B Carb on my A

bobpo

bobpo

Well-known member
I had problems with the Zenith Carb on my '30 coupe from Day One. So my brother had an old Tillotson that I then installed. No problem, has been running great. Well, except for those gas fumes that my wife complains about everytime she gets in the car. (there have been suggestions to leave her home, but that takes all the excitement out of the ride).

So at the recent MARC Membership meet in Perrysburg, Ohio, I described my Carb to a veteran A fella who claims that my Zenith Carb is from a Model B. There is no filter on the carb where the fuel line enters it.

If this is true, would I be best to find someone to rebuild it, it try to swap it out with a rebuilt (or new) A Carb? :confused:
 
Is the fuel inlet to the carb on the front or the side? If it's on the front, it's a model B. Either the model B or a model A will do the job when properly rebuilt. Lots of different opinions on which is best.
 
modela-carb said:
Is the fuel inlet to the carb on the front or the side? If it's on the front, it's a model B. Either the model B or a model A will do the job when properly rebuilt. Lots of different opinions on which is best.
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It looks just like the Zenith-2 Carb in Snyder's catalog, except that it does not have the Filter feature on the right side of the carb as you look at it from the passenger side of the car.

So, since I have the gas fume smell with the Tillotson carb and "popping" between gears after it warms up, would it be best to have the my Zenith Carb rebuilt, or just exchange it for the Proper one that came with the 1930?
 
bobpo said:
It looks just like the Zenith-2 Carb in Snyder's catalog, except that it does not have the Filter feature on the right side of the carb as you look at it from the passenger side of the car.

So, since I have the gas fume smell with the Tillotson carb and "popping" between gears after it warms up, would it be best to have the my Zenith Carb rebuilt, or just exchange it for the Proper one that came with the 1930?
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Is it possible you actually have the late side-bowl carburetor that was missing the "bowl"?



Jim Adams who answered you above is a very good carburetor rebuilder as I use him exclusively for my customer's projects. I would offer that you consider contacting him off-line about seeing what options he has available for you. He has cores where he can sell you one outright, --or he can rebuild yours.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Is it possible you actually have the late side-bowl carburetor that was missing the "bowl"?



Jim Adams who answered you above is a very good carburetor rebuilder as I use him exclusively for my customer's projects. I would offer that you consider contacting him off-line about seeing what options he has available for you. He has cores where he can sell you one outright, --or he can rebuild yours.
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Brent, think I'm going to do just that. In fact I already received a PM from him. It appears that he knows Zenith Carbs, {probably more than I do} ;}
 
The statement about the model B carb is out of trial i guess i have two model B carburetors bother were restored. I would put one on my truck and i could just never get it to stay right some how they caused coughing and farting a lot both of them. im sure that on a model b with the more open intake and all the other do dads it would probably be just as easy to tune as the model a zenith is on the corect car. I am not the only person i have talked to who saiz there finicky eaither
 
1928Pickuppain said:
The statement about the model B carb is out of trial i guess i have two model B carburetors bother were restored. I would put one on my truck and i could just never get it to stay right some how they caused coughing and farting a lot both of them. im sure that on a model b with the more open intake and all the other do dads it would probably be just as easy to tune as the model a zenith is on the corect car. I am not the only person i have talked to who saiz there finicky eaither
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You are correct in that they are just as easy to tune as a Model-A Zenith ....providing they have been properly rebuilt. As I'm sure you know, rebuilding one of those carburetors consists of more than just disassembling, cleaning, reassembly and paint however I have found that many that are touted as 'rebuilt' are treated just as I mentioned above. They will perform well even with a stock 1" bore intake manifold, but perform even better with a 1.250" bore manifold.
 
I have a 1932 Model B and I tried to get a restored B Carburetor to work good and failed. It ran too rich and did not idle well. The Model B carb may somewhat look like a Model A carb but they operate very differently. The biggest difference is that the dash mounted adjustment is only opened slightly on a cold start and then it is to be closed tightly. This adjustment actually is a parallel fuel passage in the carb with a calibrated fixed orifice. Evidently Ford was trying to make things easier for the driver in 1932 by eliminating the need to make a fuel, dash adjustment. If the adjustment is open or leaks, the fixed orifice will not function correctly. Personally, I like the idea of being able to adjust the mixture myself at the dash inside the car like what is done with the Model A carb. My 1932 Model B has a Tillitson Carb and it just hummms!! Ed
 
Ed in Maine; The biggest difference is that the dash mounted adjustment is only opened slightly on a cold start and then it is to be closed tightly. This adjustment actually is a parallel fuel passage in the carb with a calibrated fixed orifice. Evidently Ford was trying to make things easier for the driver in 1932 by eliminating the need to make a fuel said:
Is the above true? It's not a GAV like an A carb?

I continue to learn..............THANKS for that information!!!
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I have been us a B carb for 30 years, they always work good for me. The carb always gets the blame for ever thing that is wrong. If you have a good clean tank, and the carb is rebuilt right, you will not have much trouble with it.
 
The B carb will run well on an A if it has been properly cleaned. There are passages not found in the A casting that some folks may miss when cleaning one. I have found some that were rebuilt with main jets from a Model A, which can result in a richer mixture and sooty plugs.
 
I run dual model B carbs on two of my cars. The only time that they ever got finiky was when they were forced to run on ethanol adultrated gas. Thank God that I have been able to find some good gas without ethanol, even if it is a sixty mile round trip to get it. The B carbs are a little more complicated because of the high speed circuit but really not that much more trouble to fix unless the high speed jet got broke off in the upper housing. Vince is probably the only source for this jet. Bcarbs are not harder to adjust and they should run with the GAV closed after warm up. Probably the reason that Ed had problems with running too rich was caused from over tightening the Gav. If the gav is closed, it should be closed gently on any carb that is used on the A or B or it can score the needle and cause problems.

Bobpo, if you are looking here is a picture of some of my B carbs for comparison. If yours look like these you have a B carb. After the model A Zenith carbs were no longer produced, Ford sold a modified version of the B carb as a replacement for the model A carbs. The modified version had a smaller venturi.
Jam784.jpg
 
Bobpo, if you are still looking, here is a pic of the side bowl Zenith 2 on my 1931 tudor. You will notice the filter on the side, this filter can also be used on the B carb.


2043380-T600450.jpg
 
I am using a properly rebuilt B Carb with the correct jets, clean passages and a tight throttle shaft. I am using it with a bored out "A" Manifold. It really works great. Very good idle, transition, normal running and full power. I run with the gas valve about 1/4 open when cold and fully closed when warmed up. It does not require fiddeling with. I just installed it on an engine with about a 1000 miles on it, adjusted the idle mixture and speed and that is all. When warmed up with the spark fully retarded, at idle you can almost count the fan blades. I am very satisfied.

Chris
 
Seems like my B carb's gav is more like an A's. One turn open when cold then down to about 1/4 when warm. Runs and idles just fine. Don't know about mileage though.
 
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