Ok so i just got this car in the shop to restore, (1937 cord)... The guy had tons of spare parts for it and like 5 other cars, I was organizing everything so I could take what i didnt need back to him. I found a FISH M3 carb... Boxed everything up and just asked him about it... He didnt want it... So free for me... So i have no idea how this thing works but ive been looking for one for some time to play with, was about to machine one off of the original blueprints.. I did a search on here about them and i couldnt really find any info other than a bunch of fish jokes... Which are funny but not helpful... Biggest question is, does anyone know what size engine an m3 will work on? I have a '48 chevy truck with an inliner, a 54 triumph factory race car with a judson, put it on an LS motor, or would it do better on a bigger motor? Im itching to put this on something...
You get alot of stuff about the company and how it got introuble for fraud, a guy that sounds real sketchy is remaking them... boogity boogity boogity... Nothing specific on an M3 though... Anyone know the cfm? I can figure out how to tune it. lol
I have several Fish carbs - both downdraft and sidedraft and Reece Fish carba built ion the U.K. under license, but have not played with them yet. You should find plenty of answers here though: <cite>www.mikebrownsolutions.com/bccfish.htm The photo is of a Reece Fish which has a bowl that swivels so you can run it either as a downdraft or a sidedraft.... </cite>
Has anyone actually ever used one? I've heard of Fish carbs for at least 20+ years. They were supposed to be fantastic. Trouble is everything that I've read has been heresay. No real world tests. Let us know what you find out. Matt
In the mid 50's...I saw an article in one of the then extant car mags, about the Fish, and it's "merits"... It showed a drawing of the metering system....kind of reminded me of a vacuum wiper motor...... Nothing though, about how it actually performed,...(if it really did) Looking forward to hearing about any "installed" experience with one.... 4TTRUK
Forget the shelf art.. How about bolting it up to one of your cars and do a real HAMB test on it? Like you said; no real honest info around, so you can be the first to do a real test.
Back in the late '50s a local speed shop owner had a 4-71 blown SBC in a '34 Ford coupe that ran 6 Fish carbs. It ran, and ran well, any more than that I can't tell you.
about 20 or so years ago I was at a local car show and one of the entrants was a Fish carb vender and he was introducing it and touting all its benefits. He gave me a brochure and told me the way you tune it was to take a pencil eraser and twist it into these tiny gas ports to block off how many you needed to to get the right mixture!... uh huh, right...
For what it's worth, the Fish carb was invented right here in Western mass in a 2 car garage on the banks of the Conneticit river in Agawam Mass about 1952 or3. A lot of the stock car drivers at Riverside speedway ran them perhaps testing them for Mr Fish.
I don't have a Fish carb but have the Fish manual sold by a Michael A. Brown. Fish made them until he died, around 1958. Brown made them in the 80s but the demand for carburetors petered out when everyone went to fuel injection. So he stopped making them in 1996. He was talking about making another batch of them @ $850 apiece, if the demand was there, but don't know if the project ever bore fruit. He still sells the manual which is well worth it if you want to know how to use and tune your carburetor. The Fish design is simple and ingenious, different from any other carburetor.It can be adjusted to work on any engine with no jets to buy. I would love to have one and try it out on an old motor that uses a carb. A lot of them were sold, and a lot of people had success with them both on the road and in racing. Fish claimed a properly tuned carb was 30% more efficient than a typical one size fits all model. But he never made any ridiculous claims like 200MPG etc. Fish carburetor book, history of the Fish carb, how to tune, troubleshoot your motor etc. http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/fishtoc.htm PS if you want to sell yours I am a potential customer. PPS Different models of Fish carb were made in the US and in England. I believe the original Fish carb made in Florida was the M1 model, then the M2 and the M3. The M3 was the largest 2" bore model. The M3 or 2" bore was suitable for large V8 engines . It was recommended to replace the big 4 barrel carb used in the sixties and seventies.
Well actually that's exactly the way you tune them, since they work on pressure differential. I'm running one on my 41 Chevy (mild 261) - trouble free since years.
As far as real world road tests are concerned; my mentor did a 1000 mile comparison test on a 1961 Ford station wagon with the six cylinder engine and manual transmission; compared to the stock Ford carburetor. Jimmy worked on carburetors from the time he retired from the Marine Corps until he passed, and yes he is missed. He owned a machine shop, and worked on all kinds of carbs from the early brass units up. As to the test: the Fish did do about 10 percent better on fuel economy than the original Ford carb, but part of that may be attributed to a change of route. The Fish did NOT provide sufficient power for the Ford to do all of the hills that the Ford carb allowed. I personally have never tested one. I do have a file about an inch thick on the Fish, including the book written by Mr. Fish as well as the later stuff, news clippings about fraud, etc. We have sold several of them over the years, to restaurants, etc. in NASCAR country for wall decorations. I still have at least a couple for the next restaurant. Jon.
Actually I'm really happy with mine. Makes quit a lot of power (at least on par with the dual weber setup I had before) but so much less complicated and hustle. Also the available literature/press from back than is pretty much full of praise when it comes to better umph, so from that - and my personal experience - maybe something went wrong or was overlooked with that road test. Frank
Not sure, but are these the same as Reece Fish carbs? They were used a lot on aircooled vw's in the uk in the 70's
Reece (and a few other companies) made a smaller version for European (Mini/VW) cars under a license. Frank
The Jalopy Journal
