1954 "Y-Block" Carb

nellis003

nellis003

Senior Member
Hi all,

My father and I just took in a 1954 Mercury Sun Valley. It looks like the engine has been redone at some point, but the gas tank needs to be drained and flushed and the carb is leaking.

I've heard that the "teapot" carbs on these cars are not too great. When I get the tank back in, I could either rebuild the existing teapot carb or put on a different one.

Any suggestions for a bolt-on replacement carb for this car? It's otherwise a stock car; so I'd just like something simple and reliable to make it a good driver.

Thanks,
Nick
 
Find an ECZ-B intake from a '57 312, which has the modern Holley carb bolt pattern, and put a 1.08 primary Ford 4100 4bbl on it. The 1.08 carb came on small block 289's in Mustangs Comets, Falcons, etc. The 4100 is a great carb, easy to rebuild and adjust.
Regards,
John
Streetdreams Speed and Custom
 
The "B" intake may not fit the 256 Merc heads very good.. With the 239, port matching is very poor because of the different sizes and you may wind up with a leaking, poor running car. I am not sure about the port matching with the 256.

Two options I recommend. First is to get the Teapot rebuilt. These are reasonably good carbs and in the hands of some one who knows what they are doing in the rebuild process the carbs run just fine. I recommend Mike Suter, 215-757-3678. He did a teapot for me and I haven't had any trouble with it.

The second is to get an adapter that goes between the carb and the manifold that takes the later base carb. Then go with something like a 390 cfm Holley. The adapters are available in the aftermarket. Don't go any bigger because it would be too much carb.
 
The teapot carb can be rebuilt and be a very good carb. It is not hi performance but it will work very well. I have rebuilt probable 100's of them in my life. I was also running a linc Merc dealer shop in the 50's before I went in to business for my self. We are still in business for over 40 years. Bill
 
I'm with Paul the 239 & 256 heads are both small port and will not align well with a "B" intake.Your stock Merc 4 bbl intake with a good rebuilt from Bill or Mike will work well for you and have the proper jetting and work with your OEM distributor(Load-O-Matic) adapting a later Carb opens a whole new can of worms.
 
Nick I put a Chevy Rochester 2 barrel carb on my 53 Merc flathead 2 barrel intake and mounted it backwards so linkage lined up and I have been running it for 2 years and it still works great.
 
Thanks for the opinions. Looks like my best first step is to rebuild the teapot. If it doesn't run well, I'll look into putting in a Holley 390 and a later model dizzy.

Thanks again,
Nick
 
nellis003 said:
Hi all,

My father and I just took in a 1954 Mercury Sun Valley. It looks like the engine has been redone at some point, but the gas tank needs to be drained and flushed and the carb is leaking.

I've heard that the "teapot" carbs on these cars are not too great. When I get the tank back in, I could either rebuild the existing teapot carb or put on a different one.

Any suggestions for a bolt-on replacement carb for this car? It's otherwise a stock car; so I'd just like something simple and reliable to make it a good driver.

Thanks,
Nick
Click to expand...
Daytona Parts can do an excellent job on it. 1-386-427-7108. Ive sent a few of my customers down to him for these troublesome carbs. PS i for one will not touch them. They are troublesome. Towering infernos they use to be called.:)
 
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