New Carb or Rebuild Kit, CA Legal

[toyotajake37]

My carb has definately seen better days, and right now seems to be the weak point of my engine, so I am looking at either getting a new one or rebuilding the stock one. I need it to remain CA smog legal, and as far as I can tell none of the Webers are. Are there any other good aftermarket carbs that are CA smog legal? If not, is there any real benefit in buying a new carb over rebuilding the one I have? Lastly, if I go the rebuild route (which I probably will) is there any difference between the kits, or will any kit from Napa or Autozone work fine?

Any thoughts, info, advice, links, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jake

[ARCHINSTL]

http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... nal#p29185
Tom M.

[takza]

NAPA has a kit.

[Petros]

I doubt there is a California legal aftermarket carb available, but there may be other Toyota carbs you can use. Rebuilding is way cheaper than buying a reman carb, many remans do not run right. I have done lots of them when I first starting working on cars, when they all had carbs! You will need a large table with newspapers taped down to it and a clean floor (you will likely drop some small parts), a kitchen table even works since you will remove the carb from the engine anyway. Study the exploded view illustration in the FSM, and use it as a guide to lay out the parts on the table as you remove them to help you get it back together. Use bottle caps or small plastic trays to keep the various small screws, check valves, springs and other parts from getting lost (this is imporant!). Take it appart carefully and always over the newspaper because there are parts that just fall out once you remove the covers. Use carb cleaner spray on all the parts and Follow the FSM for tests and adjustments. You should not have any problems.

Someone on this list suggest using the larger carb from a Toyota 20R or 22R engine, which should produce more power. It flows the same CFM as the Weber, but has all the emission controls, and look factory stock. If you get it from a Pull-a-part type wrecking yard you can also get all the hoses and related emission control epuipment to adapt it to the 3a engine, it should have very similar EC connections. All you would have to do is make a simple adapter plate. I would still rebuild it first, but it would be a very inexpensive performance upgrade, and it should pass the CA emissions tests. I like this idea so much I may try it if I do not make the EFI engine swap on my car.

The Corolla 4a engine also used a similar carb, does anyone know anything about this carb compared to the 3a carb (size, CFM rating, etc). The engine is not that much bigger then the 3a, but it produced a lot more hp. It might also be worth considering.

Good luck

[takza]

If you use a flammable carb cleaner...make sure you don't have open flame such as pilot lights going. Don't use wire to clean out passages...don't force anything...soft metal.

[Don Jorgensen]

Some special tools are required otherwise you cannot remove, clean, and replace some parts. I usually can find ways around these problems but with the Tercel carb I could not do a complete rebuild without the special tools. The kit cost about $40. I eventually bought a rebuilt from this company in Colorado for $230 and $100 core charge that you get refunded for your old complete carb with everything including the wiring and sockets.

They were helpful to me and honest. At a minimum talk to their tech and tell him your problems and the CA legal question. We have emissions requirements in Albuquerque so that was an issue with me as well.

I'd recommend spending the money for the rebuilt.
1-800-795-1640 or http://importcarbs.com/index.html

[SynthDesign]

I'd recommend spending the money for the rebuilt.
1-800-795-1640 or http://importcarbs.com/index.html

Ditto. These guys helped me out with my Mazda RX7 carb. I paid over $300 for CarbConnection to tune my carb to pass emissions and stop leaking out the float bowl. they never got it rebuilt right. I ordered a new one figuring that the old one was garbage. I got a shiny new perfectly working carb( we installed it in 15minutes and passed emissions an hour later) and they didn't mind taking back my old greaseball leaking old carb for the core.

I give them a lot of regard.

The real question is if your willing to try and rebuild it yourself knowing you may well loose a few tiny pieces in the process. I for one have never been able to do as good of a job as someone who specializes in it. Plus I really don't want to find out if the 5lb fire extinguisher is enough to put out a carb fire.

[toyotajake37]

I'm definately thinking I should go with a new/rebuilt carb over rebuiding myself after looking ofer the FSM and all the tiny pieces and steps, etc. So new question, where should I get it and should I go brand new or reman? Does anyone have any good experience with a CA legal rebuilder? I'll look into the guys mentioned above, but any more options are preffered. I don't mind spending more for quality since I love the Terc.

Thanks for the input so far guys.