I am having trouble finding a rebuild kit for my 1993 mercruiser 454 330hp engine. The guy that does my carbs said his supplier quit stocking them. Does anyone know where I can get a couple of them. The problem I am having is that the boat is hard to start. It seems that the fuel is evaporating out of the carbs after about a week. A quick squirt of starting fluid and it runs like a champ. Both engines are doing this. (fresh fuel filters every year, well maintained, has been doing this for several years) I have just kept a can of starting fluid on the boat and put this off too long. It is time to fix this, I have had enough. Thanks for any insight you all can give.

pretty much normal, so don't expect a rebuild to cure that, should have the weber carbs on it I think..if so use a edelbrock perfomer carb kit from summit or jegs....thats what I use on them...Rob

Thanks, I have the guy check. I have also seen people mention they are carter afb? But did edelbrock buy carter?

Yep.. Edelbrock's are Carter's. They bought them out about 20 - 25 years ago?

Are you sure about that? Seems hard to believe. I'd check for a good stream from the acccelerator pump.

When I had a 454 with the Weber carb it was hard to start also (compared to an EFI engine) but it depended heavily on a working well adjusted choke. How are your chokes? The best procedure for starting was to give the engine a couple of pumps then pull the throttle back to idle so the chokes would close. Holding the throtle at wide open keeps the choke open and made the engine hard to start.

I agree that a rebuild is unlikely to fix the problem. The Webers are simple carbs on the inside with few gaskets that would fail.

I have a Edlebrock on my Velocity 454. Proper choke operation is important. Edlebrocks are very similar in design to Carters- almost a clone. However, Carter I think was purchased by Weber.

That said, I think the Quadrajet is a better carb overall. Certainly more complex- but for all the benifits of fewer parts and simpler design, Edlebrocks have given me more problems than Quadrajets.

With my weber, the accel shot and the choke were the keys as stated above.

I did rebuild the carb in the search for the issue, I got my kit (a sealed Merc one) off ebay for $30 IIRC. According to the Carter / Edelbrock book I have, Carter was bought by Weber, who then sold that part of the business to Edelbrock. It also says to use a Edelbrock kits - and I know the jets from an Edelbrock work.

the webers, carters, edelbrocks all seem to be the same from what I see...

Had a 22 powerquest with a 330 454 and a carter, ran like crap on the test drive. used that to pop 500 off the price.

The fix was a new holley WAY better than any carter or E-broke, Q-jet is good just hard to keep working.

Needed a adapter and a throttle cable bracket.

no choke at all three pumps and zoom

The last time I saw an AFB it was setting on a 283 in my 57 chevy...I loved the way that thing would howl.