Carter questions

[NO6YHY]

I'm rebuilding my Carter carburetor, and learning about carbs as I go. The model no. is 9653, and I have a '76 Cherokee w/a 360 engine and flowmaster exhaust.

Does anyone know about the 9653? What cfm is it? It has small primaries and large secondaries. Thing is, the spacer the previous owner had it rigged with had mismatched holes that were preventing the butterflies from opening much on my secondaries. They could only open about a fifth of the way. Did they maybe do this because the carb was otherwise too big for the engine?

[carrotman]

Sounds like a Carter Thermo-quad, spread-bore type carb. It should have the plastic throttle body to prevent heat from boiling the gas. If stock manifold, you will have to make a spacer out of 3/4-inch-thick plywood. Buy a Motorcraft 4350 carb-to-intake gasket and Thermo-quad gasket. The throttle bores don't line up, so you have to put the gaskets on opposite sides of the plywood. Use a drill and file to make each bore line up. Make four individual bores, not one big bore. Should work great.

[NO6YHY]

Thanks carrotman. If I were to get a manifold for this thing, what kind should I get, and how much difference do you think it would make in performance?

[NO6YHY]

Actually carrotman, this does not appear to be a thermoquad. There's no plastic in the body, and it doesn't look like the pictures online. It looks more like a Carter AVS than anything.

[carrotman]

If it's the AVS, should be just like an AFB, but with the air valve on top of the secondaries. Looking at the bottom of the carb, are the secondaries just slightly bigger than the primaries? If the barrels look even, it's a squarebore.

Great carb for the street, but I read it doesn't work good on side slopes. My AFB works great on inclines, but I avoid side slopes. Seen too many rollovers. You can probably get an aftermarket manifold, but why not just make an adapter so the carb can work like it should?

[Elliott]

IIRC it's 625CFM, swap it for an off road carb if you leave the pavement. **** Carter like'ta got me killed once!

[AMX factor]

That's an AFB. I use one or an Edelbrock copy of it. I have no problem with mine offroad.

Get yourself an Edelbrock Performer(I have one for sale) or Offenhauser 360 dual plane intake. It'll save you about 50 pounds on the motor and you will with a good cam, upgraded ignition and four barrel see power differences.

[NO6YHY]

Okay, I looked at the carb again, and it's 9635, not 9653! Is it still AFB/625 cfm? Sorry about that!

AMXFactor, just out of curiosity, how much is that Edelbrock Performer?

[AMX factor]

9635 is one of the Universal 625cfm Carter AFB's. I have a 9636 in the closet.

$125 plus shipping for the Performer. It wasn't on the vehicle long. The previous owner pulled it because he said it made the GW run worse. I pulled it and reinstalled his orig equip. He didn't get the intake sealed right and had massive vac leaks. He also didn't put a regulator on his electric fuel pump and blew all the gaskets in his Edelbrock carb. The whole setup was covered is grease and gas.

[NO6YHY]

I'll think about it. I can't really call this a serious inquiry, since I have other things to think about right now financially.