Hi, I'm looking to change the original Carter carburetor on my 50 Cadillac to a more modern one. Can any body give me some pointers to a decent carb/intake to put in its place. Regards, Wayne.
I would look and see if Edelbrock does an intake, if they do I would go a 4bbl and Performer. Otherwise, I would use a Studebaker intake and Edelbrock carburetor(s), as the Stude V8 intake and the Cadillac V8 intake are almost interchangeable. You may need some slight machine work to clear it, but less than other intakes.
I have no idea at the moment. I'm assuming the intake & carb will be from a car between 49 & 63 like the Cadillac 331 engine is.
Probably important information. The V8 manifolds should fit the Cadillac 331 family. I believe the thread I saw on the Studebaker Drivers Forum regarding the swap was going from a 4bbl to a Tri power setup, but I may be wrong. So a 4 bbl intake from a Stude 259 ci V8 **should** fit the Cadillac V8, but my memory may be inaccurate.
Thanks for the info. I will store all the info I get. I may just change the carb if this is a viable option but again I have no idea as to what is the best carb to go for, assuming there is one that would be a straight swap.
If you want it to work really well, hunt down a '52 - '53 intake & Rochester 4 jet. Many years ago, I bought a '50 Fleetwood that ran, but not well. I cleaned the Carter with very little improvement, then bought a '53 62 4 door from an impound lot. Cleaned the manifold & carb, bolted (literally, as is) to the '50, & could not believe what it did ... the 4400 lb car now got over 20 MPG and would light the RR tire at a dead stop.
That sounds like a good idea. The only problem is, I'm in the UK & those sort of Cadillac spares are not exactly common here so may take some hunting down.
Also in1954 the Eldorado came with an Eldebrock 2 4bb Manifold most had rodchecters on top Sent from my SM-N950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I cannot tell you what intake manifolds will fit. Checked the Hollander guide, and it showed 1950 and 1951 the same. In 1952, Cadillac went to a single 4-barrel, using both Carter and Rochester carbs. In 1955, Cadillac offered a dual quad set-up with two Rochester 4-barrels. Hollander did not specify that the 4-barrel manifolds would fit the 1950~51, but they also did not say it wouldn't fit. Opinion: The original Carter 2-barrel is an excellent carb, and was the choice of hot-rodders who could afford it, until the 4-barrel was introduced. A company called Detroit Racing made a twin 2-barrel intake using 2 of the 1949-1950 Carter 2-barrels. They worked so well that these were installed on many Cad/Allards. The twin 2-barrel set-up actually worked better for performance than the early Carter and Rochester 4-barrels. And while the 1952~1955 Carter and Rochester 4-barrels were not the greatest 4-barrel ever made, either would still out-perform ANYTHING produced new today on your Cadillac. And just for the record, we STILL suggest the use of the Carter WCD 2-barrel model for hot-rodders today who want a system that runs as good as it looks, and still gets great fuel economy. Jon
Seems like all of those "you can swap an_______ from an entirely different brand things always come with the If you do________ or But you have to _______. I'd go with the idea of finding a later stock intake and carb or looking into the 2x2 intake that was mentioned. Carb king sells some pretty well thought out carb kits if you need carb kits. Sure made a difference on one of my rigs.
I have managed to find a 53 Cadillac 4 barrel intake & the owner of a hot rod/restoration shop in Canada told me that an Edelbrock 500cm would do the job nicely & we happen to have such a carb in the workshop. So hopefully, all will be well. If a Rochester 4 barrel was to become available I may go down that route.
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