The question is often posed on these forums, and there are advocates for various of the carburetors I mentioned; and I am sure that some folks that have been using a specific model since Noah landed the Ark are happy with the performance of their choice. There are invariably "discussions" as to the relative cost or performance of each. I tried to do the initial post so that newcomers to the forum could look at various criteria without seeing a discussion of "my dog is bigger than your dog".
If anyone has other criteria they feel important, jump in!
I would like to touch on two other criteria, independent of carburetor makes/models.
The first is cost, and the second is performance.
Cost:
As long as costs are "reasonable" (at least to me), then I don't really consider it an issue. Don't misread that statement; I am not now, nor ever have been, independently wealthy. Dad told me many times I had champagne tastes, with a beer income. But he also taught me to buy the best of anything that I could reasonably afford, and maybe do without something else for awhile. I have many tools that he bought in the 1930's and 1940's AND USED! And I probably have 99 percent of every tool I ever bought for personal or shop use. (Opinion) Buying quality is cheaper in the long run.
But John Ruskin, an economist that lived long ago said it much more eloquently than I:
John Ruskin quotation on costsNow going on to performance:
If one compares virtually any new "anything" to a totally worn-out of the same "anything", generally the new is going to out-perform the worn-out original, and the buyer is happy with the performance.
Personally, I am a great believer in testing. No, I have never been able to afford "dyno" time; but there are other methods of testing performance. Locally, I have a ramp that enters the interstate highway to a long hill. So if testing various carburetors, I put what I think will be the best one on the engine. I then go to the "test track" and accelerate to maybe 5 MPH below the legal speed limit and pick a mark on the side of the road. This is my test mark. I then repeat the test 3 times timing each run (this takes speedometer error out of the test), to my test mark, and average the times. Then doing this for any/all carbs I wish to test for comparison, and compare the times. The one with the shortest time produced the most power.
Maybe not the most sophisticated testing, but I am happy with it.
Others can develop other testing; but the key here is to test.
Jon
