up a better choice

Looks good, I'll have to round the edges, stamp in a bowtie, and have it chromed.

Wonder what the odds are of finding the real part... I want to win a trophy some day.....

Rather than try to bend a Home Depot corner brace I made something closer to the stock part with a piece of aluminum angle, it works well.  I salvaged the cable clamp from the old carb.  I haven't found a proper wire stop to attach to the choke lever, but bending it works good for now.

After a few test runs the gas pedal was sticky and would often leave me revving way too high, but a coupe of taps would have it back to normal idle, very annoying to drive around with.  I figured the return spring was worn out so I took the hook out of the stock hole in the frame, stretched it up to the grille opening for a test.  But that was too tight because when I pushed on the linkage the brittle old wire snapped right at the hook.  I bent a new hook where it broke and put it back in the stock hole, but now I am worried it will break while driving.  The sticky pedal is fixed though, drops right back to normal idle.  Does this amount of pre-stretch look OK, or too much?

Is there a part number for this spring or just go look for anything similar in the parts store?

Probably not a bad idea to replace the brake pedal return too if there is a part number for that.

The old carb had a safety spring like you are talking about, I actually put it on my new Carter in the first picture, I wasn't sure if it was necessary so I took it off.  I should have thought of that when my pedal started getting sticky.

So you are saying the stock mounting in your picture is not 90 degrees?  That's the part I was trying to duplicate.  The choke is functioning fine right now though so not too worried about that.

,,,,,just try and keep the choke cable as straight as possible to keep it from bending and jamming up,,,,,looks like you had to put a loop in it to get it match up,,,,,,,,,if it dont push that lever all the way back, the carb will be on fast idle,,,,,but as long as it works,,,,,,