I've got a hot rodded 235 in my '49 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup. It's bored .080" over, balanced, Langdon's Bulldog cam, shaved 848 head, Fenton headers, and an Offy 2x1 intake with Carter YF carbs. I've put about 1500 miles on it so far and the thing runs strong, but the front carb has stuck the float for the third time now and poured raw gasoline all over the exhaust. I'm seriously surprised it hasn't caused a fire. I'm dead set on replacing the carbs with something more reliable. Langdon's offers the progressive 2 barrel Webers, but quite honestly, the things look terrible and detract from the whole old school vibe. I've read that Stromberg BXUV-3 carbs could work well for this setup but they seem kinda scarce, in good condition anyway. They certainly appear period correct though.. Are all the BXUV-3's the same? Is there a certain tag number I should look for if I go this route? I also stumbled across some Chinese knockoffs of the Stromberg on Amazon. They're called a "Sherryberg" and seem to have good reviews. Any experience here? Or should I just suck it up and go with the Webers? If anyone has anything they want to sell me that'll work lemme know...
Man, I put thousands of miles on my old 52 Chev with 2 YF’s on a 235 with no problems. What is your fuel pressure? Do you have dirt in the tank and not an adequate fuel filter?
Nope, the BXUV-3's are all similar, but have differing venturi sizes, jets and bleeds. They were a common carb in Australia in the 70's in both Holdens and Bedfords. All the BX carbs (BXOV, BXUV, BX, BXV) are similar in operation. The "3" bit is just the flange/throttle barrel size - it indicates a throttle barrel diameter of 1 11/16" and 2 15/16” bolt spacing. Cheers, Harv
By far the most common cause of the Chevrolet Carter YF leaking is a FLAPS repair kit! The original fuel valve in the YF's built for Chevrolet contained a fuel valve with an orifice about 0.080 (memory, without actually looking). But think how many YF carbs were built for 300 CID Ford engines compared to those built for Chevrolet. The FLAPS kits contain the fuel valve for the 300 CID Ford, which (again from memory) is about 0.101. There is quite a difference in the amount of pressure the float can hold with a valve of 0.080 compared to one of 0.101. In a dual carb set-up, only one carb will generally leak, as when the pressure is reduced there is no reason for the second carb to leak. The Carter YF is an extremely reliable carburetor; so are the Stromberg B series single barrel carbs. As for the knock-offs, yes, they deserve really good reviews. If they are new, and clean, they make an excellent paperweight for one's desk. If they are grungy, they make a fairly decent doorstop! Jon
I feel your pain with carburetor puking gas all over hot manifolds. I’ve had similar problems with a damned Rochester 1bbl on my ‘50. I hope it’s corrected now. I’d throw it out if I had a good CARTER!
I know you are put off by the looks of the Langdon carbs, but just FYI, I used them on my 261 and they worked great and reliably. don
Two of Langdon’s Carter-Weber’s on a 50’s Edelbrock. Buffalo Engineering fabbed on the 4 bolt plates. I think about 75k miles with this configuration, note the horse shoe I used to go around the carb.
If you inclined Clifford Research sell an intake that will accept a 2 or small 4 barrel with an adapter.