Does anyone make Custom Carter/ Edelbrock metering rods?

[slant six]

Mine has no rods. Jets and air-bleeds.
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I am not trying to be a wiseguy here, Probably just ignorant.

• I do not know anything about Air bleeds, as I thought those were for Holley type carbs.
• I also do not know what tuning is accomplished with air bleeds.
• Is your TQ some sort of special model for Racing only?

I see the what I call" Metering rod bridge" on the carb in the picture, just ahead of the Secondary air Valve.. are there not any rods hanging off of it like in a factory Style TQ?

 

[slant six]

What make and model lathe do you have and why do you think it isn't precise enough?

You aren't going to be successful lathe cutting small diameter shafts like that without additional support that specialized machines have. But, you could probably do it using a tool post grinder instead of a turning bit. Doesn't have to be a real TP grinder for something like this, any decent die grinder that can be mounted to the tool post and present a stone to the rod will work. Having a revolving collet/chuck in the tailstock would be helpful. A homemade follower rest helps too. Take light cuts and let it spark out and you'll get past any flex in the part.
I plan on making a setup like this to do some rods for a Thermoquad Competition carb, maybe this winter.

It's a 1930's Craftsman, Not sure of the model, it's small, and It seems to be pretty worn out to me in the acme threads etc of the feeds. I also have trouble getting it to run true; lots of runout, and I do not know how to fix the lathe without help.

I am no machinist for sure. I understand what I want to make in my head, but I lack the equipment right now to do it properly. I need to Find a good southbend or the like on the FBM or CL.
If I need something dead nuts on correct I take it to the machine shop.

For a few of the terms you used above, I have no Idea what they are without further research.

• tool post grinder ??? (do not have one of those)
• revolving collet/chuck in the tailstock would be helpful ??? (do not have that either)
• follower rest ??? ( do not have one of those)

I have a Live Center and some chucks for the tail stock but that is about it.

 

[MMissile]

My TQ carb is more like a Holley in function, now. It is a race carb, with 1 to1 ratio linkage as well. It really chews up fuel!

 

[gzig5]

It's a 1930's Craftsman, Not sure of the model, it's small, and It seems to be pretty worn out to me in the acme threads etc of the feeds. I also have trouble getting it to run true; lots of runout, and I do not know how to fix the lathe without help.

I am no machinist for sure. I understand what I want to make in my head, but I lack the equipment right now to do it properly. I need to Find a good southbend or the like on the FBM or CL.
If I need something dead nuts on correct I take it to the machine shop.

For a few of the terms you used above, I have no Idea what they are without further research.

• tool post grinder ??? (do not have one of those)
• revolving collet/chuck in the tailstock would be helpful ??? (do not have that either)
• follower rest ??? ( do not have one of those)

I have a Live Center and some chucks for the tail stock but that is about it.

I've had a couple of the old Craftsman lathes. In decent shape they can make anything you can imagine.
If you are curious, google the terms you're not familiar with and you should be able to come up with pictures or descriptions of what they are and what they can do. Most of these kind of attachments can be shop built or other tools adapted to perform the task well enough.

 

[Bewy]

Missile,
700 hp from a TQ. Naaaaaaaaaaaah, you gotta have a 2000 cfm Holley for that.....

 

[Bewy]

slant six,
The Edel AVS carbs use 2 step rods.

 

[Bewy]

gzig
Post #23. If you are worried about push in jets 'falling out', there is an easy fix that I used years ago. Get some AFB piston springs.
For the pri jets: open the top two coils so that the spring fits over the jet.
For the sec jets: Slide the springs over the jet.

Jets are now held in place, will not fall out.

 

[gzig5]

gzig
Post #23. If you are worried about push in jets 'falling out', there is an easy fix that I used years ago. Get some AFB piston springs.
For the pri jets: open the top two coils so that the spring fits over the jet.
For the sec jets: Slide the springs over the jet.

Jets are now held in place, will not fall out.

Not worried about them falling out, though I guess that is a possibility. I'll look at the spring or can easily turn a spacer.
My experience is that the press-in ones are a ***** to get out. They evidently had the same problem back in the day and changed to a threaded design. Maybe the tolerances or o-ring material weren't optimal, I don't know but what I have in mind should allow it to be more convenient to change the jets during the tuning stage. Plus, I like playing with stuff and it will give me something to do over the winter. Need to get a bunch of other stuff done on the car before that happens though.

 

[MMissile]

Missile,
700 hp from a TQ. Naaaaaaaaaaaah, you gotta have a 2000 cfm Holley for that.....

 

[66fs]

AVS have rods with 3 steps, AFB have 2 step. They can be interchanged as long the piston covers are changed [ AFB has flat cover, AVS has as raised section ]. Pistons are the same.

Original Mopar Carter AFBs almost all have 3 step rods like Original Mopar Carter AVS carbs.

 

[1MeanA]

Do you have a chart showing the cross sectional areas of the jet/rod combos? Sometimes people will make these and it helps reduce trial and error testing. My new AVS comes with a nice chart showing what combos to use to lean/enrichen. Like this:

https://www.documents.rasoenterprises.com/carburetion/CarterAFB-MRJ.pdf

https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/edl-1905.pdf

 

[Newbomb Turk]

LOTS of butter, try a little vinegar too.

Yeah, thats a hard pass for me. I don’t even like butter on my popcorn.

 

[Bewy]

gzig.
I have two of my own press-in jet TQs & have worked on two others. Never had a problem removing jets. Spray some WD40 on first. Then, with bull nose pliers rotate the jet. It comes out easy. If the o rings are old [ gone hard ], might pay to buy new ones....

 

[slant six]

I may have found a solution.
It seems that for my combo the metering rod step of 0.008" is too close.. as described in post #1.
Remember this is on a moderately modified and cammed slant 6 with good but not a huge flowing head or giant (for a slant 6) valves.

I was able to try rods with a 0.012" step and I got too lean cruise and too rich power step.

There are 0.010" and 0.011" rods in my menagrie of edelbrock / carter stuff, So i have the steps I need on the rods. The problem was the primary/ secondary sizes did not match up well with the offering of standard size jets from edelbrock at ø0.003" increments.

I found a place on ebay that makes any size jet from ø0.070" to ø0.120" in increments of 0.001" so I ordered a bunch of 'em to see if I can come at it with jets instead of rods. Will update when the tuning saga continues.

Thank you for all of the discussion and Ideas.