I follow Geardrive on IG. He is repopping some really cool stuff for the early Caddys and I am stoked. He is about to go into production with the 4-71 intake and I was wondering about running multiple 97's on an adapter plate. I know the newer carbs are blower referenced. What will the effect be on old style carbs? I have never ran a blower, but it makes me think about running one now..... Some of you smart techie types can explain it to us knuckledraggers.
I run a trio of 97's that I purchased from Clive at Stromberg mounted to a 471 on my flathead. Starts easily, idles nice and runs like a raped ape once all 3 carbs are open. Of course this is only being done with less that 8 pounds of boost in my application.
Beautiful. Are you running progressive or straight carb linkage? Would like to see a picture of the driver side.
Here is one that @Taboo56Chevy took recently at the Portland Roadster Show while my car was on display. For some reason I don't have a close up on the drivers side after it was running. The linkage is progressive and also from Clive at Stromberg as are the chrome and polished fuel line nuts. He was the most helpful human on the entire planet when it came to these carbs, even paining them to match the car and block. I built and added the dual return springs as the base springs on the 97's were not closing the plates completely. I'm not crazy about the white fuel gauge but it is does read accurately at 2.5 pounds and the moon gauge I had originally did not. I used a moon distribution block I mounted to the carb adapter (drilled, tapped, then sealed the holes to prevent vacuum leaks), fed by a Holley 12-804 regulator mounted to the back of the blower. I tried to run all the carbs together and it resulted in a smoky, smelly, stalling nightmare. At least with the flatty, it was too much carb off the idle. The progressive made it run practically out of the box.
I told Clive that I was mounting them on the blower. He left them jetted with 41's and I left them in so far. Some people have spoken lately about the front and rear carbs not having air screws on them...mine do. He did mark the center carb when shipping so perhaps he had tweaked it's idle circuit but I have no recollection of any conversation I had with him on that subject. My biggest recommendation if you buy 97's is get them from Clive and not from speedway. You will be money ahead. It may not look it but I built the car to drive it and I expect those carbs to do their job without a lot of messing about. So far, I am quite pleased.
No personal experience, but the carbs shouldn't know it the air pushed through them goes straight into a cylinder or passes through a blower on the way, so normal adjustment should be enough to make them work. When you put the blower before the carbs and blow through them you need to change a lot in the carbs.
Charlie Price at vintage speed shows the working of a stromberg 97 and the power valve at aroun the 10 minute mark. Very informative video ,thanks Charlie.