A Good Carburetor Shop Options

[dbgriffith75]

Not to discourage anybody from taking advantage of 914World.com and the wealth of carburetor knowledge contained within, but I wanted to give everybody here a link to the website of a good carburetor shop. As most of us are aware, a good carburetor shop is hard to find these days as there's very few of them around anymore; and I see a lot of carb questions on these boards.

But this place deserves recognition. When I needed a set of gaskets for the oddball carburetors (Solex 34's) on my 2.0, even tho it literally took months to find something, this guy was always very courteous and professional with me despite my constant calling and bugging the crap out of him about it. If I left a message I was called back that day or the day after. And at times he would take the time to call me if he learned something new or found something he thought I needed to know.

The guy's name is Joe, and he operates Carburetor USA in New Jersey. Maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't. Either way, the link to his website is http://www.carburetorusa.com If you check on his site you'll find that he's not restricted to just cars. He handles just about every type of carb you can think of.

A guy I work with recently needed the carb on his '84 Toyota truck rebuilt, so I reccomended CarbUSA to him and the total cost after parts and labor was about $260 plus shipping both ways; but Joe gaurantees the rebuild for life. FOR LIFE. Not a lot of places are that confident in their work; and my coworker was extremely happy with the end result. The reason I didn't have him rebuild my carbs is because I like to do that type of work myself.

Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to get his name on the board. If you need one rebuilt or need gaskets or what have you, I reccomend calling this guy first.

[rhodyguy]

i didn't see any webers or dels listed. if the $260 is a per item price that would be $520 for a set of webers not to include damaged bodies, shafts, or missing parts (fine red print). Air Cooled Engineering came in much less exspensive and the carbs are tested on their mule engine.

k

[ConeDodger]

i didn't see any webers or dels listed. if the $260 is a per item price that would be $520 for a set of webers not to include damaged bodies, shafts, or missing parts (fine red print). Air Cooled Engineering came in much less exspensive and the carbs are tested on their mule engine.

k

+1 for Art Thrane and Aircooled engineering. My Dells were within a gnats breath of each other right out of the box. Not cheap but cheaper than that...

[Jake Raby]

Art is the man!! Art goes through every new carb I sell/ use and if a customer has existing carbs I mandate that Art goes through them.

In most instances carbs he has built/ run tested and adjusted can be installed with no syndhronization...

September 5th Art and I start shooting our first carb related DVD... More will follow.

Glad to see that carb USA was effective... Few people understand these carbs today.

[burton73]

Rob and Jake,

If Art is the man for Webers and he does not do Webers for 6s as far as testing who do you think is the perfect shop for triples? Some one that can run them. Any idea. When you have a fresh engine rebuild under then you do not want to worry that the crabs are an issue.

Bob B

[dbgriffith75]

Okay, so Joe may not be the cheapest option as far as getting your carbs rebuilt, probably because his company isn't a "giant" so to speak; but that doesn't change the fact that he's very professional in his work. Sure, you can find cheaper shops, but cheaper doesn't mean better. And I didn't see anything in any of your posts about the work being gauranteed for life.

Not only that, but $260 is what it cost my friend to have his carb rebuilt. That doesn't mean that's what he'd charge for EVERY carb he works on, unless you found that price on his website somewhere and I just missed it. I don't see why his prices wouldn't vary depending on the carb that needs worked. If there's a particular model he works on a lot, it only makes sense that he wouldn't charge as much for the simple fact that it's easier for him to get the parts he needs for it. If it's an oddball model then of course it would be more expensive because of the difficulty of locating the parts needed to do the rebuild.

Besides, I was just wanting to get his name out there. Like I said, he's very professional and deserves the recognition.

[DBCooper]

We appreciate the info. Don't feel rebuffed, because there's no offense intended. You obviously aren't aware of the reputation that Art Thraen has in the high performance A/C VW business, and that includes the carburetors for the 914/VW's motors. He's a specialist, and he's generally acknowledged as the master, and so far as I know has never disappointed. He's removed and restored Dellorto shafts for me that I had sworn couldn't be fixed. Your guy could be very good, maybe even as good, who knows, but he hasn't developed the rep from doing a lot of good work for a lot of the key people in our business.

[dbgriffith75]

We appreciate the info. Don't feel rebuffed, because there's no offense intended. You obviously aren't aware of the reputation that Art Thraen has in the high performance A/C VW business, and that includes the carburetors for the 914/VW's motors. He's a specialist, and he's generally acknowledged as the master, and so far as I know has never disappointed. He's removed and restored Dellorto shafts for me that I had sworn couldn't be fixed. Your guy could be very good, maybe even as good, who knows, but he hasn't developed the rep from doing a lot of good work for a lot of the key people in our business.

Fair enough... and I certainly wasn't offended or anything of the sort. And if this Art fella is as good as y'all say he is, well, good for him. It's good that someone can earn that kind of reputation.

I guess it's just my caring for the little man nature that's pushing his name. I come from a small town where that's all business is- the little man trying to make it. In this area even the "big time" farmers are little men compared to the commercial giants. So when I find one, such as Joe, I have no problem paying the extra money to support the business because, like I said, the end result is worth it.

Of course it's also something of a Catch 22 situation. The little man has to charge more because he doesn't see as much business; and the higher prices tend to scare off potential customers even though the quality of work is matched or better than the competition.

Either way, I'll get the link posted in my sig, so maybe he can help somebody else in the 'World.

[Edit] Oh, and one other thing about him- Last week I sent him an email asking him what he'd charge me to rebuild a set of carbs for my motorcycle. That's my next project after I'm finished w/ my teener, which I plan to begin restoration of over the winter. He told me that he really doesn't deal with motorcycle carbs anymore because of the difficulty finding parts, and because they tend to be a royal pain in the ass to rebuild, but because I've done business with him before, he's willing to give it a shot. He said send him the carbs and if he can get the parts he needs, he'll do it for me. That's one thing you won't often find about the bigger, well known guys- not that I'm saying Art wouldn't stray from his specialty- is the willingness to tackle a project even if they don't normally do it because it's about customer satisfaction.

[DBCooper]

You're right, Art almost certainly wouldn't do MC carbs, he really is a performance VW specialist. Just for good order's sake he's not "big", either, just has a big reputation in a pretty small niche. In Utah, not southern California, and not big on the internet, so you know he's done impressive work to build that national reputation.

[rhodyguy]

the carburetor/pricing in the menu pretty much spells it out. i used the $# you provided an an example. "All pricing is for standard rebuilds only. Carburetor's with frozen, worn or damaged shafts, damaged bodies of missing parts additional charges will apply.". i have no doubt you and your friend are please with your experiences with the vendor. the fact that the core provided was serviceable made a dif.