This Carter BBD Float Pump Gauge article concerns making your two hands do the work of three hands when adjusting your BBD carburetor during a rebuild. The basic BBD is used on many Plymouth, Dodge, etc. V8 engines as well as the Super Slant Six in the mid 70 to mid 80 time frame.
The pictures show a Super Six application where a NOS (new old stock) BBD is having the pump and float needle replaced with fresh materials before being placed into service since the new BBD has sat on the shelf for many years. The balance of the BBD is being adjusted to factory specs; in this case to a 1977 Aspen/Volare BBD model 8087s spec for used on a 65 Dart.
The pictures show only the float adjustment application of the tool however the same tool works for the pump rod attachment. The tool consists of using the paper scale provided in the BBD rebuilding kit and a metal scale with a sliding clip intended for use in placing & carrying the metal scale in a pocket. In this case the clip is being put to work to allow adjustments to the paper scale position. The paper scale however is used as a straight edge.
The rebuilding kit manufacturer probably expected that a straight edge would be placed across the flats of the bowl assembly and the paper scale would be used to measure the distance to the crown of the floats, Unfortunately by the time the carb is flipped over, the float pin retainer is pressed firmly against the float pin, the straight edge is pressed against the bowl flats, and the paper scale is used to measure the distance to the float crowns…..I can’t seem to find enough hands for the combined actions in that plan!
In the old days the kits would come with a cardboard set of gauges that would do the same job as the suggested scale/pocket clip/paper scale however there are so many BBD carb dimensions that the manufacturer probably eliminated the cardboard gauge idea which allowed for fewer variations/less kits to cover more BBD applications…..and maybe cut production & storage costs?
The below picture shows the scale adjusted and protruding 8/32 beyond the paper straight edge. The scale and clip can slide across the paper straight edge to align with the crown of the float and insure the paper straight edge contacts the bowl flats across the entire width the the bowl.
