Great Place for Thermoquads & Other Carbs!

["Tom Harais" <tjhemh@domain.elided>]

Digesters:

Many of you know about my trials and tribulations in obtaining a smog
legal, rebuilt Carter Thermo-Quad carburetor for my motorhome. Many of you
are also running Thermo-Quads on your Scouts and if not, your probably
running one of the Holley incarnates that was used. Even you guys running
afermarket AFBs might be interested.

Well, I found this shop out of L.A. called, "BFIC Carbs Only". Their URL is
below (I hope.) Also, you can contact them online at: mail@domain.elided.

I sent them my information over the net and then, after they told me they
could get me a quaility rebuilt Thermo-Quad with a NEW phenolic resin body
and ship it to me for a very reasonable price, I called and ordered it.
And, they knew all about my situation when I called, because I had already
entered all the specific info when I sent the original inquiry. They just
called it up and took my order over the phone!

Well, it showed up in few days time via UPS. And man, was I impressed. The
screws, the throttle plates and the throttle shafts & linkages along with
some cover plates, were all anonized a beautifull yellow gold color. The
new, resin body was shiny and clean compared to those old warped and
cracked ones you usually see. The top cover and base had been tumbled or
shot peened, but were not so abused such that all casting marks and numbers
had been removed. I could see that even the vent tubes had been pulled,
annodized and reinsterted. leaving small, cosmetic cracks in the foundation
in the cover plate where they go. THIS WAS QUALITY REBUILD WORK LIKE I'VE
NEVER SEEN! Better than if I had done it myself.

The only problem for me was, that although this was the model "listed" as
the replacement for the one that originally came on my motorhome, it has a
lever actuated bowl vent (same as on Scouts) that prevents the mounting of
the throttle positioner that came on the motorhomes and certain Chrysler
trucks. :-(

So, I wrote a lengthy explanation of my problem back to BFIC via email that
night. I described how this Tquad was slightly different than the one I was
looking for and how that difference wouldn't allow me to mount the throttle
positioner that was a "smog inspection" requirement. And, the next day I
got an email reply from the shop. 

Now today, a "Ken" from the shop called to clarify some issues. He told me
that he pretty much understood what I was talking about and that he was
going to check his sources and the rebuilder to see if they couldn't
accomodate me. He also told me the rebuild source they get the Tquads from
has the original molds for many of the bodies which is how they get "new
bodies" in the first place. 

And, you all know how we rage on about the "kids" at parts stores and
automotive shops and how they don't or won't speak to us as though we know
anything? Well this guy was more than willing to work with me on this and
asked for a couple of days to see what he could find out, telling me that
he's hoping to just "swap carburetors with me".  He speaks our language was
willing to listen as well as explain. He didn't think that International
"used to be made by Ford". All that, and a long distance phone call too for
$200 part! 

And, I'm pretty sure if he can't find an answer on his own, I might be able
to come up with a proper core from an RV wrecking yard up in Sacarmento and
I'd still want to see about these folks rebuilding that for me, just for
the quality and glitz that they can provide.

Hey, what more could I want. Quality and service. I post this so you can
all check these guys out for yourself. If you need a rebuilt carb for your
Scout, I recommend you see what these folks can do for you. Like I said,
since the parts were re-annodized, it was a better job than I could have
done myself. Most of the rebuilt carbs I've ever bought looked like they
had been dipped to clean them and sandblasted to remove years of grime and
sent like that. The Tquad I got from BFIC looks brand new for the most
part.

Check them out for yourselves. Carburetors and fuel injection are thier
only business and they seem to know what they're doing.

Tom H.