Stromberg Aerotype Carburetor

[Guest mustangfreak_b]

I am looking for a Stromberg Aerotype Carburetor for a 1937 Buick Roadmaster Series 80. It has the Fireball 320 ci Inline 8. My grandpa and I have looked everywhere to find parts for this thing and are not having any luck. The car was parked 12 years ago because the carburetor is to blame for it not running very good. The previous owner bypassed the auto-choke by bending the lever that connects the mechanism to that part of the carburetor. He installed a manual choke in order to get it to run. We wish to return it to factory original. We have found a couple of places that sell rebuild kits for the carburetor but no where can we find the upper portion to replace it. The current carb we have is complete just not fully functioning. If anyone has one for sale or knows someone who does it would be appreciated. I am totally out of ideas. We want to keep the car as original as possible. The Model is an A-22 or 22-A from what info I can find on it.

[carbking]

In 1937, Buick used 2 different manufacturers of carburetors: Marvel and Stromberg. BOTH COULD BE CLASSED AS EXPERIMENTAL VERSIONS! Neither worked well!

Additionally, Buick insisted on the use of the Delco automatic choke. Possibly the only good thing that can be said about the Delco automatic choke is that it was discontinued after only 2 model years.

In 1938, both the Marvel and the Stromberg were redesigned. The Marvel wasn't much better; however, the Stromberg would have been a good unit except Buick still insisted on the Delco choke. Again, neither carb worked well (the Stromberg would work fairly well in mild climates, as mechanics quickly learned to adjust the choke so it would go completely open, and let the customer worry about starting with only half a choke).

In 1939 Buick finally gave up on both Marvel AND the Delco choke. Carter was added as the second manufacturer of carburetors.

BOTH CARTER AND STROMBERG OFFERED REPLACEMENTS WHICH WERE SOLD BY BUICK DEALERS FOR THE 1937 AND 1938 MODEL YEARS!

Both the Carter and 1939 Strombergs were excellent carburetors, and virtually ALL original 1937 and 1938 Marvels and Strombergs were removed from service in 1939 by owners who really wanted to drive their cars.

In 2014, finding original 1937 or 1938 Marvels or Strombergs is a little more difficult than finding a needle in a hayfield, especially those for the large engined Buicks!

Professional opinion AND suggestions:

If you plan on driving and enjoying the car, find one of the factory replacements OR make the modification to a stock 1939 carburetor.

The modification is really quite easy. As both the 1937 and 1938 were experimental designs, the throttle linkage was placed on the opposite side of the throttle shaft from other 2 barrel carburetors of the period. Because of this placement, starting the engine with a non-Buick carb or a 1939 standard carb would cause the engine to immediately race to WOT (wide open throttle). Pressing the footfeed to the floor would then allow the engine to come back to idle. Somewhat difficult to learn to drive a vehicle in this manner.

So how to modify: think of a child's seesaw; when one child goes up, the child on the other end goes down. Substitute the throttle shaft for the seesaw center support and the modification is obvious. Simply fabricate a flat steel arm that will bolt to the throttle on the 1939 (or newer) Buick carb that will move the throttle link to the opposite side of the throttle shaft (on the same side of the carburetor). Measure the center to center distance from the center of the end of the throttle shaft to the center of the hole for the throttle linkage, and drill a hole in the arm you fabricated to move the linkage the same distance.

On the other hand; should you have a numbers-matching showcar that needs only to run from the trailer to the showfield, or should you choose to ignore the advice given in the preceding three paragraphs.....the carb for which you are looking is available, but NOT cheap.

Jon.

[carbking]

After posting the above post, I checked to see where in California Poway is located. With your location, you can probably drive the car, although not well, using the 1937 carb you have with the choke set permanently in the wide open position. Even with the choke disabled, it still is not a good carburetor.

Jon.

[darineugenius]

I know it's 8 years later, but I have one of those Stromberg Aerotype. 

[Peter R.]

Did a 1939 Buick Stromberg but removed the starter switch and installed the air horn of a White Truck AAV-2 Stromberg so the carburetor now has a hand choke....starts well now and runs fine... 🙂

 

[Peter R.]

[63RedBrier]

Nice work, Peter!

[Peter R.]

So this must be one of the „Delco-Joke“ Buick (40) carburetors carbking was talking about.

 

[Peter R.]

The infamous Delco choke....

 

[Peter R.]

....and how it attaches to the carburetor.

 

[Peter R.]

....and thanks Jon, now I know why I didn‘t find this carburetor in the books 🙂

[carbking]

Peter - if you can find the "speedometer cable" that drives the choke, you will also find someone with a '37 Buick with a Marvel that would be delighted to acquire your Stromberg.

 

Jon

[darineugenius]

Definitely nice work Peter!!

[Peter R.]

On 3/20/2022 at 2:18 PM, carbking said:

the "speedometer cable" that drives the choke

Jon, I didn‘t find the flex shaft that drives the choke valve. But I found a another early Buick 40 Stromberg.....and a bunch of dual  Marvels.....

 

I noticed that Marvel provided two different Delco-Remy choke systems for Buick in 1937. Assuming the BD Marvel being the earlier system because it‘s using an earlier Delco-Remy choke drive that had also been used on earlier Buick updraft carburetor setups (from 1933 on).

 

Besides the fact that the dual  downdraft Marvel wasn‘t a good carburetor, did the earlier Delco-Remy choke setup work okay and was it used on Marvels only in 1937?

 

[carbking]

Peter - I honestly do not know. The CD replaced the BD fairly early in production. We virtually never get kit requests for a type BD. I talk most folks out of rebuilding their CD, and replacing it with a Stromberg. As far as applications of the choke, I do not know. Several companies offered divorced chokes in this time period. Most of them did not work well, and many of the cars equipped with the divorced chokes have manual choke add-ons.

 

I have no record that any manufacturer other than Buick actually used either the BD or the CD, but Marvel did offer them in the aftermarket. In 45 years I have yet to see one of the aftermarket versions. I cannot believe Marvel sold many of them.

 

Jon

[dibarlaw]

Jon:

 As we have discussed that my 1937 Buick (now in Winnipeg) had the Marvel BD. A gentleman with a 1937 Buick Special Phaeton about 15 miles from me had his originally set up with the CD-1B. He showed it to me. I commented on how much larger and more complicated it looked than my BD-1. I think he has a retrofitted Carter with a manual choke now.