Technical Time for a carb upgrade, Ideas?

So I have a 53 Mercury Monterey running the flathead and original Holley 2bbl 1901 carb. It seems to be working ok but does have some issues like it leaks sometimes and wants to stall out when letting the clutch out.

So here's the deal I'm not looking for a hot rod carb set up or anything crazy as my car doesn't have an OD so I'm not looking for speed or to waste gas as it's a cruiser. I'm also looking for a bolt on application.

My question is what is a popular bolt on carb swap for this car that will run great and last a long time and why would you choose that particular carb?

Thanks,
George

 

It would probably be less hassle as far as linkage etc to just rebuild or have have someone rebuild the carb you have.

 

F6 is right... especially with the stock distributor that uses ported vacuum.

 

I agree with rebuilding what you have or check out Speedway motors, they have new carbs that include new gaskets that are compatible with todays new fuels, which is aan issue that should be considered.

 

I agree with the posts above. The original carb is designed to work with your distributor as a set. Change the carb, change the distributor.

You can certainly renew your old carb, probably for less money than a replacement.

 

SPEEDWAY has the edelbrock 94, new carbs for 380 bucks. These carbs work very well on the street.

 

As others have mentioned, changing the carb will require changing the distributor.

As far as a Holley leaking, leaking is in their DNA.

If you REALLY want to change carbs:

The Holley 1901 is the small base, 4-bolt rectangular base 2-barrel. Other carbs that have the same bolt pattern include:

Carter WCD, WGD, and some BBD
Rochester some 2-GC
Stromberg WW

These listing represent 1000's of different carburetors.

We suggest when migrating an O.E. carb from one application to another, that the donee engine be within + - 3 percent displacement from the donor engine. 3 percent of 255 is approximately 8; therefore a carburetor from an engine with a displacement of 247 to 263 should work well.

Personally, I would try to find either a Carter WCD or WGD, simply because they are infinitely tunable with rods, jets, and springs. Others might shy away from these because the infinite tenability is intimidating. But I like both performance AND economy.

Of my list above, all are reliable (the WW and BBD will both need throttle bushing, then they are reliable). The Carter WGD would be on the top of my list, and the BBD on the bottom.

NONE of these will be a bolt-on swap.

All will require the distributor change. Other changes that may (or may not) be required on any give model would be:

Relocation of fuel line.
Relocation of choke line.
Throttle linkage shorten or lengthen.
Change of air cleaner.

Jon.