Which Carb is best, and why?

Which carburetor


  • Total voters
    112
  • Poll closed .
Does that carb have the GAV adjustment or do you just set the air and idle screws and it runs right?

Thanks for your response.

Ken

It has a GAV adjustment but it has to be made at the carb, under the hood--the choke rod pulls as normal, but doesn't turn. This works pretty well, but not perfectly; in cold weather, the way mine is set up I need to manually feather the choke for a few seconds to keep it running on cold starts. But it's really no problem.

This carb finally solved my rough running problem after pulling up to a stop light on a hot day after a long run. Also, I can't stall the motor no matter how hard I hit the brakes. Previously, I had used several rebuilt Zeniths and a brand new repro Zenith 1.
 
Over the decades whenever an A Model Ford was acquired, at first opportunity, the Zenith would get pulled off and some other functioning carb get put on. Wasted too much time early on trying to get those design defective Zenith things to properly function and not stall on excess fuel. This current car came with a rebuilt Zenith that was dripping gasoline all over the place and flooding out. Got rid of it ASAP.

Used Tillys mostly back in the old days. Now employ a re-manufactured Marvel carb and that 31 sedan is the best running Model A I've ever owned. No problems!
 
Last edited:
Does that carb have the GAV adjustment or do you just set the air and idle screws and it runs right?

Thanks for your response.

Ken


Ken,

Also, although the carb was sold by that outfit in Washington, it was still manufactured by a Zenith factory in New Jersey. I once spent a long, pleasant time chatting with the factory's customer service rep trying to figure out an engine surging problem I was having, before I realized it was due to my Parkinson's tremor in my foot!

For some reason, even though this model is sold specifically for Model A useage and is made by Zenith in the USA, the carb still doesn't get no respect. The same core is apparently also used for a variety of industrial applications and used to be disparaged as the "fork lift carb."
 
My vote is for a restored Zenith Carb. It is what came with the car. Be sure that when you rebuild the carb, you use jets that have been flow tested to the required specs. Get the carb rebuild manuals by Rex Reheis and Steve Pargeter. For years I rebuilt carbs only to be disappointed in the car performance. The reason was incorrect flow through the jets. Ed
 
Back
Top