WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[Gary Lewis]

Only two companies ever used an AVS as OEM, one was 1966 Chevrolet 327 300 HP, it was one of three different carburetors, one was a Holley R-2818 (don't even ask why that number just popped up) A Carter AFB and a Carter AVS. Most were 1968-72 Chrysler products (Gary has one, maybe the number from it would help). It was an alternative to a Holley that makes a 4180 look excellent, it was designed by Chrysler engineers to meet emission requirements and heat was not it's friend. Strange Chrysler only metering blocks, on some larger secondary throttles, secondary metering bodies that warped so bad you could see the gas boiling in the rear barrels.

It ranked right up there with first gen electronic ignition, air cleaner studs that would warp the air horns on the Carter BBD and Stromberg WWC carbs and the electronic retard modules. Now throw in a 7 ft plug wire to a plug in an almost impossible location, what could possibly go wrong?

Bill - Just so Jim understands, you said it correctly: The AVS was an alternative to a Holley. And it was the Holley that made the 4180 look excellent.

Jim - As Bill knows, my first Super Bee had that Holley. I'd been raised on Carters and Rochesters, and that Holley was an absolute piece of JUNK! The gaskets leaked and it wasn't the secondary but the primary metering block on mine that warped. As did the main body. I still think of that carb when the word "Holley" is used.

But the AVS was/is a good carb. It was an improvement on the AFB, but inherited all of the good traits of it and added some good features, like the adjustable air valve. I can get the model number of the one on my current Bee tomorrow as I have the factory manual and I know it tells. But it might also have the accelerator pump dimensions. I'll see what I can find.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I was talking about the Chrysler Holleys, I swapped Carter AVS on many of them and sold a ton to the local dealers.

Sorry. I guess I misunderstood

Well, I have to get to ordering that eBay pump then

[ArdWrknTrk]

Only two companies ever used an AVS as OEM, one was 1966 Chevrolet 327 300 HP, it was one of three different carburetors, one was a Holley R-2818 (don't even ask why that number just popped up) A Carter AFB and a Carter AVS. Most were 1968-72 Chrysler products (Gary has one, maybe the number from it would help). It was an alternative to a Holley that makes a 4180 look excellent, it was designed by Chrysler engineers to meet emission requirements and heat was not it's friend. Strange Chrysler only metering blocks, on some larger secondary throttles, secondary metering bodies that warped so bad you could see the gas boiling in the rear barrels.

It ranked right up there with first gen electronic ignition, air cleaner studs that would warp the air horns on the Carter BBD and Stromberg WWC carbs and the electronic retard modules. Now throw in a 7 ft plug wire to a plug in an almost impossible location, what could possibly go wrong?

Bill - Just so Jim understands, you said it correctly: The AVS was an alternative to a Holley. And it was the Holley that made the 4180 look excellent.

Jim - As Bill knows, my first Super Bee had that Holley. I'd been raised on Carters and Rochesters, and that Holley was an absolute piece of JUNK! The gaskets leaked and it wasn't the secondary but the primary metering block on mine that warped. As did the main body. I still think of that carb when the word "Holley" is used.

But the AVS was/is a good carb. It was an improvement on the AFB, but inherited all of the good traits of it and added some good features, like the adjustable air valve. I can get the model number of the one on my current Bee tomorrow as I have the factory manual and I know it tells. But it might also have the accelerator pump dimensions. I'll see what I can find.

Thank you Gary.

Confirmation of the pump diameter would end some of the confusion on my part.

[fords4life]

Thank you Gary.

Confirmation of the pump diameter would end some of the confusion on my part.

Salvage yard got back to me last week and of course.....all their trucks are step bumpers, not the non-step there system said they had.

I did get the door seals done on the truck this weekend. Pretty easy for the most part. Only real issue was the the passenger side a-pillar being glued to the windshield by the Safelite guy earlier this year.....fortunately I got the plastic off without breaking it somehow.

[Gary Lewis]

Salvage yard got back to me last week and of course.....all their trucks are step bumpers, not the non-step there system said they had.

I did get the door seals done on the truck this weekend. Pretty easy for the most part. Only real issue was the the passenger side a-pillar being glued to the windshield by the Safelite guy earlier this year.....fortunately I got the plastic off without breaking it somehow.

fords4life - That was luck getting the trim off w/o breaking it. That plastic is brittle and easily broken. But bad luck on the brackets. I'll keep my eyes open. In fact I know a couple of salvages and will check them.

Jim - The accelerator pump bore on my AVS measures .808 - .810". And, The Carb Doctor says that carb takes pump #100, but when you click on that link you get "Sorry, no item found

Call 253-833-4106 for more information"

Hope that helps.

[ArdWrknTrk]

fords4life - That was luck getting the trim off w/o breaking it. That plastic is brittle and easily broken. But bad luck on the brackets. I'll keep my eyes open. In fact I know a couple of salvages and will check them.

Jim - The accelerator pump bore on my AVS measures .808 - .810". And, The Carb Doctor says that carb takes pump #100, but when you click on that link you get "Sorry, no item found

Call 253-833-4106 for more information"

Hope that helps.

Thank you for that Gary!

I now know what to look for, and will get on with sourcing a metal acc pump.

[Gary Lewis]

Thank you for that Gary!

I now know what to look for, and will get on with sourcing a metal acc pump.

Let me know what you find, please, as I may want to source one or two of those. My brother is going to be running the Eddy I built him so could use a metal-stemmed pump.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Let me know what you find, please, as I may want to source one or two of those. My brother is going to be running the Eddy I built him so could use a metal-stemmed pump.

I will absolutely share with the forum WHYDTYTT when I go to install it in my truck.

Thinking back, I do recall being unable to depress the pedal while driving one day last week.

That must have been when it broke off.

Hopefully it was just crap plastic and not the piston stuck in the bore.

I did have to do some shadetree honing when I rebuilt that carb.

[fords4life]

fords4life - That was luck getting the trim off w/o breaking it. That plastic is brittle and easily broken. But bad luck on the brackets. I'll keep my eyes open. In fact I know a couple of salvages and will check them.

No doubt in the trim piece. I used a plastic body panel pry bar to get behind it and keep some contact pressure. Nice and slow and it peeled up a bit at a time. Thanks for looking out for those brackets. I have a feeling they are a bit of a unicorn.

[salans7]

fords4life - That was luck getting the trim off w/o breaking it. That plastic is brittle and easily broken. But bad luck on the brackets. I'll keep my eyes open. In fact I know a couple of salvages and will check them.

No doubt in the trim piece. I used a plastic body panel pry bar to get behind it and keep some contact pressure. Nice and slow and it peeled up a bit at a time. Thanks for looking out for those brackets. I have a feeling they are a bit of a unicorn.

Today I did some work on my 86 wiring harness. Three main things had to be done.

-The 86 fuse box melted at some point. Luckily my new 1990 cab came with the dash harness, and the fuse box is identical. I switched out the fuse boxes, but I still have about five wires that need to be repaired since somebody cut them at some point for whatever reason. Luckily all of those wires were cut intact from the 90 harness, so I will splice them in with solder and heat shrink.

-The 90 dome/map/courtesy lamp harness uses a different plug than the 80-86 trucks. To make it harder, the terminals were also different, since the 86 harness had female terminals, and so did the courtesy lamp harness from the 90. I decided to run the 90 style connector on the 86 harness, and that required soldering in the proper male terminals to mate with the 86 harness. Quite an undertaking for one small harness but I tested the harness and it works great.

-The 80-86 cab clearance light connector is a single female terminal connector, with only the brown wire for power. By 1990 Ford went to a two male terminal setup, with a ground wire coming through the connector along with the power wire. Luckily I have some aftermarket replacement terminals for our trucks, and was able to find the proper male terminal for the 86 harness. It was just a matter of cutting off the old female terminal and then crimping on the male terminal and inserting it into the 90 connector.

I still need to do some research on why there's a ground in 87-96 but no ground for 80-86. Either way, since I upgraded the connector to the 90 style, I still have the ground wire that can easily be put into service if need be.

Once I solder up the five remaining wires on the fuse box, the main harness will be ready to go back into the truck, and then I can start work on the intermediate harness for the rear lights and fuel tank sending unit.