Who can tell me about those funky looking Mercury carbs?

[Kevin Lee]

I'm talking about the strange loking carb with the flat top and the air goes in the back. Saw a couple sitting on a shelf at a friend's shop. Are they a decent carb with rebuild parts available? And the most important question - WILL THEY WORK WELL AS A DUAL SETUP? Just wondering how they compare to the 94 since that's what I was originally planning to use.

[19Fordy]

I beleieve they are side draft carbs that stock 50's merc used. I had one on my 51 and it was a pain.Got rid of it and installed FORD intake and 3 bolt carb. Parts are avaialble but hard to find. Big, bulky and ugly.

[Unkl Ian]

Is that the carb people call "the towering inferno"?

[Deyomatic]

The towering inferno was the first 4 bbls that Holley made, the Teapot or Haystack, whatever you call it. These were on the Y blocks from 1955 until about 1957. I think...

[286merc]

That back draft is the Holley 885, used on 49-51 Mercs and Lincolns. Built that way for hood clearance.
Parts are hard to find and it is a 4 bolt base. Many Merc owners put on a Rochester 2G backwards so the linkage will hook up.

The 52-3 Merc flathead had a 2 bbl 1901 Holley that was called the towering inferno as well as the Holley 4000 4bbl version that was used on all FOMOCO 1954-6.
The 4000 was so bad some plants installed the Carter WCFB!

[Bruce Lancaster]

They may be ugly and bulky, but at least they're hard to work on and keep all of your gas above gasketed joints!
If you want strange carbs, try Stromberg AA models that have the three bolt flange--NO ONE will recognize them ever, and they were actually moderately popular once as a way to get a bigger carb onto normal Ford flange manifolds. I think the three bolters come from circa 1939 Buicks...
I think you should stick with
94 Holleys or regular 97's.
I was just reading the overhaul manual on the Merc carb--what a mess that thing was...

[modernbeat]

Want one? I've got one that came off a running car.

[sidevalveguru]

anybody have any in info on hot rodding the 1901? i have a 2-deuce manifold begging for them!

[sidevalveguru]

I beleieve they are side draft carbs that stock 50's merc used. I had one on my 51 and it was a pain.Got rid of it and installed FORD intake and 3 bolt carb. Parts are avaialble but hard to find. Big, bulky and ugly.
Have heard several folk refer to them a "side draft",; while nicknames come from strange places, these are technically downdrafts, just as the 97, with a hood over the float bowl & mouth.
Evrytime i look @ one, i start to think "Paxton"...

[Paul]

sure seems to be a rash of ancient threads surfacing

this one is almost five years old

[C9]

Lotta noobs wandering the board . . . and that's ok.

Some of the stuff deserves to be re-read.


Funny part is, I see some of these come back around, read it, think about answering it and find that I already did....

[sidevalveguru]

Lotta noobs wandering the board . . . and that's ok.

Some of the stuff deserves to be re-read.


Funny part is, I see some of these come back around, read it, think about answering it and find that I already did....
I'll admit it: i'm a newbie.
Have also already seen some guys dumped on ' that's already been asked, didn't you search?'
As more people enter, aren't there bound to be more opinions?
Isn't it better to continue an existing thread than to start over?

[29bowtie]

Lotta noobs wandering the board . . . and that's ok.

Some of the stuff deserves to be re-read.


Funny part is, I see some of these come back around, read it, think about answering it and find that I already did....

That's just proving that some of the "FNG's" DO know about the search function!;):eek:

[Malcolm]

Dickster27 knows alot about carbs - it might be worth sending him a PM...

Malcolm