i learned this the hard way...cheeped out and bout a china stromberg 97 cheep...what happened was,.. when I changed out the jets , the new jet went in a little tight, to where I really had to twist hard on the wrench... the 45's that came with the carb indexted to 49's way too fat for my banger, so I put the jets from my old carb.... still way fat... so I got some 44's (stromberg) when I went to pull the jets out... they were sized .. in fact broke the jet wrench.... buy the time i got the jets out the threads were toash, junk carb was now total junk.... so I ordered a new one.... was just gonna bolt it on and run it...... but thought... while its on the bench.... lets check the jets..... WTF>>> same thing they index 49's... so,.. I have some new 44's , thought might as well swap them out.... same thing... the new jet won't screw in... thread pitch is off and had I forced them... 2FORCEFULL... THEY WOULD HAVE STRIPPED AND SIZED AGAIN.... so thought I'd share this,..buyer beware
Gotta go with the real deal there more money but worth it in the long run. I bought 4 new stroms for my olds 303 very nice carbs.
You must not do much research, as the issue of the off-brand 97’s had been discussed many times before on the HAMB. Only use real originals or real new ones.
I never soldered the jets but I still have my index, and index drills , I all way went to the lean side and drill up till I new the jet size I needed... soldering them takes away the beveled edge in the entry... I raced a 3 two carb motor in my digger, LOL... one that ran on all 3 carbs...
Discussed this issue with gearhead friends many times. Parts that are sold in the aftermarket often don’t fit as well as the factory originals, no matter where they are made. Many of these parts are made in China or overseas. Sometimes there just isn’t an option, but when you do have the option, its best to purchase American made products. American made quality isn’t an absolute but it does tend to be better than import. I try to do my homework before laying down my hard earned cash.
speed way 9super7 carbs use stromberg jets where as the others don't...so they are top of the junk pile....I just ordered one, soon as I get it I'll index the jets,... my bet is they will be spot on to stromberg... the other thing, speedway takes the hit for the other copy of the copy china carbs... but heres a link to what you suggested INPUT: Who Has ACTUALLY USED Speedway's 9 Super 7 CARBS???? | Page 2 | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)
You mean that Speedway got their stuff stole? Somebody made a poor copy of Speedway's poor copy? Classic karma.
I was in Lincoln in 2010 and mentioned the HAMB thread on the 97 knock offs to Bill and he admitted that there were issues and that they refunded a lot orders. He also claimed that they identified the early issues and corrected them. That said, they still have a full page in the catalog 15 years later and added a chrome version. Somebody must be buying them.
Even genuine stromberg can have issues. Fitted 3 genuine strombergs to our Y block, fired right up, but as soon as you got off the idle circuit it bogged something terrible. On investigation I found no main jets had been installed, fitted some and it ran great and still does. Buy off shore copies can be a crap shoot , have a buddy that has 3 copies on his roadster, a lot of folks said he will go down in a ball of flames. That was many years ago, no issues at all.
the reason for the post, just incase some one wanted to put one on their banger....if you get the non speedway,.. the 45 jets index @ 49... so pretty fat... then if you try to change the jets...none fit...
New Stromberg's don't come from Speedway. They come from Clive in England. @stromberg-97 Everything else is a waste of time and money.
If there's a manufacturing fault with one of Clives carbs, even well over a year after purchase, in my experience he will sort it out, no problem. I had a faulty inlet valve on mine and he sent a replacement one overnight FOC, that's good enough for me.
I had no idea that you could buy Chineium 97s. I knew of the high quality repos. I rebuilt my 94 from two originals, and parts from Vintage speed.
Yeah I don’t think the OP is talking about the speedway carbs. There are new “97’s” on eBay for dirt cheap from China I’ve been seeing around a bunch. This would be the first time hearing anything bad about them for me though.
anyway, besides physical defects, 2 things can be wrong right out of the box...jet size and float level... and if you are in the know... power valve...most the key board cowboys , most of are non knowing of what a jet is and where to find them.., so easy to understand how they jump on a thread with post about their neighbors uncles friend that bought a carb that was junk...when in fact, they've never even took a carb off a motor in their life..carbs are pretty basic if you know... and easy to do if you know whats happening, that goes for all brands... i've drilled holes in throttle plates of cammed motors because the amount of idle would put it past the idle to running slot so you couldn't adjust the idle circuit.I've delt with low vac. motors that had the wrong # power valve so it was open all the time.... but thats farther down the tuning road.... again, first one must know for fact that the float level is correct.... so in theory, one could take the carb out of the box and bolt it on... if the idle screws are non responsive, you can just look in the carb and see if fuel is leaking over into the motor. holleys are easy because you can adjust float level with the bowl on.. careful doing this not to touch the throttle, if it lean pops you'll run around with no eyebrows for a while,.. so for those in the know, if you get lucky and the jet size is correct.. fine, but if not, and it's the lower grade copy,.. the jets don't interchange with stromberg, and you're dead in the water as I am... so, here's another post of mine in the buyer beware...china carb jets had a differant thread pitch,, OK!
spot on buddy, the dirt cheep ones, most don't even say what jets they come with, but as for the 9super7 they state right in the add that they come with 45's and interchange with stromberg
I don't know about Stromberg clones but, other clones that I have worked on have had different (metric?) thread pitches for things like jets. Usually anything threaded that comes in a kit (needle/seat, powervalve) have matched. After that, it's a crapshoot. The old dirt bike guys talk about it in their forums with Mikuni and Kehin clones. Some have actually found that the jets they needed were available from China. Finding and buying them is the hitch. I have used 3 or 4 clones on my equipment. I guess I was lucky with the jetting matching my application, all of them have been great. Notably better than the OEM's I replaced, right out of the box. BTW, I save the old ones, just in case. They used to say about the China clone lathes and mills, "You are not getting a machine ready to use, you are getting an assembled kit of parts." You had to take them apart, clean and adjust everything. Then, chances were, you could have a fine machine. If the jets that come in them fit, you are probably better off drilling for larger or soldering and drilling for smaller. Mike
another spot on... but like said,.. if you do choose china over england, go for the speedway carb, the stromberg jets will work
I'm sure many carb tuners are peeking in. Lots of cars used Stromberg carbs. When you see that real cheap one on the swap table grab it. Lots of the internals are the same, like jets. Packard ran really big 'bergs like the EE22 and the big $$$$ EE3. 3s can be found on other big cars too. Open a parts book and keep an eye out. I like 94s. My experience is 1 and done with those. They do lack the romance of the Stromberg, and I'd rather jet on the bench anyways, but that's just me.
@2FORCEFULL A trick I learned dealing with old carbs, china carbs on our dirtbikes, minibikes, go karts ect. Its probably to late now that your threads are trashed but... I overdrilled a main jet & didnt have a new one to put in. My bud took a small punch and lightly tapped the jet hole closed. Then we used a small hobby/hand drill to resize it. I realize its hack work... It worked in a pinch to get my bike back running right though.
The fuel inlet valve, the Grose type in new Stromberg carbs it has two ball bearings instead of a needle. https://merakgroup.com/weber-needle-seat-versus-grose-jet/ The swaging on mine was faulty and the balls fell out, I retrived them both out of the float bowl, but the tiny one rolled off the table never to be seen again. You really should get your friend to join the HAMB. .
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