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Why a drilled hole in a Stromberg float bowl cover?


Gary_Ash

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I'm rebuilding some 1937-vintage Stromberg EX-23 1-barrel carbs. I've bought a few of these carbs for my project and found some of them had a hole drilled in the cover of the float bowl. Since these holes are in different places and are different sizes, I don't think the factory did this. My other EX-23 carbs don't have holes in the covers. Besides, there is already a vented cap on the cover.

Did people used to do this in hopes of preventing vapor lock or is there some other reason? I plan on welding up the holes.

post-47871-143142752577_thumb.jpg

post-47871-143142752577_thumb.jpg

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I thought of the gasoline-fired heater, but this hole seems too small for a pickup tube. However, one of the carbs did have a brass 1/8" pipe plug inserted in its hole. Wouldn't the heater need a pressurized feed from the fuel pump line, not just a siphon line?

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I thought of the gasoline-fired heater, but this hole seems too small for a pickup tube. However, one of the carbs did have a brass 1/8" pipe plug inserted in its hole. Wouldn't the heater need a pressurized feed from the fuel pump line, not just a siphon line?

That is exactly what those holes are for. A gasoline-fired heater a Southwind. See link for an explanation on how a Southwind heater worked.

http://classiccars.about.com/od/maintenancetips/a/Southwind.htm

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Sure enough, the Southwind heater uses a 1/8" diameter special "emulsion tube" to draw unpressurized fuel from a carb float bowl or a separate fuel can. That would explain the small holes. The heaters use engine vacuum to pull the fuel through the heater and expel the burned vapors to the car's intake manifold. Very interesting!

Looks like you can buy a rebuilt unit here:http://southwindheater.com/Home.html

I don't think, however, that I will be installing a Southwind heater in my replica of a 1932 Studebaker Indy car, so I'm going to weld up those holes anyway.

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That is exactly what those holes are for. A gasoline-fired heater a Southwind. See link for an explanation on how a Southwind heater worked.

http://classiccars.about.com/od/maintenancetips/a/Southwind.htm

Just as an aside, some of you may be interested (or not), this heater has been and still is a popular heating accessory for light aircraft to this day.

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