4bbl carb on flathead?

I have a basically stock 52 Merc.. Not sure but I think it has been bored .040.. I have picked up 2 different 4GC carburetors for it.. one is off a 1964 300 Buick with the aluminum throttle plate,, The other is off a 55 Caddy.. Make any difference which one I use?
 
I agree that the 390 is a good carb for a mostly stock flathead.
They have TWO big disadvantages for a traditional hot rod though. They don't make much noise at WOT. This is why a lot of guys run loud pipes to compensate.
Also, they do not look traditional. You might as well have a 350 Chev. sitting under them.
People nowdays will put a lot of money into modifying a flathead say to 268 or
276 ci, put on 3 Stromberg 97's or 48's and never hear the song it sings at 5500 rpm because they are actually afraid of the noise..
It isn't a race engine but it sure sounds like one.
 
itsa52 said:
No Carter,, both Rochesters
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Do they both have the small bolt pattern where they bolt onto the manifold?
The early ones had a small bolt pattern, these line up with the holes in the flathead 4bbl manifold with no adaptor. Not sure when Rochester changed the pattern.
If one of yours has the Small pattern, I'd go with that one. Just because it fits nicer and looks nice and neat. If they both have the bigger pattern, I'd go with the later Buick one, take advantage of a few years development.
's what I'd do.
Martin.
 
Well, I've always been the odd ball, I know the right 4bbl runs good but to me it just don't look right on a flathead. I've run everything on my 40coupe with 276, right now I'm running 4 97's direct linkage, carb set up by Mad Max, 18mpg on secondary roads, I'm sure I'd get 20mpg on turnpike, of course I'm running a T-5 with 3:50 rear gears. Runs just as smooth as one carb, If you figure CFM 4-97's is over 600cfm. Any body want a ride? Walt
 
Mr itsa52,
If you do end up using a four bbl on yours, if you got stock loadamatic ignition, you'll need to swap it out for an ignition with mechanical advance,
the stocker has no mechanical advance and won't work properly if not connected to the correct port on the correct type of carb.
There are some (teapot and a few Carter's) fitted to pre 57 (I think) Ford engines, the Rochester carbs you have Will not have the correct port/vacuum signal for the loadamatic.
Martin.
 
I would go with the newer carb. I had an early Caddy and it did not have velocity flapper in the secondaries. It was difficult to give full throttle without it bogging.
 
Thanks Andy good info and reason.

Scooder,, we are talking about Rochester 4 BBls, they won't fit on a Merc manifold.. And I have an older Mallory Distributor I will be sending to Bubba to set up, and run that.. As different choices, I agree the multiple 2 barrels look much better especially on the 30 and 40's Fords.. Not that much of an issue to me on the later Fords and Merc, which is what I have.. Also 1 4bbl is a whole lot easier on my pocket book than several Strombergs
 
When I said " early bolt pattern Rochester 4bbl will fit on flathead 4bbl manifold" I'm talking about the 4bbl manifolds made for a Flathead. Offy, Navarro, edelbrock, Fenton and so on. These all come/came with small early Rochester 4bb, WCFB, Stromberg 4bbl and so on, no adaptor needed.
Not talking about bolting it on to a stock Merc manifold.
There's a folk on here running the early (1952) Rochester 4 jet on flatheads, they work fine.
Sorry for confusing the issue.
Martin.
 
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I like the Edelbrock also, as others say easy to tune and great support. Mounted backwards in order to utilize stock linkage,
 

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Your best carb for that 53 Merc is a 2GC Rochester. Have the intake bored to match the carb bores.
 
With the 390 Holley, you will need a riser tower to get the carb and linkage above the top radiator hoses. With the air cleaner included, make sure your have enough clearance for the hood. Also, the stock carb linkage will need to be modified. I was able to use the stock choke linkage but the accelerator will need a new cable type. The choke and accelerator are on the opposite sides of the carb compared to a stock carb. I was able to keep the stock gas pedal with some engineering to the route and cable fittings. Good luck
 
*******, it's a late Merc engine so carb/radiator hose interference won't be an issue.
As for linkages being on opposite sides, one solution is just turn the carb around. I used to think that should be wrong, never really had a good reason to think why, just sounded wrong. There are a number of folk running carbs arse about face with no problems or issues. I'm convinced now that it's fine to run it "backwards", when I get a 4bbl inlet for mine, it'll have the carb (52 caddy, Rochester 4jet) turned round.
Martin.
 
scooder said:
*******, it's a late Merc engine so carb/radiator hose interference won't be an issue.
As for linkages being on opposite sides, one solution is just turn the carb around. I used to think that should be wrong, never really had a good reason to think why, just sounded wrong. There are a number of folk running carbs arse about face with no problems or issues. I'm convinced now that it's fine to run it "backwards", when I get a 4bbl inlet for mine, it'll have the carb (52 caddy, Rochester 4jet) turned round.
Martin.
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:confused: Damn!!! Why didn't I think of that? Turn it backwards and invert the two carb levers. The obvious sometimes ain't.
 
scooder said:
*******, it's a late Merc engine so carb/radiator hose interference won't be an issue.
As for linkages being on opposite sides, one solution is just turn the carb around. I used to think that should be wrong, never really had a good reason to think why, just sounded wrong. There are a number of folk running carbs arse about face with no problems or issues. I'm convinced now that it's fine to run it "backwards", when I get a 4bbl inlet for mine, it'll have the carb (52 caddy, Rochester 4jet) turned round.
Martin.
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That's the way my Holley 390 is hooked up.
 
Kahuna said:
I run 2 of the Holley 4 bbl series 4000 "Teapots" on my 32 Tudor.
They are directly linked and run very well. The 2 X 4 manifold was cast
by Ken Austin in Oregon. I think I have the only one he ever made
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Now that's awsome:cool: How does it rrun?

I run a 1956 Carter WCFB on my .060 over 8BA & it's just right.:)
 
Butchboy
They run real well, give good mileage and, so far, are trouble free. The jetting had to be changed, but that's all.
Thanks
Jim
 
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