[AMC-List] Carter BBD alternatives

[jackbarncord@xxxxxxx]

Hey All,

Here's an update on my search for an alternative to the Carter BBD on the 83 Spirit (and others of course).

I purchased a used Holley 2280 that was claimed to be from a 1975 Dodge 318.  The carburetor arrived Friday via UPS and looks to be as advertised, used, but nice.  I planned to overhaul the thing no matter what it looked like.  The fact that is was dirty was a relief, just maybe it was unmolested internally.  The throttle shaft was tight in the bore, no slop and everything moved with little effort.

I had bought a kit when the carburetor was shipped on the previous Monday, but I needed to make a trip to Walmart and purchased a few chemicals for a soak.  I came home with two bottles of Gumout carburetor & fuel injection cleaner and two cans of carburetor & automatic choke cleaner.

To the Gumout I added one gallon of gas in a plastic pail and to this mix the carburetor completely disassembled.  An hour later I stirred the pot and scrubbed every surface with a paint brush, then a tooth brush and returned the pieces to the pot.  At the end of the third hour I repeated the process with the addition of spraying each passage with the carburetor & automatic choke cleaner.  

The carburetor base was disassembled removing the throttle plates and shaft.  Taking a die grinder I removed the piened area of the shaft to disassemble the outer most bell crank and install the same part off the Carter securing it with silver solder.  Now the standard linkage will work without further modification.

All the parts were removed from the pot sprayed off one last time with the aerosol cleaner and then blown dry with compressed air.  If looks are any indicator this carburetor is clean!

After the bath I found that the choke parts of the carburetor have been "messed" with.  The link between the choke plate shaft and the high idle cam was replaced with a chunk of wire, I'll have to make something for that and the high idle cam itself has been (ground on???) holy crap.  Well, it moves the throttle so we'll have to see if it works or if it is too far gone.  Worst case I bring it to work and have the boys in the tool room lay a bead of weld on the edge with the TiG.  

The choke on a 318 has the thermal spring mounted on the intake manifold where the exhaust cross over is located and the Spirit has an electric choke.  I made a template for a bracket that will mount on the center section of the carburetor right off two bosses big enough for ¼ -28 internal threads and extend down to the mounting area of the choke assembly from the Carter.  I don't see it needing to be more than 10 ga material, but I found a piece of .191 that will work.  There is a bit of carving to do and holes to drill & tap.

The re-assembly of carburetor went well, but I'm wishing I had found a Carter two barrel off an early 225 slant, things would have been a bit less trouble and the way things adjust on that carburetor is a little smarter, IMHO.

That's it for now, carburetor is back together and waiting for the high idle link, choke mount and it will be ready to bolt on.

Jack

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