Technical What is This Carb & is It Worth a Sh*t if Rebuilt?

https://daytonaparts.com/

I have nothing but 100% positive experiences with these folks for decades. Very reasonable, fast service, friendly people. Everything is ethanol safe too so there's that. I have carbs on cars that sit a lot, and get used a lot, from some time ago. Still kickin with no leaks or carb issues. I highly recommend.

Looks like kit #660 is what you want.

 

I’ve always heard and referred to the 4barrel carbs manufactured from 1952 up 56 or so as “small base”. Yes it is pretty close to square and all the 4 barrel Flathead manifolds were a direct bolt on. Clifford and Offenhauser did this also for the inline 6’s they made manifolds for. It was done I’m guessing because of the casting molds and easier.
I believe sellers on eBay and other site use small base also.

 

That's a good idea. We have "small base" 2G's andd "large base" 2G's , and now we have"small base" 4G's and "large base" 4G's. It makes perfect sense.

 

The actual bolt pattern of the first four barrel carburetors is 3 3/4X3 7/8. Vehicles that used them were '52-'53 Olds, '52-'56 Cadillac, '52-'56 Buick, '53-'56 Lincoln, '55-'56 Ford, '54-'56 Mercury, and '54-'56 Mopar. Also, the last of the high end Packard straight eights.

 

NAPA, or now days I go to Car Quest as the closest NAPA is an hour away.
If I am buying parts and pieces for a Holley and have 3 days to wait I go to Summit and have them send it to me.

The carb in question is an Autolite. Although Holley did make a carb with a removable top for a while. I think that they discontinued it. The Autolite carb in good shape is a good carb. They go on a car that you can climb in a drive ever day. Unless you are racing you really need a carb that goes on a car that you can get in and drive every day.

 

I've worked on a handful of these carb over the years, but not recently. But I remember being impressed by the relative simplicity of their design. Tear one down for a rebuild and it seemed like there was only 5 or 6 parts! And they tended to go back together just as easily and performed as they should without a lot of fuss. Stone axe simple!.

In my auto tech classes years ago the instructor used one of these to illustrate the mysterious workings of the different fuel circuits. He'd rig it up on the bench with the top removed and fill it with water. Then he'd fire up a shop vac and place the end of the hose under the throttle plates and manually open and close the throttle. You could see the floats working the needle and seat, the accelerator pump shot, the idle circuits at work and the main nozzles pulling the water thru. It left nothing to the imagination. I think he even rigged up an old fuel pump and had a student manually cycle it to keep the float bowl from going dry.

 

Difficult to be certain of parentage on carburetors sold by Autolite.

The very first 4100's were produced by Holley. Holley called them a "Ford designed 4 barrel" (ref form F-171 in Holley Master Parts manual). All of the parts carry Holley part numbers. This is also true of the earliest 2100's called "Ford design 2 barrel" (ref Form F-170).

This is true of at least 1957 and 1958 models.

After 1958, Holley went to the "exception-based" parts manuals which are significantly less useful than their earlier versions.

Autolite did place their tags and Autolite numbers on Carter, Holley, Rochester (yes Virginia, Ford did use a Q-Jet), and Zenith carburetors.

Jon

 

This link might help clear the mounting base confusion (or it might just muddy the waters )

https://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Four_barrel_mounting_flanges.htm

Jon