Carburetor (BBD) - new or rebuild?

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Mako21

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Can someone provide wisdom on whether it’s better to buy a Carter BBD new from Summit or find a junked one from marketplace or scrapyard and rebuild it with a kit?
 
It may be cheaper to rebuild but on the last couple rebuilds I have done on 50 year plus carburetors I have encountered epoxy repairs and other issues. My gut feeling is to say to buy new. Honestly I wasn't going to respond but when I saw you had 60 views and no input I figured I would share my experience. I ended up buying new carbs in both cases simply because the castings were messed up but maybe I just have bad luck. Good luck to you.
 
I rebuilt mine. The kit was expensive, about $50. How much is a new one?
 
Pay attention to the throttle plate bores, excessive wear and it sucks vacuum
I had to have bushings installed in mine
 
I usually start out by trying carefully to disassemble the carb without damaging anything, AKA the top/ bowl gasket. Clean it up, lube the accel pump, use pressure carb cleaner through the passages, then air, and then try it and "see where you are." You might get lucky and need nothing else, or you might have a bowl gasket leak but it runs good, and you know then, that if you buy a kit, you have a great "shot" at success.

I admit, that in this day and age, and as old as these carbs are getting to be, 'specially some with oddball schemes for power valves, etc, it is more difficult to "pull this off"
 
Carter BBDs are not available new, unless you happen to luck up on one NOS.
 
Not real ones anyway
Chinese repops are though and I wouldn't give a nickel for one.
 
I think it depends on your goals and plans. If you are going for 100% perfect restoration, then rebuild. If you just want running and drivability, I would buy new.
 
Sell the old and buy new.
How much is your time worth?
If you prefer to tinker on carburetors on the kitchen table be sure to buy your wife some jewelry the weekend before so she won't have a leg to stand on, no matter how bad it smells or how much dirt and grime you get all over. LOL.

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the hong-kong phooey ones from amazon work fine.

good cores and good rebuild kits are getting tougher and tougher to find.

if you're doing a full tilt resto, I understand the need for a correct carb. but if it's just a driver? flop that hundy and be done with it.
 
If you got ones that work fine" either you got lucky or your idea of "fine" isn't what it should be.
The only reason I bought new is because I found actual NOS ones.i have a few good rebuild candidates here as well
 
If you got ones that work fine" either you got lucky or your idea of "fine" isn't what it should be.
The only reason I bought new is because I found actual NOS ones.i have a few good rebuild candidates here as well
trust me, my idea of "fine" is just that. all three I've installed have worked exactly as they should, without a problem what so ever. I've never considered myself lucky, but maybe I am.

that's great that you found an NOS one, they're getting rare. all the candidates I had each exhibited a problem, at the end I was able to make one out of all parts from the three.

anyway, at least there's an option out there.
 
I am dealing with one now a knock off that basically flooded the engine enough to cause an explosion in the exhaust and blow the muffler open. And the owner of the car is going to buy another one LOL! At this point evidence indicates he gas washed his cylinders, blew his muffler apart and had an underhood fire... and he wants to buy another one instead of rebuilding his priginal BBD. What I have found in my research suggests that if the throttle shafts aren't worn etc. you should be able to rebuild a original BBD or you can use the base off the knopck off peice and put it on your original fuel bowl and air horn assembly.
 
Yup. I have a pile of them, pretty basic carbs, really.
I think I'm gonna "borrow" the NOS one from my /6 (which is really spec'd for a 318 anyway) and stick onto my b body fury since its lean burn is going wonky and needs to go away, and my original carb that's still on the fury lacks a vacuum advance port for the distributor I'm gonna have to use to run regular Mopar electronic ignition.
I have a different (4 bbl) manifold and carb already that's destined for that fury but I wanna get it out and drive it this season yet, and besides the truck that the /6 and NOS BBD are in is in "bodywork jail" anyhow right now and since I've run that BBD, sitting with last year's gas isn't helping it, either.
 
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