Rebuilding and rejetting carb, maybe other upgrades

[gjk5]

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I have an Edelbrock 1405 Performer, bought the rebuild kit, high altitude jets and metering rods and the off road kit. Just wondering if anyone has any pointers, heads-up etc on this process. I've never rebuilt a carb but it doesn't look too hard.

Also wondering if anyone has installed this off-road kit on a Performer and what results they had. (hgh altitude tips would be great)


While I'm at it I'm thinking about putting a better intake manifold in (maybe a Performer also?) any suggestions on that would be appreciated too.




Oh, this is in a '72 K5 with 350/350.

 

[diesel4me]

good choice..

The Performer carbs are clones of the Carter AFB..one of the simplest ones to rebuild in my opinion,much easier than a Q-jet in many ways..

I haven't had to change the jets or metering rods on any of the ones I had,but doing so is pretty easy..the Edelbrock website has exploded diagrams and tips on how to do a rebuild unless its changed since my last visit there months ago..but you should have no trouble doing it,just find a clean workbench and put a white sheet over it--it will help finding little clips and dewhickies much easier--I like using a magnet to hold all the small linkages and clips so they dont dissapear..

I think an aluminum high rise intake is better than any stock GM one with a Performer adapted to it,but I have had both and can't feel that much difference in power..it will help it run more efficiently,and the lighter weight is a plus too..but cost 120 bucks or more,unless you score a cheap used one..

I have a 1405 on my 305 in my 79 C10,adapted to the stock Q-Jet intake..it goes pretty good,and gets about 15 mpg if I keep my foot out of the secondaries..those carbs are jetted pretty rich,for performance,not economy,but I doubt I'd gain much if I played with jetting and metering rods..thats about all you can expect from any small block,2 or 4 barrel carbed motor..so I'm not fooling with it--spark plugs look nice and brownish tan,so its not TOO rich..I's say its just right,but I'm a near sea level here..up higher it might not be the same..

 

[mrk5]

On jetting, I've followed Holleys recommendation (since I have their truck avenger) and did 1 jet size down for every 2000ft increase in elevation above sea level. Since 5000 falls in the middle and I drive the truck mostly in the mountains, I dropped 3 sizes.

Storm Trooper does very well with the Edelbrock carb. I think someone mentioned he uses a fuel pressure regulator. I'm assuming it's for the same reason I do on the Holley. You dial the pressure down to 1 or 2 on the trail to help keep the needle from unseating because when the gets to be excessive angle the fuel pressure tends to help the needle unseat. I know Holleys are suseptible to this, but I don't know about Edelbrocks.

If I was to buy an intake tomorrow, it would be one of Edlebrock's Air Gap units. I've read some good things about them.

I don't know what you run your timing at, but at our altitude there's a lot of power to be gained from advancing the timing further. For example, I run my initial timing at 14*.

 

[gjk5]

Thanks Scott, I haven't even checked the timing yet but will before I start the rebuild. I think the "off-road kit" that I mentioned is just spring loaded needles to keep it seated as you mentioned, we'll see how it works.

One of the other things I've heard is that the Performers have a "channel" between the bowls that will cause a stall at off camber due to fuel sloshing over, and that this can be rectified by JB welding it shut or putting a piece of tubing in there to block it.

As far as the intake, maybe I'm thinking about the wrong one, I thought the Air Gap was for higher RPM applications but I just looked at their site and the Perf. Air Gap looks like it'd work good. I'll have to look around for a price.


Thanks for the heads up on the timing, I'll take a look at advancing a little and see what happens.

 

[gjk5]

So, finished rebuilding it this weekend, pretty easy on the rebuild itself. I got the carb back in the truck and now the throttle linkage is all screwed up. The pedal is almost to the floor, all slack for the top 2/3rd's of travel.

Put it back together the same way it came apart but ; even took pictures to make sure.

Other than that, seems OK (without a test drive at least), started it up and worked the throttle by hand, just had a flat spot where the secondaries opened up but I'm thinking that's just 'cause it was kind of cold still.


Any ideas on what I may have done wrong on that cable?