As you approach the hill, you wonder what mix of hiccups, sputters and stalls await you through the obstacle. At this point, you no longer worry whether your suspension will flex enough or your axle will hold up. Chances are your engine is practically swimming in raw gasoline and barely making enough horsepower to spin the alternator. You may find yourself heel-toeing the dookie out of your foot controls just to keep your AMC 258 running. Anyone who has ever experienced the foul effects of the stock Carter carburetor on a 258 knows that getting your CJ out of the driveway is a challenge to your skill and sanity, let alone driving it off-road. You justify it by saying, "My Jeep has a lot of miles on it, and maybe it's time I rebuild the carb."
The idea, although noble, is like polishing a turd. This carburetor's internal design causes certain parts to wear and leak air and/or fuel. There are companies that can fix these problems, but it involves special machining and more money than you may be willing to spend on a power-sucking leech. After a plethora of e-mails, letters and bricks through our window, we decided it was high time that we give you folks a few options for this pickle. Which is right for you will depend on what you use your Jeep for, local emission laws and, of course, the size of your wallet. 4Wheel Drive Hardware had several options for our inline-six. We ordered all three, installed them in our driveway and gave each one an on- and off-road run. Here's what we found.