These two carbs were used on the intake but have sat for years and looks like they were kind of rigged to begin with. I'd like to rebuild both carbs over the winter but first I'm interested to know what others who know what theyre looking at see: will these two go together appropriately? is there anything obviously missing? Also, there's a block off plate under the intake with that copper line. The car has Fenton headers...was that line just going to the NPT fitting on the header? Please let me know what you think. FYI, motor was out of the car when I bought it and stuff was disconnected... Finally, what the hell is that elbow fitting coming out of the top of the rear of the intake?
I see that both of the triangular I.D. tags are missing (what a surprise). Sometimes, the last four digits of the carburetor number were stamped on the manifold mating surface of the carburetor. You'll want to start with two identical carbs, and Rochester B carbs had MANY variations. Luckily, they're still a pretty common find at swap meets.
Fitting is only the vacuum source for wipers. Never had much need for the heat plate under the manifold - I fire up & nurse it for 5 minutes, shut off & let heat rise up & warm everything, then drive. Works for me in 20 below weather. The tubing to the plate never lasts for more than a year if you hook it up. I prefer the Roch B over any carbs other than BXOV Strombergs, but I seem to be in minority here.
If you visit stovebolt.com you may view a LOT of threads concerning issues with the Rochester B, some of them quite useful. I would suggest that, if you wish to rebuild these, first dis***emble far enough to check the condition of the vacuum chamber for the power valve actuating valve. The chamber is located in the zinc alloy body, and is often damaged with zinc alloy failure. If this chamber is bad, the carb may still be rebuilt, but with significant machine work required. If you chambers are both good, your next step would be the identification of the carbs in order to: (A) determine if they are a matching set, and (B) acquire the correct rebuilding kits. As mentioned by Heathen above, sometimes there is a stamped (recessed) number on the lower casting that will translate into the ID number. More often than not, these stamped numbers, like the tags, are missing. There is a chart on stovebolt that will give you a possibility of getting close to identification by the use of the body casting numbers. You might find the following helpful: https://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Dual1barrelcarbs.htm https://www.thecarburetorshop.com/RochestermultipleB.htm Jon
Thank you to all of you who replied....car has an electric motor for wipers (not that my '53 that's in storage ever had a working set, so it's no nevermind to me), but as for the carbs, I do have another on the motor i intend to run...so maybe I can make a good pair between them. Thanks again for the info and links...