I'm back at working on the Wildcat and have decided to start with the carb. the throttle shafts are stuck so I began by hitting everything with PB Blaster and started taking things apart and storing the miscellaneous part for cleaning later. I ran into a bit of a problem when the screwdriver slipped on one of the main jets. I may have stripped off the meat of the head. Is there a member who sells stock jets? I also committed another sin and broke the head off one of the butterfly-to-shaft screws. Looks like I'll need to remove the screw and replace it as well. Does anyone have a few tips on how to salvage the situation? the rebuild kit should be here tomorrow and I'm hoping to make some progress this weekend. By the way, the car is a 66 wildcat and the numbers from the carb are 4059S and AM5. I thought the car had a 425 but by the numbers it has a 401 California. When I get to the car I'll check the engine code to verify. Thanks for the help. Bob
Bob, in almost all cases we have a 100 percent success rate with twisted off throttle shaft screws. I haven't done an AFB for a few months, and can't remember if they are 4-40 or 6-32 screws? In any case, carefully try to drill them on center with a small bit. Drill them from the top, and in many cases as the bit exits it will spin them out. If not, continue to drill them until most of the threads are removed, then clean up the threads with a tap. If the threads are just not repairable, drill and tap to the next size. We use 6-32's for all shafts that were originally 3-48 or 4-40 threads. The screws are steel pan heads, black zinc coated slotted drive. I have several thousand of them if you need a few, a few cents each plus the cost of the postage. For removing main jets, we have custom ground screwdrivers that fit them exactly. For stubborn jets, about 20 seconds with a propane torque and a few good smacks on the screwdriver handle and they just about fall out. To date, and after several thousand builds, have yet to see one I couldn't get out of any type of carburetor intact. I would add here that we get in quite a few carburetors that look like they came from the bottom of a farm pond, after a 20 year bath! The most troublesome to remove are from 1971 Mopar Thermoquads, where the jets are in the airhorn. Any Carter or Rochester unit with the jets in the main casting are relativey easy with a good fitting screwdriver and the right procedure(s)......Cliff
Thanks for the walk-through on the screws. I know I have an old screw driver around that I can grind to fit. I was using my gunsmiths screwdriver kit to pull everything apart. Here are a few pics of the starting condition. I'll give the propane a go tonight or tomorrow. Thanks, Bob
Bob: I looked up your carb number in my Carter book and the primary jet is .090 and the secondary is .082. Edelbrock shows a .089 (#1424), .092 is #1425, .080 is #1421 and .083 is #1422. One trick that works is to use a 5/16 dia. flat nosed punch and hammer to smack the jet before trying to turn it. It "coins" the aluminum casting just enough to release the jet. The modified screwdriver really helps. Good luck, Frank
