58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

[Stuart F.]

A recent E-Mail sale announcement I received from a Corvette Parts House listed a new AFB Carburetor rebuild kit for a sale price of $25.99. As this was $10.00 cheaper than the last kit I bought recently, I thought I'd stock in for my next tinker. I called the vendor and they had to verify the sale price as it was less than the sales person's employee discount.

Everything checked out and I received the kit the other day. I was pleasantly surprised to find it of high quality and complete with parts to cover both AFB and AVS models. My only concern was with the fuel inlet valves (needle/seats) which were included. They are of the type that used to be marketed under the "Tomco Duro-7" name, i.e. uses a Viton disc valve instead of a needle and seat. I recall trying one of these in a Quadrajet back in the mid 70's and still have the literature for it, but I can't remember whether it worked well or not.

Has anyone else had experience with these type valves and what is your opinion about them? Are the float settings the same?

They are supposed to improve hot gasoline vapor handling, be self cleaning, etc., etc.. What I do like right away is the hex shape of them which allows installation with a thin wall socket, rather than the usual wide blade screwdriver hassle.

Stu Fox

[Clem Z.]

Re: 58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

A recent E-Mail sale announcement I received from a Corvette Parts House listed a new AFB Carburetor rebuild kit for a sale price of $25.99. As this was $10.00 cheaper than the last kit I bought recently, I thought I'd stock in for my next tinker. I called the vendor and they had to verify the sale price as it was less than the sales person's employee discount.

Everything checked out and I received the kit the other day. I was pleasantly surprised to find it of high quality and complete with parts to cover both AFB and AVS models. My only concern was with the fuel inlet valves (needle/seats) which were included. They are of the type that used to be marketed under the "Tomco Duro-7" name, i.e. uses a Viton disc valve instead of a needle and seat. I recall trying one of these in a Quadrajet back in the mid 70's and still have the literature for it, but I can't remember whether it worked well or not.

Has anyone else had experience with these type valves and what is your opinion about them? Are the float settings the same?

They are supposed to improve hot gasoline vapor handling, be self cleaning, etc., etc.. What I do like right away is the hex shape of them which allows installation with a thin wall socket, rather than the usual wide blade screwdriver hassle.

Stu Fox

i have used "tomco" N/S in AFBs with no problems. the float settings are listed on the sheet that comes with the kit. the big problem i have seen with AFB kits is the N/S to top gaskets have too large a inside diameter and do not seal well. always test that seal with air pressure and soap solution before assembling the carb.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

Clem;

I know of what you speak. With my last kit, I had to reuse some of the old gaskets because the new didn't fit right. That one was marketed under the "Holley" name so I thought it would be better. That's why I was pleasantly surprised with this latest one, specially from a vendor that is known to have almost all foreign suppliers. I was disappointed with the AFB instructions, however, they seemed to be the same old generic sheet with specs written so small you need a magnifying glass to read them. There was no special instruction on the Tomco Valves for float settings. The AVS instruction sheet in the kit was much better, but that doesn't help me. I still have some old instructions from back in the day which I can use to supplement.

Thanks for your response.

Stu Fox

[Clem Z.]

Re: 58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

Clem;

I know of what you speak. With my last kit, I had to reuse some of the old gaskets because the new didn't fit right. That one was marketed under the "Holley" name so I thought it would be better. That's why I was pleasantly surprised with this latest one, specially from a vendor that is known to have almost all foreign suppliers. I was disappointed with the AFB instructions, however, they seemed to be the same old generic sheet with specs written so small you need a magnifying glass to read them. There was no special instruction on the Tomco Valves for float settings. The AVS instruction sheet in the kit was much better, but that doesn't help me. I still have some old instructions from back in the day which I can use to supplement.

Thanks for your response.

Stu Fox

i have only used those tomco N/S on F-M 'competition series" AFBs and they included specs for the float setting. they did include the "hard to read" spec sheet with these kits also but i never compared it to the stock specs. production AFB carbs i still use auto parts kits and they come with the stock type N/S. sometime i also reuse the original stock gaskets on the N/S

[Stuart F.]

Re: 58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

Thanks clem. Have a great weekend.

Stu

[Christopher R.]

Re: 58-64 AFB Rebuild Kits

A recent E-Mail sale announcement I received from a Corvette Parts House listed a new AFB Carburetor rebuild kit for a sale price of $25.99.

Who's the vendor?