1981 Plymouth Volare Carb Swap for AMC

["Brien Tourville" <hh7x@xxxx>]

----Original Message Follows----

Hi Jerry - the Ford Carb Base swap is the long 
way around . ....... here is a post from Brian Nelson
I've stashed as a rainey day solver :




On the advice of my mechanic (who has a Jeep with the I6) I found a
Holley 2bbl carb on an 82 Plymouth Volare 318 V8. the carb body is 
very
similar to the infamous Carter BBD and has the same mounting plate 
and
bolt pattern. 

This is a basic carb uncluttered with all of the many
metres of vacuum and anti-pollution hoses and cannisters etc. In 
fact
Karl (my Swedish born, Volvo-trained mechanic) says that this carb 
was a
Chrysler dealer replacement for the really bad BBD's - that is how he
came to know of it !




The replacement is almost a straight up re&re -

I had to cut a rod on
the throttle linkage and solder it back up with a little re-joiner
sleeve so that I could twist one of the "snap-in" ball connectors 180
deg., as the linkage was on the opposite side of the carb in the
Plymouth. 



I also added a mounting stem for a better placement of the
throttle return spring.



Otherwise most of the work was to strip all of
the hoses and cannisters from the Spirit (filled a 5 gal. pail) and
install rubber caps on the unused vacuum tits and check all of them 
out
for good tight fits. 




The entire Carter carb is replaced with an entire
Holley carb - no take-apart and splicing required on the one I found.



I live in an area where I do NOT have "air care" inspections, so I 
was
not concerned about maintaining the anti-pollution system ! I just
wanted the little Spirit to run free ! I couldn't believe how well 
it
ran on first startup ! 




At the first stop sign, I hit the starter only
to have the little girl snarl back at me - I thought the engine had
stalled - but it was running like it was fuel injected (Karl told me
that it would run very much like a modern fuel injected engine).



The Plymouth had an automatic choke device on it that used heat from 
the
intake manifold of the V8 to operate a "spool-winder" type of cable 
to
manange the choke - the Spirit does not have this so I am going to
install a manual cable type when I get around to it - even here out 
on
the Canadian prairie I don't need the choke to start - but the fast 
idle
would be nice.




I have since rebuilt the card (throttle shaft seized up really 
tightly
after
a 6 month layup) and at this last Xmas I installed a new cap, rotor 
and
rebuilt distributor, as it was developing a miss at idle. Then I 
added
"Lucas" Oil Stabilizer (couldn't find my fave "XM-5" here) last 
weekend
and filled up with some better gas - this old gal just whirrs !! 

I don't have stats on mileage but on my trip back at Xmas she just 
sipped
- my expectation is high 20's (US gals.) - and I crossed the Rockies 
in
3rd gear and less - took me 8 hours to make about 300 miles! (was 
right
in the middle of a storm that was moving as fast as I could see to 
go)

Power gain is harder to determine, but the I6 will run comfortably 
at
100 kph in 3rd gear, and still has passing range at that speed. I 
have
a slight shimmy at 120 kph so I don't go over that generally.

Good simple carb, good ignition, good oil, and good gas - this 
little
number will run with the wind effortlessly!

I am actually getting to like this little gal - maybe I will install 
the
tri-Y header I have in the tool shed this spring and see how she 
likes
that !!

Brian Nelson
'82 Spirit GT T5, 15" '81 Dodge (5on5 spoker) alloys w/215 60's,
Clifford valve cover, Holley 2bbl, Aurora plug wires, MSD Blaster, 
K&N
beasty girl




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Speaking of carbs, does anyone remember the discussion about fitting 
an
'80's Ford Annular Ring 2-bbl carb to the AMC engine, and what model 
of carb
it was? I can't find it in my obese AOL Filing cabinet of files, 
maybe I
saved it somewhere else. But, I would like to know which year bolts 
directly
to the AMC manifold, as I'd like to try one out. I'm getting tired of 
crappy
Carter and Holley carbs! Sheesh. Any help appreciated. Thanks,

Jerry in (snowy) Virginia