zenith carb question

It sounds like you may have a Simmons or Wizard improved carb. Both of these carburetors had a drain bolt right under the bowl, they were made of cast iron and were often mistaken by the untrained eye to be a Zenith. These carbs were later made of alloy but still looked a lot like a zenith. Both had a brass name plate riveted to the upper casting. Lots of times people would remove the Simmons name plate and install it on a wizard carb. Western Auto sold the wizard version and the name was not as respected. If it is one of these carburetors and the tag is missing, for whatever reason there should be two small rivet holes on the outer top of the upper casting. There use to be pictures on model A org but they are not coming up today for me. If you have the nov. dec. 95 issue of the restorer there is an artical about these carbs. I have a few of them that I have bought at swap meets and on eBay. These carbs have a high speed circuit similar to the model B carb and will out perform the model A Zenith, at least the cast iron version will. I have not run the alloy version but I think that Richard Lorenze did a flow test in the FAST news letter a few years ago and the alloy version didn't flow as well. I think that the alloy version may have been the economy model that was built for better gas mileage. I do like the cast iron version and they sometimes go for over two hundred bucks. I consider the cast iron Simmons carbs as rare and desireable.
 
Also check out the March and April 96 restorer magazine, there is more on the Simmons carbs. Simmons also made a side bowl version for the 1931 models.
 
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