Marks69BB

How do you tell if a WCFB carb is a good candidate for rebuilding? If there is corrosion on the outside and possibly inside, can it still be rebuilt?

In a clone dual carb setup, can any carb be the primary or secondary or are there certain casting numbers for each?

Your replies are welcome and appreciated!

L78racer

as long as you can get all the tiny passages and air bleeds cleaned you should be ok. i had a clone set up that used two 2505 carbs. it worked fine.

Marks69BB

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking at a set plus the intake and needed the information.

The intake is the correct vette intake but the carbs are still unknown. I do know that both carbs have chokes on them. Were the 2505s the only ones used or are there others that can be or were used? I'm still waiting on the carb casting numbers from the seller.

L78racer

IMO clones are pretty easy to spot. alot of different wcfb's can be and are used for clones. you have to decide what looks best for your situation. i had the 2505's, so i used them. i've got a real set that i use now, but if set up and jetted properly the 2505's work good.

Marks69BB

The tag and casting #s on the carbs are as follows:

Tag #2818S
air horn = 1396
body = 1-208

No Tag
air horn = 1586
body = 1342

Looks like the first one is a keeper. Any info on the second one. Apparently the first thing to go is the tag when these carbs were worked on. Are all of these the same or are there performance differences?

Marks69BB

TTT - Anyone help with the second one? How do you find out which model #s the castings were used on?

provette67

The #2818 was used on '59-'60 1X4 230hp cars.The other carb I am not sure.The airhorn was used on '62 250hp but the body was not.

Marks69BB

Other than the choke missing from the secondary carb, what are the other differences between the 2x4 carbs and the single carbs.

Could I just reuse the one that is on my 230 intake now? I would think the jetting would be different, right? Anything else?

As always, thanks for the replies!

Marks69BB

If no one knows, can someone tell me who or where I would go to for this information?

knight37128

There is a cruise in on Friday night here and there are several people running two fours. If you want I will ask several of them.

P.S. I take my carbs to be rebuilt to a racer who does a great job. You live in the right place for racers. Do you know any? Ask them who they would take their carbs to.

Marks69BB

I just want to make sure I have the right clone carbs that will do the job. I'd appreciate any info you can share.

I plan to buy the kits and rebuild them myself. I have a great vette friend who has rebuilt several tripower setups who will 'check my work.' I've always heard how simple these old carbs are and I'm not in any hurry since I'm running the factory 1x4 know so I'm going to try it myself.

Coves4me

Marks69BB, A carb that is a candidate for a rebuild is one that has generally all of the original parts attached and moving freely. I just rebuilt a Carter AFB that looked like it had spent its life in a greasy mud hole, but it cleaned up OK with a lot of elbow grease, sweat equity and chemicals.

As far as correctness on the dual fours, I personally don't get into numbers that much if the appearance of the part is correct. When I purchased my 59, it had two 4BBL WCFB carbs on it that were close to correct appearance, but lacked a couple of items. For instance, the weighted air valve was missing from my rear carb, but with patience, a long drill bit and the correct parts from a donor WCFB, I corrected it. The rear carb is the only one that should have a choke. It is a heated choke with a tube from the exhaust manifold.

When rebuilding a carb, CLEAN is the optimum word to remember. I use a digital camera to photograph the before and after assemblies on the carbs. I also found a good source for parts from CarbsOnly on the web. They have linkages, and some hard to find parts. Assembly screws can be had from the usual Corvette vendors such as Zip, CorvetteAmerica and Ecklers.

I find that the internet has lots of Corvettes for sale that have great engine pics to download and use later for reference.

I think if you do a search of this forum, there is plenty of good WCFB info from previous threads to help you. Good luck.

Marks69BB

The carb bodies appear to be dimensionally different between the 1x4 models and the 2x4 models. If you use 1x4 style bodies, will they fit on the 2x4 intake ok? It also looks like the shielding over the dist/coil may interfere with the rear carb. The choke location is also different; how do you solve that? I did a search on this forum that didn't help at all with these issues.

I can't physically inspect these parts since the seller is in Wisconsin.

Questions, questions. questions...

L78racer

the later the model year carbs you use, the more they differ from the real ones.
it sounds like you are looking at 59? and later low choke carbs. i have seen these used as 2x4 clones and they can be made to work.
there are clone setups available for sale on ePay also. these have already been "disguised" and to the untrained eye look pretty close.
i suggest you check them out/ look at the pics, and you'll get a better idea of what to expect.
for the most part they start out with carbs very similar to 2505's and change the levers, fill the choke holes etc.
this seller has them listed all the time.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1958-...spagenameZWDVW

Coves4me

Mark, 55 to 58 carbs had the choke mounted high and 59 to 62 had the choke mounted low on the passenger side of the carb. The fuel inlets were also different due to choke location. Linkages were also different for the same reason.

The individual WCFB carb is dimensionally the same whether it used as a
1 x 4 or 2 x 4 setup.

The air cleaner really sets the front to rear dimensions and it works with the original shielding, sometimes touching at the rear.

IMHO, the WCFB is a POS carb when compared to the later Carter AFB or AVS. The WCFB is made of a cast iron base and pot metal bowls and upper housing. They are notorious for running rich due to their tendency to leak and absorb intake manifold heat which causes the fuel to boil and seep into the engine. They also have a tendency to stall under hard braking. Fuel pressure to these carbs should be set around 3.5 to 4.0 lbs. to keep the bowls from overfilling. If you do a search on NCRS.org with "WCFB", you will get a good deal of info as to what to look for when using these carbs.

I have a set of 2 x 4 clones on an intake manifold that looks fabulous on my garage shelf. I replaced mine with a rebuilt 3721 SB Carter AFB and a 63 Vette aluminum intake manifold and my 59 runs terrific.

This advice is worth what it cost ya!! Good luck.