My -54 / 235 has an original Rochester that´s leaking and acting up. I also have a few Zenith 23 and Carter BBR-1 carbs and my question is; should I swap? If so, which is better, Zenith or Carter?
The zenith is a good match, I believe the 235 came with the zenith at one time. Good carbs. You have to have the one with the linkage going the right way and it all bolts right up with hand throttle and everything.
I'd fix the Rochester. Most leakage is caused by warped bowl & air horn. A few old guys have figgered out how to straighten the parts with a rawhide tool, curing most of the leakage. Unless it's corroded beyond help, it's the easiest to clean & least $$ for a kit. The Zenith is a way more tunable unit, but in your case, stay with what you have, because it fits without bending everything. While you're under the hood, set the valves on it ... .006 intake, .016 exhaust .... & make sure the heat riser is free.
Well yes, I´m under the hood all right. The whole car is still in parts Just for the h**l of it, I´ll try to fix the Fenith.
You can get rebuild kits online easy enough but if you need the odd 'hard' part give me a shout, I have lots of Fenith parts!
Thanks, I´ll keep that in mind. I do have five Zenith 23 carbs, so I hope I can make atleast one that works ok. What are the things/parts on these that are the most likely to fail?
If exposed to weather, some fasteners can be hard to bust loose. Other than shaft wear, nothing out of the ordinary. The choke & fast idle linkage tends to get sloppy after 60 years. '54 - '55 GMC Hydramatic Zeniths had Sisson 6v electric chokes - if one of your cores matches that description, you won't have to add a cable. I'm assuming you tried the Zenith bases on the Chev intake to verify flange sizes are the same ...
We run into many replacement Zeniths & Carters originally for the small bore, but have the flange holes notched out to fit the '54 up 235 pattern. Be sure to use the insulator block.
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