charlie's vintage speed

[CornBinder]

Hey guys, I am looking for a carb set up for my chrysler 354. Does not need to be anything special. But here is my question - who has purchased stuff from this guy's shop. Or can anyone suggest another place to look? I am not really looking for new stuff, or even very cool stuff - a stock intact manifold would be great right about now, but I an not having much luck - also trying not to break the bank. Thank

[Nads]

Here we go again.

[praisethelowered]

try the search option.

Please note that I said nothing insulting.

[12packo94s]

not gonna get to far into it since it's been said enough times but buy there at your own risk

bad experiences

[Elrod]

I've heard that he takes a long time to fill orders.

[CornBinder]

Thanks PTL, I will do, did not mean to open an already dead subject.

[Kilroy]

http://www.vintagecarburetiontech.com/pages/709477/index.htm

[swissmike]

I have had a flathead setup with two 94's from Charlie for about two years and I have had terrible gas mileage and tuning problems. I started messing with the carbs last week when I wanted to see what kind of jets and power valves he was using, because I suspected the problem was with jets being too big or power valves with a too high vacuum rating.
So I ended up swapping the 51 jets for 48s and to my surprise the power valves were the right ones (4.5" hg) for my application. Put everything back together and the darn thing wouldn't idle worth shit anymore.

I took the carbs back apart and noticed the underside of the carburator body is not level. The screw boss on the underside of the bowl was almost pulled out of the casting and has a hairline fracture! The second carb had the same problem although not as serious. The uneven surface caused a major vacuum leak which let the power valves open constantly! This also explains why I had gas leaking over the intake since day one and the constant smell of gas.
I ended up machining the gasket surface flat and I will use to seal the fracture with some ultra thin epoxy which will wick into the crack hopefully.

I have been to Charlies shop several times. He is a nice enough, knowledgable guy and his work is probably good for the most part. He certainly knows how to build a carburator, but obviously he should have a better quality control in place.
He seems to be rather busy most of the time and constanly trying to catch up on his orders. It's pretty much a mon and pop operation from what i can tell.

If you buy from him just be sure to closely inspect everything when you receive it. It also might take a while to get your order...

[Kojack]

Yeah... I brought this up a few weeks ago about Charlie's. THe general impression I got was a definate NO to buying anything from the guy other then intake manifolds, it seems.

[modernbeat]

You know, there are other alternatives to Charlie Price for vintage styled carb setup. Vintage Carb Technologies (Jere?) has been touted as being through, but expensive and 97 Heaven is represented on the HAMB and reports state that they have reasonable prices and good workmanship.

[ESnacky6]

Don't do it unless you have ALOT of time and $$ to spend...

waiting and waiting and waiting...(like for a year..!!)

only to find that your 'complete and ready to run' intake/carb set-up
was broken during shipping due to poor packaging...

then wait another 5 months to get it fixed/shipped back...

never ever again...

[Luke Jivetalker]

You want carbs? try these guys
Hot Rod Carbs (http://www.hotrodcarbs.com/)

[Crease]

Rudolph Faltermeier 864-463-6052

95 bucks for a 94, more importantly very high quality. I've used both and just ordered another Faltermeier yesterday.

[Jeff Norwell]

Here is my take..my opinion only..called him 4 times....he never called back
The fifth time his wife answered....very rude lady..no.....SUPREME BITCH!!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif....I was a "cash in hand" customer.....FUCK HIM....There are a lot more people that will take my money and smile. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Kilroy]

Yeah AVOID the wife...

Same deal here. I ordered a minor, little part and paid for it. Was assured it would go out that day. She had the parts in her hand ready to go in the box. I waited a few weeks and called just to see if it had gone out yet or if there was a tracking number. I was not even worried about it, I was just checking up...

That lady got so pissed (I NEVER EVEN RAISED MY VOICE! I WASN"T PISSED AT ALL! ...Yet!) and started riding Charley while I was on the phone that he got on the phone and started yelling at me without me even saying anything... He started arguing that he hadn't had time to send it out yet and that I could cancel my order any time I wanted!

I said calmly (I was in total shock) that I was just trying to find out the status on the order but that if this was the way it works there I thought it better to just cancel it. He said "Oh................ OK. I'll take care of that right away."

Sorry. I was trying not to bitch but when Brush had the same experience it bugged me. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[BLAKE]

To be fair, I just ordered 97 rebuild kits from him, and then sent one carb body in to have the needle/seat assy threads helicoiled and retuned to me - no complaints.

Ordering a running setup is a different deal, though... I'd defer to the opinions above.