These young ladies prefer to support the Hot Rod world of Edelbrock carb users (and there are LOTS of them out there). Riley set up an ad on Facebook which went viral and her business took off. She now has four other high school girls working with her doing first-class rebuilds. She also has support from Edelbrock - Always a good thing. They seem pretty busy with Edelbrock units and I'll bet they could do really well if they mastered Quadra-Jets, too.
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Very interesting, @Gordon Nichols. Thanks for sharing.
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"There’s 'a whole weird underground' that still needs carbs..."
So, still in high school, good with wrenches, and already she understands how nuanced humanity can be. This kid's going to do all right.
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She's dealing with the Hot Rod world (among other noted motorsports). She has certainly seen "Weird".
BTW: She did a video of some of her R&R people traveling to an industry show a while back in her family's big old RV. They were rebuilding carburetors on the galley table enroute (when they weren't doing homework for school).
It pays to keep busy (and keep up with the backlog).
She also got a tour of the Edelbrock facilities, probably because she buys her rebuild kits from them, too. It always pays to have an "in" with the factory.
FWIW, In something more relevant to our vehicluar abnormalities:
when Justin McCallister moved Blackline Racing to Idaho, he lost Dave Hogland as his carb guy. Justin's wife Shayla (who I met when she was Art Thraen's secretary) now does a lot of the carb rebuilds, and by all accounts does a fabulous job of it.
Neat story.
Thanks, @Gordon Nichols, it made me smile!
Nice article Gordon. Thanks for that.
FYI, I'm not primarily in business to make money. I just like to help people. If I make a few bucks in the process, that's just a bonus. I like the work and enjoy assisting folks.
I'm really primarily into Webers, but speak Dellorto as well. If anybody needs assistance, PM me.
But hey, if teenage girls with braces are your thing, you might want to seek help.
Danny rebuilt my pair of Dell 40's. Great job!
Well, I rebuilt my 44 IDFs myself -- twice. But I could not have done it without mega input from the aforementioned @DannyP. He sent advice, encouragement and also a few parts. Then to top it all off, he did his Weber Whisper thing under his tent at Carlisle in the parking lot one spring and they have been right ever since -- just like he said they would be.
I wonder if these cute HS gals would do an old carb from an '84 Ford 150 PU?? I should go ask and find out.
You could certainly email them or find them on Facebook. Early 80’s Ford carbs, at least for their V8 engines, were usually built specially for Ford by Holley and as they got older the Viton seals on the pilot valves tend to leak and they run rich (among other things).
Because of all the emissions stuff that those carbs support, they’re a little more involved to rebuild than, say, a Carter or Rochester or even the Autolite versions used by Ford, but they’re not too bad.
Contact them, tell ‘em what you’ve got and see what they say.
I did, they politely declined, explaining that they pretty much do Edlebrock. But they pointed me to another mom and pop (actually pop and son) operation, which I will follow up on.
Great story; and I thought the new generations were done for....there's hope.