Any feedback on the best carb kit available?

Particularly interested in the ones from Mazdatrix and Atkins. Atkins is 2x the cost but both look to be the same.

Any experience feedback would be great.

TIA

 

I've always used the GP Sorensen kit 96-555, good quality, good price, although last year they were less than $30 from Rockauto, You can still get them from autozone for $42.99:

https://www.autozone.com/fuel-delive...60809_585427_0

Rockauto is now selling a kit from Standard Motor Products that looks to be a repackaged GP Sorensen kit for $37.79:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...epair+kit,5964

Or $42.78 from amazon, free shipping:

 

I think it was Sterling here who always cautioned people about using the needle valves and seats from these kits, as the quality was poor and always resulted in flooded carbs. He recommended staying with OEM original needle vales and seats, i.e., don't touch the ones that are in there.

Maybe someone can confirm?

 

The needle valves in the Sorensen GP kit are tipped with a hard black compound, might be tungsten or some sort of polymer or even hardened rubber, not sure. But they seat well, no flooding or sticking in my experience.

In any event most likely even Atkins and Mazdatrix are selling aftermarket kits rather than original OEM kits, if those ever existed. And I'll bet they're the same kits being sold by Sorensen, Standard Motor Products and other vendors, the photos of the parts all look the same.

One time I did try a rebuild with a cheapo kit I got on ebay ($15) that had solid metal needles. It flooded. But the gaskets were good.

 

Sorensen is the best kit but the needles and seats can have issues. Save the old ones or reuse them. You may need them.

 

I've used the Sorensen kit for all my rebuild's as well, although it seems the price has gone up since my last purchase. Used to be able to get them from AutoZone for less than 30 bucks.

When I suggested a kit for a friend recently we discovered the price issue and I told him to get the Hygrade kit from RA (it was even cheaper on Amazon at the time, might still be). No issues with it, although it doesn't include check ***** so be careful with that (the Sorensen kit does).

I have always had issues with the needles and seats included in the kits. The stock ones work just fine the majority of the time.

 

I always use the original needles and seats. Have for years after reading that the aftermarket once can cause issues. Though to be fair, I never experienced issues when using them. I much prefer the GP Sorensen kit over all of the others. It's a little on the cheap side as are any of the aftermarket carb rebuild kits that I've purchased. But personally I would just stick the GP Sorensen kit as it is a very complete kit.

 

they did, but are NLA. imo they were nicer, but also $100 instead of $20.

 

In researching old threads on here about rebuilding carbs, there are several "how to" threads that recommend the Hygrade kits because they included aluminum sealing washers while some of the cheaper kits included paper washers.

Since the Sorensen kit seems to be popular, I'm assuming it may not have been an option at the time when those older threads were originally posted. Can anyone confirm if it includes the same type of washers as the Hygrade kit? Or is this even an issue that anyone needs to be concerned about?

I haven't rebuilt my carb yet, but am thinking about giving it a go this winter while I have my car in storage.

 

Both kits include metal crush washers, however I do prefer the Sorensen kit over the Hygrade as it it includes a few extra (although technically unnecessary) parts. Ex: new checkballs.

 

Thanks for the info. This is a great help. I've got a spare carb so that will be my 'test'

 

A spare carb is better than rebuild instructions when it comes to putting it back together.

I always have one on hand when doing a rebuild to see what goes where.