I've inherited a holly 4777 carb due to the fact the last owner decided to set timing incorrectly leading to the ignition of his K&N filter. The question I'm asking is, do I rebuild or should i just scrap and get a new one?

 

Is the carb burnt up? What's wrong with it? Just because it back-fired doesn't mean anything is wrong with it.

 

Maybe the blazing K&N mucked it up?

It's a 650 CFM double pumper... everything is modular. I'd just look at what is or isnt damaged or is dirty or clogged and clean it and rn it. Whatever cant be fixed, replace.

 

A few belching backfires won't hurt it. The power valves might be blown out, but there shouldn't be much un-fixable damage.

If it's been BURNED (i.e. suffered through an engine fire) the aluminum castings can warp and render them basically unusable. And, obviously, all the usual parts will be toast, too- floats, inlet valves, etc.

 

The car would not stay running when it was brought to me and the air cleaner had caught fire melting the wiper/washer motor, regulator, some of the wire harness and the paint on the hood. I reset the distributor and got the car to idle. The outside of the carb has a blackend oily film and more of a dried soot in the venture.

Note: Carb is off a 69' GTO.

 

Well, if it idles it can't be too bad. But obviously there was a sustained flame in it's vicinity at some point. Wiper motor cases don't melt because of a couple brief backfires.

I'd do a thorough clean and rebuild. Plus some new floats for good measure.

 

Cool. Thanks for the responses. Ill go ahead rebuild it and see how it does.