1952-59 Ford Carburetor question

Pulled my carburetor today to check for any blockage as it seems I’m not getting any fuel and noticed it’s not the Holley 1904 as would be on my 54 223 I6. Looked at the shop manual and thought maybe it’s from an 8 cylinder. Found a stamp on the main body 8HA which google said it was a 49-51 223? Is this normal? Or some sort of plug and play by a guy who tried to just make it work? I’m finding the previous owner did some questionable things as I’m digging more into the car. Pictures attached for reference

 

I’m pretty sure the 223 came out in 54’ with the Y Block. I’ve never seen a carburetor like that on a 223. Yours looks like a predecessor to the Holley 94

 

Yeah the stamp indicates it’s from a 49-51 ford. Just curious if anyone can confirm or has seen that. This is all pretty new to me.

 

Those were used on 1949-51 Ford L Head Sixes, the 1904 Gl*** bowl came out in 1952.

 

Would there be a reason to use that? Or was it a case of what he had to make it work?

 

Might be that he cracked the gl*** bowl 1904 and said " Why Not ?" I saw one on Facebook recently from a guys asking like you are, but his was all chrome.

 

A 54 223 would use the load-o-matic distributor advance system. It's pretty sensitive to the carb used. The 1904 Holleys can be hard to find in useable shape these days. In later years they switched to the Autolite 1100. Those are usually easier to find and will work as a good alternative to the 1904.

 

Good article https://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85865&showall=1

 

The 94 is a 2 barrel carburetor used the V8 engines, what he has there is a 1 barrel.