first, when I ordered it, I ordered a 480 CFS, but was sent a 650 CFS rebuilt. My fault, I never checked it out immediatly, and months later, when I put it on my new motor, It ran OK, then the secondary needle seat started to leak, and flooded it out. I cleaned it, and reset tne floats according to the book, But now it has this hesitation on taking off in first gear gear Three speed W OD. (55 Merc 292, bored to 312 Pistons, with a cam that has .444 lift, and .220 duration.) Pretonix ign. and hot coil.
I cannot get the hesitation out. I just bought a 600cfm edelbrock for $50.00, and am going to try that. If it works better, the autolite goes on ebay. If I like the Edelbrock, A friend who works at NAPA wants to trade me a brand new elelbrock 500, 0r 600 CFM, wit elect. choke for a 292 long block. any suggestions on the hesitation?? it never did it before the needle sticking> thanks

Did you mean a 480 CFM or 650 CFM? (I've never heard of a 650 CFM version of the 4100...)

In any case, can you try to identify the 4100?
On the drivers side primary float bowl, there should be either a 1.08 or a 1.12 stamped, unless it is a very early (1958-59) carb.
On the front drivers mounting bolt base, there will be a series of numbers like "C3AF-R", or "6A-AB" or something like that.
These numbers will identify the carb so we can know what it came from, what jets should be in it, etc.

Now for a couple ideas:
With a 220-deg cam, especially if you have headers, the jetting might be right on the edge of too lean already (but that depends on which carb model it is!)
Perhaps the floats were set high to compensate, and when you set them back to factory, it is now trying to fight low floats and lean jets at the same time and losing the battle.

I'd try raising the floats a bit, and also a couple steps richer jets.

The Edelbrock 600 is a good carb too, but if it is factory jetted it also might be too lean for something with a healthy intake and headers, I had that experience.

The Edelbrock 500 is supposed to have bigger / more responsive primary boosters, or that's what E-brock told me, so it could be a very responsive carb as long as you're making under 300 hp it would be a good choice too.

But when those 4100 1.12 Autolites are right, they're "right", I've had them just JUMP off the line, and give excellent Gtech times compared to other carbs, on anything from a stock 289 to a 428 FE.

So I'd try the float level and jet tricks first before you give up!

I did mean CFS, bad mistake. I work in the oil and gas industry, and we use CFM, to measure gas and i did a typo. sorry for the confussion.

600 CFm 1.12 carb on a 292 is too much carb, and that is the cause of your hesitation.
Sounds like you may have gotten rid of a good sized carb and probably a valuable one only to get a common 1.12 version. Now its highly possible that your hopped up 292 just might be able to make use of all those CFM's but I am still guesing over carbed.

Why wasn't it doing it before the problem was you probably had something not set up right or blocking the fuel inlet (very common problem for rebuilt carbs)

Personally I do not like the edelbrock carburetor, they are basically carter thermoquads and have Carters reputation, They run strong as long as they are carefully matched to the engine combination, but they are tricky to tune and keep tuned. Much,much,much more complicated than the 4100 Autolite. Personally I wouldn't trade, Actually I have a half of dozen edelbrock and carter pull-offs that I would LOVE to trade for 4100's as well.

Bill White
White Automotive