A lot of faith being placed on the testing of ONE carb...


Leaves room for a WHOLE LOT of questions...

As someone who has tuned both Holley and Carter carburetors I prefer the precise nature of the AFB design for all around operation.

However if one is not familiar with the range of options in adjusting one you will get in trouble very quickly.

Just like fuel injection. If you know its ins and outs you can make wonderful things happen. Go at it like a caveman with a club and you would conclude its all junk.

The aluminum AFB body will cause fuel to evaporate at a higher rate and this is compounded by the garbage formulations they use today.

I'd rather deal with that than the Holley proclivity for excessively rich fuel mixtures to cover transitions and gasketing issues I have experienced..

My testing/opinion hasn't been with one carb, it started when they first came out 25-30 years ago. I decided I would try one on a build after 4 or 5 different new carbs, I put a holley on it and to my knowledge it ran fine that way for 15 or so years. I pretty much stayed away from them since then until I bought the CJ, it had one mounted on it, I decided to leave it until it gave me a reason to replace it. It's on a mild AMC 360 build with an aluminum intake and has frankly given me no reason to do anything with it, of course not used nearly the same as it would be in a performance car. I think it's a 600 CFM. When I bought this car it was on it and I was hopeful but after spending a month trying to work this out I gotta say I am over them. Trust me I don't like to waste money and there are a million (literally, I counted them) other thinkgs I had rather do on my cars than screw with this carb situation, for instance I could have built the motor and half the car the 6 pack was/is designated for. I'm gonna run the rest of the fuel out and try a few different fuel combos to see if it works. First will be the 87 octane marine gas 2 miles down the road with 104 octane booster and then a mix of the 114 leaded with the 87 1:1 and see what works and is most cost effective. The 114 and 112 is 25 miles from the house and the 112 is $8.75 and the 114 is $5.75 for some reason, either way between expense and distance running either straight is really not practical. You gotta remember, I drive my cars, not drive them on good day or drive them to church on Sunday, I work out everyday and decide which one I'm gonna drive. I might run down to my brother's shop for soemthing or to work a little, I might meet my wife for lunch, I might go to the parts house, Walmart or my kids ball games, these are my daily drivers. $8 a gallon gas so that I can say an Edelbrock is fine don't work for me! AND I'm not gonna have a car I cant drive.

I;ve had people tell me it was the Edelbrocks the new ones are fine, I have had others tell me the old ones were great and the new one stink, fact is I've never had to defend a Holley or even a T-quad or J-jet for that matter, they just seem to work. Although I have learned that if the later 2 have an issue pretty much get rid of it and get another one, a Holley I can generally work out.

My question was "Are Edelbrock carbs known to boil fuel in the bowl?" and the answer is yes, never mind the reason they are more prone to it. Whether they are pure junk or not wasn't really the question and I will leave that to everyone's person opinion.

Have a great day!

Let me share today's events. Syphoned the fuel to get as much out as possible then parked it nose down idling til it completely run out, went and got 10 gallons 87 marine gas and 104 octane booster. Restarted it and went for a drive, it seemed to run OK but didn't really like to idle all the time and I started to begin my test. First step, hole shot and run it through the gears on the floor, it ran as well as it probably ever has, however when I gradually let off to begin to bring it down it floored the car and stalled. No restart even on the floor, I pulled the air cleaner and you could see the raw gas just puddled up in the top ledges of the carb and even in the lip of the air cleaner base. After about 10-15 of sitting in the middle of the road (one of the great things about living out in the country, back road that no one travel are available) I got it started by foot on the floor and spinning it til it caught up like flooded. I went straight home and pulled into the shop for cool down, the filter was full of fuel but you could here the boiling same as when it was stalled. The test was suppose to be stand on it to make sure it was working correctly, let it hot soak and redo the test, on the restart is where I have experienced the worst lack of fuel and vapor locking. I didn't even get that far.

After it cooled, I figured out how to mount the 850, used a few aluminum plates and gaskets I had to get the linkage clear and contoured (read bent) the dual line to get it about an inch above the choke stove pocket and runner. Fired it up adjusted it out and went for a drive, very nice drivibilty and good power, no signs of vapor locking or boiling. When I came back I removed the air cleaner and watched for probably 30 minutes for boiling or any leakage into the carb, there was none. Granted it was later in the day so maybe not as hot as it will get but the Edelbrock hasn't past that test in forever. The real test will be when I return to ethanol fuel in the Florida heat.

Just thought I would update the thread.

Last update unless soemthing changes, I drove it quite a bit today and even put ethanol back in it, about 10 gallons on top of what was probably 5 gallons on the marine gas with octane boost. It was hot out and I experienced not issues of boiling, vapor lock or hard start after hot soaks. Whether an Edelbrock is a great carb or not the Holley cured my issue.

Thanks for all the input along the way.

Have a great evening.

I live in Florida and have an original equipped 69-383 car. Edelbrock carb boiled the fuel out and made it impossible to restart. Ditto with a restored factory Carter. Added the electric fuel pump and it helped some. Blocked off the crossover on the cast iron intake and that helped a little more. Experimented with different carb gaskets and factory style isolators with mixed results. Tried a wood spacer and the problem stopped. Reinstalled the factory Carter, still good. Disconnected the electric fuel pump, still good. Harbor Freights Temp gun showed some scary numbers while I was experimenting. I couldn't believe the differences each change made with the gun. I run real non-ethanol fuel only. There must be some other changes in current fuel other than just the ethanol. Somewhere in all of the testing, I removed the intake and resealed it. My O2 readings changed, so I suspect I also had an intake vacuum leak, causing a lean at idle problem and making the engine temp higher. I went through 4 carbs before I found the issues. Get a Temp Gun and an O2 Reader, the modern fuel makes the older vehicles finicky and these tools helped me when I finally accepted that technology was better than my past experience.

How big/thick of a wood spacer did you use. Currently my problem is solved, I switch to a Holley.

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/install-items/

Scroll down to Carb Spacers - Wood Fiber Laminate and click on part #s



They also make the Simple Heat Insulator Gaskets #9265 #9266
I use Them on the Factory Carter AVS Carbs

http://www.summitracing.com/search/brand/edelbrock/part-type/carburetor-base-plate-gaskets