quote:By the time you pay for a rebuild kit and the mechanic’s time a new one starts looking like a smarter move.
I know what you mean, but to replace this carb-for-carb would be around $900-1K US w tax & shipping (haven't found one at a Canadian vendor yet, still looking), I could go with the 'street' version from Holley and get it for around $600CDN on sale just now. Or the rebuild for $3-400 including some of the above work or a grand including all of the work.
Another option is going with an aluminum Holley 670 Street Avenger for around $530, or an Edelbrock Thunder AVS 650 for $450 (I hope I'm not in danger of starting a debate by mentioning Holley and Edelbrock in the same sentence). If I were to consider one of these carbs, then yes, definitely a better option than a rebuild, but to stay with what I have, the rebuild is more economical - if it doesn't start leaking again for a long time.
... Some folks have asked about the age of the carb, I checked the previous owner's for-sale ad, and he said it was a new carb during his rebuild, based on what I learned while I was buying the car and how long I've owned it, that means the carb could be anywhere from 4-9 years old. However, his resto took 5 years, so I prefer to think he bought the carb at the end of the resto (making it 4 years old) rather than at the beginning and it sat in the box the whole time. So, it would only have 4 years of light use (with about 5-6 months of storage per year each of those years as we both live in northern climates).