I started with a couple of Tech Edge wb's that I built about 12 years ago. They still work nicely.
Then I bought a couple of Innovate LC-1's and the history on the LC-1 has been not so good for me as well as a lot of other people. Some say the LM version is better, but, I had enough after going thru three of them (LC-1s).
I spent some time today installing an NGK-AFX wb on one of my cars. It has a very good reputation. The display is not a fancy 2 1/6" gauge like many but it is both reliable and accurate. I am not too concerned about the display as I will display the analog out on my scanntool as a default rather than the narrow band O2s which I only use as a back up opinion because I am running speed density and not using them for fuel control.
The other two brands that are very popular are the PLX and the AEM. Both seem quite reliable.
One of the most sensitive issues with wb's seems to be the grounding. It is important to have all grounds attached to the same point and it should be to the battery, or a good engine ground point.
Carbs are a bit more tedious to tune because you have to mess with the bleeds to get the mid range down as lean as you would like.
Generally, a stock cammed engine will idle in the 14's, but the larger the cam, the richer it needs to be to keep a stable idle. We see this on the efi cars as well. Don't be surprised to see an AF in the 12's on an engine with a long duration cam at idle. Neil mentioned something in another thread regarding the poor atomization of fuel by a carb at idle which may make it necessary to run richer to get a good idle and this is completely true. Always tune for what runs best...not what theory says
For cruise, I have found that AF's between 15 and 16.5-1 give the best gas mileage. Some cars will be closer to stoch because it is hard to get a little enrichment as the load rises slightly.
