I found a set of 2" Flynn carbs a while back and cannot seem to find any good info on them, the only reference i find is a red Wayne powered track roadster, but no history. The have an obvious connection to the 1940`s Riley carbs but is fully adjustable and horisontal throttle shafts instead of Riley`s vertical. Seems to me that this was done to get rid of a possible rudder effect? Did Riley sell his carb rights? Which Flynn was the guy behind these?
These were built by a guy named Walt Flynn who owned a company called Enterprise Machine in Indianapolis. Walt owned sprint cars, dirt Champ cars and eventually Indy cars. The carbs were "improved" Rileys.
Greetings, I am in the process of restoring an early 50"s oval track racer with an offy. It originally had 2 flynn s I am actively looking to buy a pair. Would you have any interest in selling them???
I thought I would add to this thread to document the history. Flynn carbs came in both 1.5" and 2" The fuel rail on top of the bowl seems to be drilled differently depending on the end user's preference. could be drilled on front, back, and even behind and under the rail. Note the throttle is horizontal on the larger 2" ones and verticle on the 1.5" models. The small ones appear to have an idle circuit. The big ones are made for wide open racing. These are from my collection. Not interested in selling at this time. A little more about the man who made 'em. Walter J. Flynn, 86, Nokomis, died July 28, 2002. He was born Jan. 21, 1916, in Lafayette, Ind., and came to Nokomis in 1969 from Indianapolis. He was owner and operator of the Enterprise Machine Co. in Indianapolis. He built and maintained race cars and raced cars in the 500-mile track, sprint track and dirt track. He invented the Flynn carburetor for racing cars. He was a lifelong member of the Old Timers 500 Club in Indianapolis, and a lifelong member of Moose Lodge 1308 and the American Legion, both in Venice. He was an Army veteran of World War II. - A list of cars that ran Flynn Chassis' and Flynn Offys http://oldracingcars.info/usnc/res.php?s=0&ch=0&t=1131 Johnny Rutherford in the Enterprise Special - (a Walt Flynn car)
Walt Flynn had a decent business doing upgrades on Ross manual steering units - several cars in the Indy area ran them. He also didn't like paying the Offenhauser price for replacement cylinder sleeves, so he made his own out of cast iron gas pipe on his centerless grinding equipment. Notice that "One Arm Bandit" is lettered on the cowl in the photo. That's a reference to car owner/builder Walt Flynn. IIRC Walt had lost the use of an arm (or maybe the arm itself) in a childhood accident where he fell out of a tree. In spite of his disability Flynn was one of the best race car builders and machinists around running Enterprise Machine and had a reputation for turning out first class work. Walt Flynn standing behind car. Note his left arm. He was also known for taking blown up turbo Offy crankcases and repairing them. He sometimes took two crankcase halves from junk engines and welded them back together to make one good one. I believe he even did this for Watson in later years. Walt had a roadster type sprint car at one point that he and Junior Dreyer had built. Jim Packard, among others, raced the car. Packard had gotten his start with Pop Dreyer and became almost like a family member to he and Junior. info credit: Rootie Kazoootie,, Speedwrench and indyrjc
Shot of the Miller/Ford race car with the Offy engine. Originally this car had backwards mounted flathead mated to the Miller front wheel drive system. The flatheads overheated and were an embarrassment, so all 10 Miller/Fords were pulled from racing. This car received an Offy transplant with Flynn carbs.
I had a Hilligas midget years ago with a FlynnCraft engine in it. It was a ford v8 cut in halve somewhat like a Sesco. A real fine piece of machine work. When I restored the car I went back to a 110 Offy that it had originally. I sold the FlynnCraft to Speedy Bill for his museum . Was this Walt Flynn's handiwork ?
Jason, the 2" ones in the intitial pictures have both adjustable idle and intermidiate circut`s. Great story! Thanks man!
These carbs were made by Walt Flynn. Barney Flynn of Chilicothe, Il was the owner of Flynn Craft Engines. Barney built these cut in half Ford engines for midget racers around the midwest. I read a story where he also cut the cranks and cams to fit. He used a BOSS 302 head cut in half on one of his engine$. The guy I got my Flynn carbs from also had a few Sesco engines for sale at the last Hershey. Neat set ups.
Duh. You must be right. Both the 1.5" and 2" have the adjustments on them on top for idle and intermediate so they both must have idle circuit. I saw the nozzle behind the throttle plate in the small ones, but didn't see it in the larger. I didn't remove them from the intake though to get a better look, but I'm sure it's there if the adjustment is there! You're a smart guy Mr. Tverraaen!
There is so much to learn from the people on this forum it's mind boggling. I'm 78 years old and have been a gearhead all my life, have built many a car and truck, read all I could about anything automotive and am still able to pick up info off the Hamb that I couldn't possibly hope to run across without this forum. What a place we have here. Thank you
Just have found a 2" Flynn carb. Seems to be a early version with just one adjustment screew. It's stamped "50" and has the horizontal buttelfly shaft. It will go as a singel carb on my model A 4Banger. Manyfold has to be build, but i think it will be a cool vintage performance part.
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