1redcar

I can only say I have a had a good experience with Karb King. From reading what ChrisC and 14bolter have posted, I can see that Karb King at least tries to rectify technical issues as well as shipping issues which aren't even their problem, unlike another Quadrajet "specialist" (that I wont name) I used to use until I found Karb King.

I mean really, sending a crusty piece of smoke-belching, barely working Quadrajunk off with $125 on a Monday and getting a shiny, rebuilt carb back inside of a week tuned for my 502-powered, 38" tired, mud whomping Blazer that starts, idles, and screams on the first try is nothing short of amazing.


At least recognize Karb King fixes things,even by the admission of people like Iowaguy, who maybe can't be satisfied.

And do it BEFORE you join a forum for purely selfish reasons to needlessly bash a person or business just so you can sleep better at night. We're here swapping REAL info about our cars and the parts that go on em, not a some bs vent-a-thon.

bestracing

I do a lot of business with vendors in the line of work I'm in and everyone can have a mistake every now and then and have things happen that are out of their control. Especially when dealing with a third party like a shipping company. It's how the vendor handles the problem that shows what kind of character they have. From my point of view the people at Karb King has done everything within their power to help the OP with his problem and went above what I would have expected to fix the situation. That says a lot to me.

I've had problems with a huge National car parts company once. I wanted to have my spoiler shipped to my company since it had to come freight and in my experience they don't deliver on weekends. I had the sales guy swear that they would use a company that would deliver on a Saturday. Turned out they used Yellow, they don't deliver on weekends and if I didn't drive 40 miles to their freight hub I wouldn't get my parts. My wife called the parts company and they told her that it was impossible that the sales guy would say what he did, basically calling me a liar. I deal with shipments like this at my job all the time and I know the right questions to ask.

Eventually she got them to drop the shipping charges but it took whole lot of time on the phone to just get them to acknowledge this.

1redcar

Speaking of Karb King...
Has anyone else checked out the Karb Kweens? I hope the King puts together a calendar showcasing his harem.

jwalker5619

I purchased a Holley 600 from them. When it came, It looked like it was used, It still even had some built up dirt still on the housing and the thermostat was rusted and corroded. I still have pictures. We installed the carb and the car ran really bad. We checked the float adjustments and the primary float was stuck. We ran out of adjustment to try to lower the fuel level. The carb was bleeding over and loading up. I called them and talked with a guy who told me if I still have a problem, I can send it back. I looked at it myself later that day and the carb definitely had a problem. Starting the next day, I tried calling them for over 10 days asking them to please call me back. I had no choice but to buy another carb from a local vendor to take care of our customer. We installed the second carb and it ran great. I proceeded to try to call them with no response. 2 weeks ago, One of the builders finally answered. He said "is this the guy from Baltimore"? I said yes it is, The guy proceeded to tell me it was our fault the carb didn't run right, That we didn't know how to adjust the float. I am a master tech with over 30 years experience. I certainly know how to adjust a Holley carb. The guy from King Karb said his attitude was bad because he didn't have any customer service phone skills. What is that?????? He said I need to talk to the manager that wasn't in at the time. We hung up and again I called leaving messages. They must have caller ID and have a good laugh when they see my number come up. But, 2 days ago someone answered and some guy said that JR, (the owner) would be back in 10 minutes and he would call ....... 2 days and 6 messages by me and still no call. I sent them the carb back, thinking that if I was going to get a refund, they needed the carb back. I sent it to the address on the website. It came back to me today saying NO SUCH ADDRESS..... What kind of fraud is that... No wonder they only take money orders for payment... That should of been a red flag.. Warning... Stay Away from this company..... I have to sue for the money I guess..
Update: June01, 2013. Owner said if I sent The carb back, He would refund my money if I took down my 100% TRUE reviews. I sent it back and they said the carb was damaged and would only give partial refund. After many emails back and forth, I decided it was worth losing $268.00 to let everybody know what happened to me. Maybe it will save some one else the headache of buying something from Karb King.
P.S. Read the warranty fine print on the order form. They don't have to stand behind anything they sell.. Now they have my money and the carb I sent back.....

14bolter

I think it's funny that a tech with "30 years" of experience uses the the term "thermostat" when talking about a particular carburetor part. I'm guessing he's referring to the choke, which is, I suppose, a type of thermostatic switch, in theory, but I've never heard even the most grizzled mechanics refer to it as that.

Then again, some people continue to use our forum to bash vendors simply because it comes up first in the search results for that vendor. Try reading the thread and moderating your own comments before posting, JWalker. I mean, you're apparently in some capacity in a commercial garage, don't even own a third gen car, let alone any Camaro, and, stretching your qualification to post in this forum's thread, probably weren't even working on a Camaro. So, as another poster put it: go vent somewhere else.

Finally, I'll add that I sent Karb King a set of Yamaha FJ1100 carbs off a freebie I pulled out of a friends yard--the IROClone is currently at the upholsterers and I got bored--and they set em up and synced em like nobody's business. That bike sat OUTSIDE for over five years, and it only took a tank/line cleaning, fresh oil, and a set of Karb King's worked carbs to get that thing barking through the vintage Kerker exhaust.

Of course, the thermostats WERE a little dirty...;-b

jwalker5619

Dear 14bolter,
I respect anyone's opinion until they become condescending. I don't know what you call Choke thermostats in Tennessee, But where I grew up, That is what they are called. By the way, A switch only turns on or off. Activated or not activated. With all due respect, Ask your grizzled mechanics about that one. I am not here to bash anyone. Just here to tell everyone my one experience with Karb King. I am sure they do good work for lots of people. Just not me . They had opportunity to make it right and they did not. That is what this thread is all about. Anybody's experience with Karb King, Right........ As far as this forum being all yours, Think again. There are thousands of qualified people on this forum that have something positive to add. I am glad you like Karb King so much. That is really all you had to say without downgrading my post.

ChrisC

If anyone has talked to Mike from Karb King in the last month or two and is currently still in contact with him, have him email me please or at least reach out to him in my part. I still do not have a working carburetor and when I got my most recent one (4th carb) from them it still was bugged. Upon trying to contact, I was told Mike was on a bereavement leave and that I could ship it back and that was the best solution that they could offer--that would make it the fifth time I shipped it back to them. Mike seemed to be the most helpful and best to talk to about a solution and I honestly just want to remedy it in some way; I am out $125 for the rebuild plus shipping x 4.

Now that I have finished restoring my 83 I am thinking about selling it and I would hate to have to buy a new carburetor to replace the loner carb that is currently on there while being out the $$ for this Karb King carburetor

bestracing

Sorry to hear that Chris

What was the latest problem? I know the first time was a stuck check ball in the accelerator pump jet.

I didn't post this but after I got done cleaning my 570 SA, and installed it I had a major gas leak. Turned out that the accelerator pump diaphragm had got hard over the winter and cracked when I pumped the gas for the first start. I've never had a problem like this years ago and now I've had 2 Holley carbs that have had the diaphragm go bad after sitting. One (600) I only ran for a month, drained it and sat it on my shelf and after a year it was bad. Didn't really think too much of it at the time until this happened with my newer carb after being on the motor for 5 years.

ChrisC

The first carb had the check ball issue, as you mentioned.

They sent me the second carb and it appeared old and dirty. It turned out to be their shop carb to which they set all baseline specs with that they had revamped and redone to my specs. This carb fired up first try but it was running pig rich and would not idle, it would immediately die after warming up and only attempted to idle when it was running pig rich. I tore it apart and found media inside the accelerator pump passages and in the idle circuit. They sent me different metering blocks to try and remedy but we had no such luck. I was told to send it back, and I did.

Carb 3 was sent to me as a stage 1 built Holley which included:Hi flow needles and seats, massaged emulsion and vent tubes, and bp'd jets. I got it and it looked good until I noticed that sometime in the process of it getting here the fuel line inlet on the fuel bowl was squished beyond repair and I could no longer get a fuel line in it (Most likely a problem that occurred at the hands of USPS). I then shipped it back and Mike called me to tell me that upon tear down, they had noticed that the needles and seats were junk from their vendor, so it was a good thing that I sent it back anyways.

Carb 4: I received it and put it on my motor (note that the main body from carb 3 and 4 were the same ones because there was no reason to swap them and this main body was new to me and I never tried it prior to this attempt) and there was no squirt from the accelerator pump. I took it off and noticed that the check ball was stuck in the passage again.

So, now it's current time and I still hold little faith that I will be contacted and this situation will be made right but so far that has not been the case.

bestracing

I don't remember what size you are dealing with here...
I have a 600 (1850) vacuum secondary carb and I know the main body is good, just old and dirty looking externally. If yours is a 600 and if you want I can send you the main body (less choke) from mine and you just cover the cost of shipping.

Let me know through PM's if you want to do this. I hate to see someone have as much problems as you have had with this.

ChrisC

Thanks man, I will pm you and keep you posted with your offer. As of right now, I want to see if anyone in contact with karb king on here currently can reach out and if so, I would like to see what happens with this current carb situation before I tear it down again. But like I said thanks a lot for the offer and I will keep you posted for sure!

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

Any updates?

bestracing

Okay. Just as an FYI, if you PM on the weekends I won't see it till Monday so be patient. I'm not ignoring you

Man, it hasn't even been 24 hours yet...

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

I could resist

14bolter

I just sent in my 4150 to Karb King to convert to a blow through for my awesome swap meet Hellion twin turbo score and talked to JR, who I think is the son of the owner. He mentioned his uncle had passed, and, I'd guess that has something to do with ChrisC being told Mike was on bereavement leave. JR's uncle: Mike's dad? I dunno.

Anyhow, JR said they had been racing almost every weekend this summer because of the NHRA scheduling. Did you guys know they race a Ford Cobra Jet (Mustang) that's really fuel injected?! Kind of ironic for carburetor builders! On the other hand, they support a lot of class racers and even pro stock guys, setting up carbs between rounds, so I guess they might as well have some fun themselves.

But I think the tight schedule and the apparent passing of one of their family members/carb builders is slowing things down. Other carbs they've built for me came back inside of a week, while i wuz the blow through would take two. No matter--I gotta pipe in those T4s.

Can't explain about that check ball thingy happening twice, but I bet media blasting without the squirter on and that needle in there would sure screw things up. I don't see how Karb King would do that as the pros that they are, but I could see it happening once. Twice is just crazy!

Anyway, Chris, talk to JR--he seems like a good guy and I'm sure he'd continue to help you like Mike did. That was some above and beyond customer service if you ask me.

And: TUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRBBBBBOOOOOSSS!!!

greeny

Hoping thing work out

14bolter

Yet another person using this thread to bash Karb King, a great shop that's not only done nothing but good for most of us, but stands behind their work with credits and free re-do's when the very few people have problems.

Karb King had built numerous "Karbs" for me, and refreshes my race Karbs every season--in fact, they have two if my 4412s right now. And, Greeny, you should know that they are closed through the first week of February, which is probably why you haven't received a response. I was told I won't get my Karbs back until the week of Feb 10. Something you should consider before bashing a good company that's probably on vacation.

Have you sent back your Karb to have them redo it? Surely they offered.

Anyway, these guys haven't stayed in business for 50 plus years without producing a good product that they stand behind. I'm a very satisfied Karb King Kustomer and have no problem referring others to them for carb work. I'd suggest you give Mike or JR a call when they get back before posting negative stuff about such a great bunch of guys.

wesilva

iTrader: (35)

I've got a buddy who has been waiting for his carb since November of last year. They aren't satisfying everyone!!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/karb-king-karbs-pittsburgh-3

greeny

I would not recommend using these guys I sent a carburetor out to them and when I received it it would not function properly on the car listed below is the email that I sent them and their reply to this day I still have not received any additional calls or emails and have emailed them an additional three times and called them over 50 times with no answer. It was a waste of $185 for the rebuild and $35 for shipping.*


Me:
At this point in time I am completely dissatisfied with the services I received. I sent a Holly Street avenger 870 into you guys to rebuild and a stage III upgrades which i was told included high flow, two-piece needles and seats, jet extensions and extended vent tubes, as well as anti-slosh baffles, high flow squirter bolts, matched squirter and accelerator pump cam and adds a 50cc accelerator pump, matched squirter and cam, as we'll as machined, ultra-thin throttle butterflies and high flow, countered screws and adds a high flow machined and ported main body with two kinds of boosters depending on your specific application.
when I receive the carburetor back the only thing I noticed was the accelerator Pump Spring had been removed and replaced with the solid bar and the bowls were painted black ( which has already came off when all the gas leaked out) and it did not look like any thing else in the statement above was changed. When I finally had the carburetor and fuel system completely installed and turned on the car the carburetor started pouring fuel out 5 places. Both the bowls and the fuel site glasses that were broke off that I was told would be replaced in the rebuild and were not and one of the fuel inlets. After removing parts, tightening up everything and then replacing I tried it again. The vehicle started up and I adjusted the timing to specs. Off initial idle there is an awful bawg that will completely shut off the engine. Can you email me or give me a call on why this is happening and why all the work that was suppose to be completed in the stage 3 upgrade was not.*

Them:
We do apologize and will have Vern contact you once the shop reopens for the holidays.*

We will repair and or replace the Karb at our kost in an effort to ensure your satisfaction, and will place a $125 credit on your account toward future work. Once again, please accept outlet apologies with the knowledge that we'll not only get to the bottom of things, but will make things right.

Happy New Year,

Karb King

Karb King--The Monarch of Mixers!

greeny

I would not use these guys. I had to take my carb to another shop to fix it. I will post some pics of what the carb looked like when I got it back from them.

fteufert

I packaged my carb great when I shipped it to them. When I received it back, it was not packed properly. A side vacuum port was bent, and the side air pot was broken.

They said ship it back, and they would repair it. For $10, I bought the broken part locally.

It does work, but not as well as I expected it to. It may have suffered more than cosmetic damage.

Their packaging SUCKS.