Is anyone on site that has a running Holley 4 barrel from a mid 50s Mercury or Ford product ? I have only seen one or two in my 41 years as a car enthusiast. Both were on shelves. I think I have heard them called a teapot by the guy who owned the junkyard where I first saw one. That man, Fred Davis is long gone as is his old shop. Reason I am asking is I found a carb kit with some parts still new in it. And I couldn't recognize some of the parts as to fit or function. Did they work? About what CFM would you say they were rated .
had 2) '56 Lincolns at different times; each had a 368 that had one. Worked fine for the short times I had them. From what I've read, they were notorious for fires due to leakage; I never had that happen. A site that talks about them and some parts available, kits, and DVD http://www.carburetor-parts.com/4000-_c_129.html
I have owned both the two and four bbl versions at one time. They are good working carbs. Just don't try to drive one without the air cleaner. It will run lousy but all the grease on the firewall will be gone because of the fuel wash down.
Got a coupla cars with those "teapots" on dual quad factoryY Block setups. They were roughly 335 - 375 cfm depending upon application. The Lincolns were larger cfm and I dont know the ratings on the Lincoln carbs. I just picked up 2 of the Lincoln carbs on a Y Block manifold at Hershey this year. Cant wait to see how they run as replacements of the smaller teapots. There a bit quirky but if you know the tricks no worse than most. Oldmics
For more info on them go to the Ford Barn and a guy called 'Scalia' (I think) is an expert on them and rebuilds them.
The first 2x4 I ran on my 312 back in about '70 had tea kettles on it. I managed to learn to keep them from drooling fuel all over themselves so I never had a pair of Tower of Flame carbs. I have read that the big ones off the Lincoln made about 410 CFM, the Ford/Merury units would have flowed less. I cannot give you a flow number for them. In good shape on a properly tuned engine they are a good enough carb for the era.
I rebuilt one about 4 years ago on a T bird, had trouble getting the red inlet gasket to stay sealed. Replaced it with a nylon ring and it has performed well ever since. Seems like a good size carb. for a warmed flat head as well.
Have one in my 56 T Bird....had it rebuilt locally by the specialist that rebuilds those carbs for all the T Bird vendors. I wouldn't trust a local carb shop to rebuild one...chances are they've never seen one before or after they do yours. Best part of having the specialty guy do it? He knows those carbs in and out..he also has countless cores in case you need anything. He is semi retired now...so his backlog is pretty long. Carb seems to work great on my 312. I was told that having good clean fuel...a good filter...and regular exercise of the car will keep the carb running great. The fire issue is that if the needle and seat sticks from old fuel...the fuel bowls are above the baseplate....gravity alone will empty the carb... Incidentally....my car had been parked since 1975! What prompted it's early retirement? The previous owner had tried to rebuild the carb himself with an auto parts store kit. He left the original fuel seat in and used the new needle that came with the kit. They were incompatible and never shut off the fuel from flooding the engine...40 years later...a proper rebuild of the carb..new gas tank, fuel pump....etc....and it purrs like a kitten.
One major problem is they were made to run on engine which ignition was only vacuum, no centrifugal, advance. Ted Eaton wrote an article on how to convert them to run with combo ignitions. One nice thing is they bold directly to the flathead 4barrel manifolds along with quite a few aftermarket Inlines so no adapter. Early small base Carter WCFB's and small base Rochesters will also. I use the Carters on my dual quads.
Yes I think being paired with the crappy dual advance dist gave them a bad reputation. My moms 56 4 dr had a burnt spot in the hood from tea pot a carb fire. I still have a few tea pot cores.
First carb I ever rebuilt as was a Holley 4000 on my 1956 Ford. Was almost 15 at the time. Got about 200k miles after the rebuild before the oil consumption exceeded the fuel consumption, and I changed cars. 200,000 miles on a rebuild from a 15-year-old? Perhaps the Holley teapot reputation is worse than the carb. The 4000 is normally the carb referred to as the teapot, but there was an earlier, similar design, the 2140. The 2140 introduction 1953, 4000 introduction 1955. The 2140 design was still being sold as original equipment as late as 1974, possibly later. Jon.
Here's an old Hot Rod Magazine article from 1957 on rebuilding a Holley 4000: https://app.box.com/s/zi0qlpxrw6iif5dibgbbtx0xu6kbc6sr
The Jalopy Journal
