While carburetors may not come from the factory on production vehicles anymore, they are still a hot commodity. Whether for restoring a vintage street car, or building a max-performance race engine, AED Performance manufacturers carbs to fit the application. This video takes a look inside the AED Performance factory and follows along as an off-the-shelf 750 HO-series high-performance carburetor comes to life.

Starting off with a bare Holley casting, AED mills the choke horn, installs the boosters, and fly-cuts the main body for flatness. Then the vent tubes are reamed and all the machined surfaces are deburred. The final step shown is the main body being threaded for adjustable idle bleed screws.

Moving on from the main body, the video illustrates the metering block threading and assembly. Then, the baseplate is assembled and, once installed on the main body, the throttle linkage gets adjusted for wide-open throttle. Then the metering block and float bowls are installed, which completes step one of the carburetor’s production process.

AED’s wet-flow tester is the key to sending out custom carbs that are ready to bolt-on. They can mimic the actual airflow and fuel flow the carburetor will see on the engine, as well as different altitudes.

Once the carburetor is completely assembled, AED goes beyond a flow bench. All of their off-the-shelf carburetors are put on one of AED’s test engines and the adjustments start. The mixture screws are adjusted and the response checked, along with the float levels. Idle speed is checked and the carb is ensured to be free of leaks, stumbles or any other issues.

The next step in the video shows a custom application getting the venturi CNC-sized to the specific application. Then, off-camera the carb is tumbled and deburred after machining, and assembled with custom-sized components specifically tailored to the application the customer specified.

Next, since custom applications are, well, custom, we see the carb being tested on AED’s wet-flow tester, which can simulate the amount of airflow and fuel flow the carburetor will see in real-world use, which allows them to dial in the air/fuel curve to each application, under the customer’s specific parameters, such as different fuels and altitudes.

“We pride ourselves on being the best carburetor right out of the box,” says Jeff Harris of AED Performance. “The Wet-Flow bench is a key tool in making that happen for us and our customers.”

Besides being a cool video, it gives you an idea of how much effort and care goes into assembling a carburetor at AED Performance. While carburetors may be an older technology that today’s EFI, they are far from obsolete, and with folks like AED they will remain a competitive option for a long time to come.