carbking

Your shop manual should tell you that your carburetor wants 3 psi MAXIMUM! More than that, and results are going to be less than desirable. Yes, the carburetor CAN be modified (on the inside, by an expert) for a bit more pressure, but it is a tricky procedure and would require lots of time, effort, and parts. As to a regulator, you want a regulator with an internal bypass, NOT the inline dial-type sold by the FLAPS in the $19.95~$39.95 (depending on the conscience of the seller). These are quite useful for those of us who garden, have a strong arm, and the typical rabbit problem in the garden. Jon.

Stromberg used lead balls as plugs to seal access passages in the castings. If you do not need to remove the old plug for cleaning the passage, just ignore it. And item 26 in the picture is a check valve, which is a brass threaded fitting with an encapsulated steel ball. We include the passage balls in most of the Stromberg kits, because the balls cost us about 4 cents each, and postage, in the rare case someone actually needs one, is $12. Simply cheaper to include them. The vendor should have explained this to you when you contacted the vendor. Jon.

The original carburetor would have been a Penberthy (Ball & Ball) SV-37. In almost 60 years of working on carburetors, I have yet to see a usable SV-37. Enthusiasts that wish to enjoy their cars replace them. As noted in the post above, Zenith made replacement carbs for many makes and models. Jon.

Frank - I have not tried simple green; I use Dawn dishwater detergent. Jon.

Unless that is a crack on the fuel filter extension, the carb does not look that bad. Have you attempted to disassemble it? As a general rule, NOT a good idea to swap an industrial carb to a car application, or vice versa, even if the displacement is identical. Not even a good idea to swap a Chevy passenger carb to a Pontiac or Buick of the same displacement; as the fuel curves are as different as night is to day. Note this is a general rule, and there can be exceptions. I would suggest a little patience, and an ultrasonic cleaner if you have access to one, on your existing carburetor. Jon.

This unit is so new the Zenith literature is not overly helpful, however: 12997B - Zenith identification, the "B" means the second engineering change. Number falls in approximately 1965 number run. Specified as Continental F244 6 cylinder engine, which should be a 244 CID. CA210F-300 - Continental identification number. The carburetor was not produced for a long period of time, as it shows as obsolete in the Zenith 1968 catalog. Try a pencil eraser on that plate, instead of a brush. Jon.

The tag is visible in the last picture! "If so, there should be a round tag about the size of a dime riveted to the casting somewhere, probably the top casting." Jon.

The carburetor appears to be a Zenith. If so, there should be a round tag about the size of a dime riveted to the casting somewhere, probably the top casting. On the tag, there should be 2 rings of numbers (inner ring, and outer ring). The inner ring would be the Zenith number, and the most important one. The outer ring would be the O.E. number (as in Ford, GMC, etc.) and useful only if one has a master parts book for the vehicle. Jon.

Thinking out loud (dangerous). It has been a long time since I had a Cadillac tripower intake to look at, and memory sometimes has a parity error I have had, and still have a number of Cadillac dual quad intakes. These are notorious for cracking. On the dual quads, there is a steel tube pressed through the heat cross-over to provide an air source for the heated air for the automatic chokes. From memory, every one I have ever had was cracked where the tube was pressed through. We would magniflux, and sure enough, there is the crack. My welding looks like the underside of my third grade desk, but used to have them professionally welded. What would be the ramifications of an internal exhaust leak? Could this cause a leak mixture in one cylinder? Like I said earlier, I no longer have a Cadillac tripower manifold to check. Jon.

My favorite is "Lucas - inventor of the three-position light switch - off, on, flicker". Jon.

Actually octane boosters DO perform an important function; they cause money to circulate. 😝 But any benefit to an engine from octane boost is basically in the mind of the driver! Jon.

There is actually some truth in this quote, just not about the mileage. In 1932, Ford introduced the V-8, with the Detroit Lubricator carburetor. Ford mechanics HATED the Detroit Lubricator carburetor (Cadillac, Graham, and Packard mechanics had no issues?????). Most know the various stories of the relationship of Ford and Holley carburetor. Late in the model year of 1933, 1000 Ford V-8's were delivered with a Bracke (division of Holley) experimental carburetor. Ford dealers were told to talk to the customers, and replace the Bracke with the Detroit carb at the first service. Bracke Ford carburetor Of course, in 1934, Ford switched to the Stromberg type EE-1 (2-barrel) on the V-8. However, Bracke did supply a two barrel carb for testing. Bracke Ford two-barrel I have yet to speak with anyone who has run a Bracke, or known anyone who has run a Bracke; thus I have no comment concerning its quality. It was a really unusual air-valve design. And later Ford enthusiasts are aware that as soon as Holley came out with a conventional two-barrel (the AA-1 designed by Chandler-Groves, also a division of Holley), Ford switched to the Holley in 1939, thus continuing the relationship. Jon.

The brass bowl carbs were NOT problematic in 1932; but the design was quite outdated compared to the brand new type BB-1 carbs. And today, the brass bowl carbs are approaching 100 years of age! The fall of 1931 was a GREAT year for carburetors. Carter introduced the type BB-1, Stromberg introduced the types SF and SFM, and Zenith introduced the types 63 and 263, all for use on 1932 models. And, believe me, there were a LOT more replacement Strombergs and Zeniths sold than Carters. And while I personally feel the Strombergs and Zeniths are a better design than the Carter BB-1's, perhaps the reason Stromberg and Zenith sold so many more was the forethought and marketing. Just considering the Stromberg type SF alone: Stromberg produced 38 different sizes of the SF (Carter produced 3). Stromberg listed specific calibrations for several thousand vehicles. Carter listed 188. But many of the early designs were NOT problematic; they simply were an earlier design. Of course, some of the earlier carbs were problematic. From the 1920's: "You have a Marvel carburetor??? It will be a MARVEL if it works"! (Very old mechanics pun). As far as the original air cleaners: I have sold several on Ebay after I tried to sell them here. Best I ever got was $75. each, and I paid the shipping! Jon.

Pontiac first used a two-barrel carb on the 8 in 1940 - Carter WD-0 569s. The heat riser tube pictured by Bloo is an aftermarket piece, produced by the Standard Hygrade Company. The pictured tube, HT-28, is listed for Pontiac 6 only 1941-1942. Hygrade lists an earlier tube, HT-23, for Pontiac 1933~1939. They do not differentiate as to 6 cylinder or 8 cylinder in the listing. Jon.

Carter WA-1 carburetors. Leather accelerator pumps, so ethanol contaminated fuel doesn't hurt the pump. Excellent carbs. If you are buying a set or piecing together a set, be aware they were used on three different size engines, so there are different sized carbs. The ones for the 308 are the most difficult to find, and the most expensive. As others have said, they MUST be synchronized, but that is an easy procedure; and once synchronized, just leave them alone. Quality set-up. Jon.

You are seeing the entire pump, the "sealing surface" is the largest diameter brass cylinder. THERE IS NO LEATHER SKIRT! The damaged piece on the bottom is simply a brass washer holding the pump together. (1) remove the washer (2) glass bead the pump (3) fabricate a new brass washer (4) peen the end of the shaft over the new washer These units were sold through such sites as Whitney, Warshawsky, and Western Auto to customers too frugal to purchase a gasket set for the original carburetor. According to the Tillotson books, even Tillotson did not offer a rebuilding kit. Tillotson did offer individual parts, but they had to be special ordered. The pump is Tillotson 0-3900. As far as the kits containing pumps, we started hand-cutting kits some 30 years ago. To date, you are the first requesting a pump. The cost of fabricating a new pump would exceed the value of the carburetor. These carbs do have one redeeming feature: the top casting is cast iron. So one can place the top casting in a machine, and cut the flange from the rest of the casting just above the throttle shaft. One can then weld two of these together to fabricate a carburetor adapter. Jon.

Would be useful to know which; HOWEVER: before playing with the carburetor, would highly suggest you play with the ignition. Jon.

Possibly the very best Schebler ever made (opinion). They work exceptionally well on engines with very little RPM range. Jon.

The early production 1928 Pontiac came with Carter DRJH-0 identification number 101s. Pontiac unfortunately switched to Marvel in mid-1928. The Carter DRJH-0 was equipped with an external accelerator pump with a zinc alloy (pot metal housing). In 61 years of working on carburetors, I have yet to see one of these that was unbroken and usable. Generally, on that model, they are missing, and the cast iron housing plugged. The amount of fuel originally delivered by that accelerator pump was maybe 5 percent of the fuel delivered by a more modern carburetor. The value of the accelerator pump in 1928 was largely in the mind of the driver; it had little to do with car performance. Low speed issues are likely to be ignition related (timing/advance), or, if carburetor related, an idle tube that is not sealing. The 1926/27 Pontiac used a Carter DR-0 which had no accelerator pump. The type, DR-0 or DRJH-0 is cast on the side of the carburetor throat. Jon.

To add to Ed's post: When Carter was still making AFB carbs, and got into the aftermarket, they basically made aftermarket carbs for small block Chevvies ONLY! WHY? There were production performance single 4 AFB's for the 409 There were production performance dual 4's for the 409 There were production performance single 4's from 625~939 CFM for Pontiac There were production performance dual 4's for Pontiac And Buick (factory duals), and Ford (Shelby duals), and Chrysler products (wedges and hemis). There were no AFB's for Oldsmobile, but the calibration is similar to that of Pontiac. By this time, there was little demand for performance carburetors for Cadillac. If one looks at the calibrations for the various performance carbs CALIBRATED BY CARTER, one finds 2 major (and quite a few minor) differences in calibrations for "torquers" and "screamers" when it comes to engines. The above is simply to whet the appetite of the reader to do their own research. Look particularly at the attack angle and mass of the weights of the auxiliary air valves; as well as the rod diameter differentials (high vac to low vac) and the air bleeds and idle circuits. When Federal Mogul bought Carter from ACF, FM continued the application for the aftermarket carbs; although they did redesign them to sell much cheaper (wonder how)? :mad: Federal Mogul had a lot of difficulty selling the redesigned AFB's to Carter distributors (we were one at the time - about 1986). They needed to sell them to someone. I won't get into transmission linkage, because not my field; but a totally wore-out 1963 Pontiac carb (if one cannot find a totally wore-out Buick carb) can be refurbished for less than trying to recalibrate the aftermarket carbs built for "screamer" engines; even when starting with genuine (before FM) Carter aftermarket carbs, let alone the clones, and will function quite well on Buicks. Jon.

The 1931 carbs were made for Cadillac by Johnson. If I ever get to retire, I am going to try to find out WHY Cadillac used Johnson carburetors; there must be a brother-in-law or something somewhere! As to what else may be used: In the realm of updraft carburetors, some opt to replace the 1931 Johnsons with the 1932 (and later) Detroit Lubricators. Very expensive, but they fit, and they are calibrated for the Cadillac engine. Because of the issues involved with the Johnsons, and the cost of the Detroits; maybe 30 or so years ago, we had a replacement set available. We started with a universal marine Zenith (we had a bunch of these from a buy-out) with an adjustable main metering jet. We then used the throttle arms on the original Detroits as patterns, and cast throttle arms to fit the Cadillac engine to replace the original arms on the Zenith. The throttle bodies on the Zenith also required modification. But once done, the carbs just plain WORKED. We ran out of Zeniths of this type, with no additional ones available, so sent the pattern arms to another company. The last conversion we helped do may sound like heresy to Cadillac owners. We had a customer with a V-12 and NO carbs, and a previously heavily modified vehicle. Would have cost a fortune to restore the car to original. He wanted to drive it WITHOUT doing the restoration. We suggested turning the intakes upside down, and using a pair of Carter W-1 carbs from the late 1940's. It worked, and worked well. I realize the focus of these forums is keeping things as original as possible; and I mostly agree with that focus. But when it comes to the Johnsons used by Cadillac, I firmly believe there are cars to show (NEVER started), and cars to drive. The Johnsons are fine on the cars never started; but replacing them with something more reliable just might mean we save another antique car! (MOO). Like Ed, I could make them work (at least for a few minutes), but would never ever consider telling a customer they were reliable. Jon

When trying to adapt a non-original carburetor, one needs to make a "picture" of the area beneath the intake manifold, with dimensions to the nearest obstruction in all directions. The "picture" must be indexed on the center of the hole in the intake (easier to simply measure the center to center on the mounting holes, then measure from one or the other and add or subtract the radius). One can then do the same for the carburetor. If the carburetor picture fits inside the picture under the manifold, the carburetor will fit. Jon.

The hole is a vacuum source for a sandwich governor, if used on a truck with a sandwich governor. In which case, a restrictor with an orifice based on the application, was inserted into this hole. If the carburetor is used on any vehicle without a sandwich governor, the restrictor is unnecessary. Jon

Try Cliff Ruggles at Cliff's High Performance, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Tell him I said hi. Jon.

Electric fuel pumps and older vehicles Jon.