I have had both china carbs ford 94 copies and str-97 copies. No problems. 1st thing is open, clean and check all. Change jets, 94 powervalves.... From china You can have OK quality, but also not so good quality.... Of course Charlie´s 97 are good. Ordered many times. We have done also "swap business". 100% customer service and products are very very good. a
Sorry about your learning experience. With all the talk about Hoffman group, and others I am skeptical that anything made West of California is junk.
Let me tell you a little story. 7-8 years back I purchased three new 97's from Clive @stromberg-97 on here, they were not cheap, but neither is building quality Hot Rods. He even asked for my paint code for my flathead and painted them to match, added chrome linkages, polished progressive links and chrome fuel fittings and S valves and they were everything I was expecting. Fast forward a bunch of years and a bunch of miles and the paint started wrinkling around the gaskets on the carbs. I reached out to Clive, not to have him take care of it but to purchase some chrome bodies to replace mine with. Clive said their chrome is not high quality, but he would paint up 3 more or send me 3 bare castings for my guy to chrome. I chose the latter and received at no charge 3 new bodies. I took them to my chromer for some traditional plating, but it didn't stop there. Clive then had me send the 3 chrome bodies plus my 3 97's to @uncle max in Reno for complete building of the new carbs. That was all done under warranty replacement. Max even tossed in some new gaskets to put 'em down with. I paid shipping one way and chroming. Cheapest carbs I have ever purchased! Now, y'all go order your carbs and save a few dollars by buying facsimiles. Or contact Clive or Max and do it right the first time.
Years ago, Nordstroms was the place for men’s wear locally. I’m not talking carhart but wool suits, silk ties, French cuffed shirts and fine footwear. I bought a pair of Alan Edmonds loafers, many years later they started squeaking, went back to buy another pair and they exchanged them for free… without me asking. Great products are important, great service though gets my business. I own three pair of those shoes and several suits and sport coats all from their store. Clive is the Nordstroms of carburetors. He has not seen the last of my patronage not my endorsement. Pay more, get more.
little update,... got the 9super7 carb from speedway... the jets index@ 45, and same thread as the strombergs... so I'm off and running again on the Cdan
Soooooooooooo, I put the carb on..45 jets,..turn on the fuel...cross my fingers... hit the starter.. bam... starts right up.. go out take a look...no fuel leaks and idling right out the box... bout then I'm gulping down the speedway cool aid... let it idle awhile.... thought , might as well go for a test ride... my sons right down the street and I could walk there... so not too worried.... make it to the stop sign,,,all is well ... gulp down some more cool aid.. get to my son's... damn, ... it sounds good.. I thought it was a motor cycle coming up the street... shut it off, tell him about the carb,... he says,.. I never have any luck with that china shit..you always end up pulling it back off...I say well, she's running good now....hang out a bit,.. jump in, bam, she starts right up.. take off... gulping down the cool aid... big ol grin.. make it to the stop, take off,. hit 2nd.. and she lays down... starts shooting ducks... WTF.... bout half way home, she runs along then dies.... then lights back up... run the stop sign, but make it to my house... figure shes starving for fuel, or some thing is plugged up... now it will stay running but die if you gas it.... I'm looking at the carb...ran out of cool aid, and now my gut is getting tight...and I notice... the 3 screws that hold the center section were just about backed all the way out.... another WTF....my bet is because there was ink marker market on all the bolts and the plugs that they do a final inspection before they go out, and check the float level.... who ever did it never tight'n the 3 screws.....China... sum ting alway wong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So after two pages of people telling you to use real Strombergs, you spend more money on Chinese junk. Then you tell us how this new junk doesn’t work either. Genius.
though I'm flattered by your assessment of my mental capacity...I did have to read your post to try and figure out what you are talking about...in fact the same with all your replies... to where, I had to go back and read my first post...no where in this thread have I asked what carb to buy..in fact this thread was derailed in the begining... the topic..... china 45 jets index @49, and stromberg jet don't fit on china 97 copys... and I went further on to state that speedway 9 super7 will accept stromberge jets..... and went a step further to state that I bought a speedway and checked it, it's fact that their 45s measure 45 and will also accept stromberg jets now the reason for the thread...maybe some one like me... put the carb on only to find the jets were too big,... thinking that they are stamped 45, and wanting to lean it out... maybe go to 41or 43's... when in fact actual 45's might be spot on...that before they ran out and bought jets like I did, let them know that they won't work... wrong thread pitch....
Ok, glad we straightened that out: Chinese stuff will probably have the wrong machine work. But it’s still ok to buy it, even if dozens of fellow hot rodders warn against it.
well, I tighten the screws and it runs pretty much spot on.... still have to do the chop off plug reading... but I have a feeling it's real close now... it's a built "B" Banger,7.1 head,.. split custom header feeding the 2 live lake pipes 9super7 carb, 39 trans w/od ,centrifugal advance dist..
Very nice car, too bad the thread got kind of sour. It's funny that at first glance it looks like there's no engine:
I still sodder jets. Guess Im thrifty and get what I want by doing things the old fashioned way. The way I learned to do them.
I did the same back in the day so to speak... my FED with 3 2's took some time to dial.. it would lean out the corner holes at the big end..(WOT) so I ended up running staggered jets I bought the index drills and guages.... found it easier to start lean and drill to fatten.so being I still have the index gauges...I like to check to get a true bench mark....
it looks a little better with the hood closed, I took the side off to let people see the motor with out me having to open and close it ever where i stopped...
thanks for posting and good info for the members,... but personally,... i'm a cotton-flannel type guy and know nothing about wool suits, silk ties ,French cuffed shirts and fine foot wear and have never stepped foot in a Nordstroms..I wear flip flops, work boots , western boots, and even have rubber MUck/ concrete boots...
I have several pairs of Allen Edmonds shoes and like many other fine shoe/boot makers, offer a full rebuilding service for a fraction of what new shoes cost. There is the old saying, "Good, Fast, Cheap; pick two". Well, sometimes the most important thing is that it's "good", and you don't mind that it was slow and expensive when you're enjoying exactly what you wanted.
Good lord....although I owned 5 shoe stores for 8 years in las vegas... I never came across a customer that was complaining about their shoes squeeking... but, I could tell stories that would fill the HAMB... but to get back on topic... I started this thread to maybe help others that might run in to this problem, fact... China jets, 45's... index @ 49.. so when jetting the 45 is not a true bench to start... when in fact,.. a 45 might be spot on if it's a speedway or stromberg... if you do have a china carb, the stromberg jets won't interchange... with my china carb, the jets were too big..45's... where as the speedway 45's on the new carb seem spot on, but still haven't the time to fine tune so will see down the road where it ends up but, the speedway copy does except stromberg jets the china copy does not....OK????
so up date on "MY" car with the speedway carb.. went out to test and tune.. took some new plugs gapped @ 40... from a dead stop on a 1 mile flat straight away... Rolled into the throttle..tires screeching laid some rubber down...yeah baby!! though very tempted , (my trans has sincrow 2nd &3rd) to speed shift to 2nd, the thought of spitting 90 yr old ford antique parts all over the road halted that idea... so just a smooth shift and she was pulling hard through the gear, then same to 3rd... alls well, but before I make it to the 1/2 mile mark..she shoots a couple ducks and lays down... while still in gear coasting...she lights back up... turn around, same thing... makes it to 3rd strong... then lays down... soooo... being an old drag racer...I have this rule that I try to stick with... change 1 thing at a time, if you get poor results, you can back up...so,... she's running out of fuel... stock fuel tank... but It never happened with the china carb,,, started with the speed way... so my check to try to fix is this,and probley should have done this first..but was hoping to get lucky,...is to take the top off and check the float setting two things I'll be looking at is fuel bowl full float level, but equal important is float drop,the float level could be spot on but if it's not dropping enough,or has some restriction thats stopping the fuel from recovering quick enough that could be the problem...like said, the fuel delivery worked fine with the other carb,,, so that to me says it deosn't need a pump added.... YET
well, got some time to mess with the carb...gravity fuel feed with the stock tank.. took the top of the carb off.. fuel level fine , with in a 1/16''... drained the fuel out of the bowl... watched the inlet valve...with the bowl empty, turned the gas on... wow... sure takes a long time to fill... so I unhook the fuel line.. run it in to a gas jug...flows fine..run about a gallon out.... Sooo...inlet valve must be plugged,... or some thing... valve was clean and flowed fine.... that was the speedway valve... so I took the valve off the china carb and compare... the inlet hole on the china carb is bigger.. soo,... here' what I think...I think the speed way carb has an inlet valve for fuel pump motors...???? where as the china carbs inlet will work for gravity or pump motors.... well any way,...she runs good in the garage... so road test tomorrow... so... if you have a speedway on your banger model A before you go spending the time and money to put a pump.. check the inlet valve...might just change that out and be fine....
So, road test and plug test today ,... inlet valve fix'd the fuel starve problem... plugs show I still have jetting issues
as you can see from the plugs, she's running way way way too rich... that and could use a little more timing
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