Carb Overhaul

[Tim Harter]

All,
I have read a few threads about carb overhaul but few apply to my problem. My 170 hasn't flown since 1991 so the carb I took off has a two piece venturi that fell out as we were disassembling it. We also have a carb that has a one piece venturi that was on a shelf. The question is do I get the deluxe kit $450 and a one piece venturi about $100 and stick with the metal float that is in it and overhaul it myself or get an overhauled carb for $812? I'm trying to do some pros and cons about it.

[DaveF]

I'm normally a DIY guy, but in this case I'd probably get an overhaul exchange carb. You're close enough to the exchange price to make it worth the extra money. Your carb likely has multiple service bulletins outstanding in addition to whatever real work it needs. There may be a few parts that are hard to replace without special tools. Not sure about that, though.

[Tim Harter]

I failed to mention that it is the original carb on the original engine (as far as the logbooks say). Does anyone overhaul carbs and bring it up to standards?

[ghostflyer]

Spruce can supply a new or overhauled carburettor. We had a Cessna 150 that had starting issues and rough running and some times on start a kickback .Many hours of labour was spent trying to sort this engine out. (Not at our shop) the timing had been checked many times and a new mag had been fitted. The carby had been played with also .
So I suggested we pull the carby and go over it , float level , correct jets fitted ,etc etc. a crack was found in one piece of the venturies . Cheaper to get a overhauled unit. Plus It had the old float in it too. Well , the effect was unbelievable , the engine ran like a Swiss clock . It seemed too good to be true what a overhauled carby can do . Only the idle had to be adjusted . The owner was over the moon. He paid his bill on the spot before he left . Time is money so most times it's better in the long run to fit a new or overhauled component that try and fix the component and chase all the AD,S .

[GAHorn]

Get the overhauled/rebuilt carb instead of trying to mess with the one you have. An O-300 doesn't need much to run well and run reliably, but a good, unmolested carburetor is definitely mandatory. I can't remember the difference between an overhauled and rebuilt carb, but one has used parts in it and one doesn't. Whichever one was the one with only new parts (more expensive, but not by much) is what I installed on my plane a couple years ago and I can't begin to tell you how much better the engine starts, runs, idles, etc...

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