Quick and dirty carter rebuild

My '5 is loading up pretty good at midrange, cleans out every once and a while but it had some bad gas from sitting for a few years. I'm planning on a solex, but it's not in the cards right now. Advance auto said they can order me a rebuild kit for $13. I know the universal kits have the wrong stuff for our version, but I'm thinking if I just use it as a gasket kit to get in there and clean it out and replace the accelerator pump membrane, shouldn't be $13 down the tube, right? Anyone done this with success/failure that I can learn from?

 

Sure. Just cleaning out the float bowl can be a cure sometimes.

 

I'm trying to avoid putting much into the carb since I'd like to go solex. I'm going to pull the carb and check the throttle shaft bore, if it looks OK, then I might go ahead with the ~$35 kit it lists for my year. I kept seeing $50-$60 rebuild kits and can get a solex for $115, so it just doesn't make sense.

 

I'm a machinist (not automotive, but we do prototyping so goofy setups are the norm), so bushing isn't a huge deal other then time away from the family. Sounds like this is going to be the way to go.

 

Personally I've never found any problem with the Carters.