Too good for the car, Stan

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Too good for the car, Stan
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Patterson on Monday, October 29, 2012 - 10:19 pm:

My freshly overhauled Stromberg OF just arrived home from a stay with Stan Howe.
Looking at the results of that stay, I would say the man is a magician. I always knew he did exceptional work, but this OF should go display on the shelf, not hidden under a hood on my T. Its a gorgeous piece of Jewellery.
WELL DONE Stan. I'm impressed.
Rob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 08:47 am:

Don't hold back Rob, tell us how you really feel.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Aldrich Orting Wa on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 09:11 am:

You have to admire a man who is meticulous in his work.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Marshall V. Daut on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 03:30 pm:

Stan's the man!!! He'll never lead you astray.
Marshall


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Daron - Brownsburg IN on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 05:05 pm:

If it's to nice for your car,send it here. My car would love it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 06:08 pm:

Send a check, Jack, I've got more of 'em!

Thanks for the nice comments, you guys!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 06:18 pm:

And Stan even makes house calls. He's flying to Savannah to put his carb on the K, how bout that? I only have to buy the "adult beverages".


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Daron - Brownsburg IN on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 07:12 pm:

Stan,I'll send it on the 1st.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 01:21 am:

I can just send it COD, Jack!!! I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. =) =) =)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Blancard on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 07:35 am:

How about a photo of this beautiful piece of jewelry? Everyone likes pictures!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 07:58 pm:

Stromberg OF



And yes, I did put the cotter pin in the rest of the way after it was run on the test engine and the economizer properly adjusted.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Blancard on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 06:53 am:

Ooooooo - that's beautiful!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 07:34 am:

Stan,

You've worked on a lot of carbs (for a "young guy :-)), how do you rate those used on Model Ts? Of all the carbs (so many carburator' s, so little time).

Thanks,

Rob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 01:47 pm:

IMHO, the OF is the best all around carb that is still pretty readily available. There are a lot of other carbs that also run well, but Stromberg pretty much outsold all the other carbs combined in the day so there are still quite a few OF's around. Stromberg defended their patents on the economizer vigorously and no one was able to get the mileage the OF did and still have the drivability. From today's standpoint, the OF is great to work on because there are no pot metal parts. No Venturi to collapse, etc. I am having the stamped sheet metal parts reproduced by a guy with a water jet so I can replace the parts that are rusted away, missing or damaged beyond use. The OF is all bronze so it is not terribly difficult to make parts. I manufacture the idle jet -- which is quite often broken by somebody trying to get it out and twisting it off in the process. I also make new throttle shafts, choke shafts, etc. The OF is a true three circuit carb with a high speed mixture adjustment, an idle mixture adjustment and an economizer circuit that automatically leans the mixture at lower speeds and power demands. It not only helps the mileage considerably but stops or nearly stops the fouling of the plugs as the mixture is leaned when it should be and richened when power is needed.

Now, all that said, there are carbs that will give more power, more speed and more economy. It all depends on what you want. The U & J is a wonderful carb if you don't mind buying gas. It never runs out of air. The Rayfield side draft is great but they are impossible to find. I have found 100 OF's for every Rayfield I have ever found. The Zenith S4BF, which is the one made for the T that has the special manifold that sets the carb back behind the generator (& looks really cool)is a great speedster carb. They all need a new venturi -- which I can machine -- and run far better than I would have thought. They are fairly available, I have a couple of them right now. A similar carb is the S04, which is actually a Chevy carb. In the 70's Townsend made a manifold to mount one of those on a T by adding a bell crank to the manifold. They do not run as well as the S4bf does.

The Wheeler Schebler is also a good T carb. The D & B Harrington is good if you can find one that the venturi barrel is not all messed up in.

There were a lot of carbs in the day, I have about 50 different ones, Russ Potter has over a hundred and I have never run all the ones I have so I don't really know how all of them run.

I don't know if Russ has run all of his or not. Most accessory carbs are a version of a wick in a puddle, not much different than the standard Ford carb. Some were very complex and well made, the AERO, the H & N, the BOOTIE and some others were as good a quality as any carb from larger manufacturers. They all run so much better than a stock T carb you wonder if it is the same engine. But they are made from unobtainium.

For good zoom and still driveable, good starting and all of that, an excellent slightly larger replacement is the Stromberg OS-1. It has to have an adapter made to set it in slightly to get it away from the frame and a bell crank to run the throttle rod since the throttle rod is horizontal instead of vertical, but they run really well and have one more feature than the OF, which is the acellerator well and tube. Gives a little quicker response with a little shot of fuel when you open the throttle. It is a true four circuit carb. I really like those as an accessory carb, even tho they are not stock Ford. Same thing there, no pot metal or aluminum parts, all bronze and brass, trouble free once they are adjusted and with the economizer circuit the plugs don't foul nearly as bad.

The OF's are still popular, I've rebuild about three hundred and some now, one guy has bought 7 of them - one for each of his cars - and I have them running on T's from Australia to Germany. I just did an OD-1 for a guy in Russia for a 24 Wilys-Knight.

Gotta go to work. www.strombergof.com


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ivan Jorgensen on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 04:47 pm:

I think Stan has rebuilt 4 OF's for us. He even gets them setup and adjusted. All we had to do was bolt it on!

He even made some new parts for our Stromberg O3's for our Lincolns.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 05:36 pm:

Howdy Ivan, how's that boy doing??? Growing like a weed, I'll bet. I'm going to Hilton Head to install Rob's Schebler, gathering up things to go today and working on a HP4 side draft Zenith for a teens Hudson. Got the lathe going round and round and makeing little teeny parts for the ones that are missing. Glad your OF's are running fine. I run every carburetor on one of two test engines, one a Model T and one a Ford Tractor engine for the larger carbs.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Walker, NW AR on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 05:38 pm:

A service call to Hilton Head, Unca' Stan? Sounds like rough duty, but someone's gotta' do it. :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 06:16 pm:

Wait 'till he gets the hourly bill on this one!!! =)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Danuser on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 06:27 pm:

Lots of good steak, tators, and beer


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 08:27 pm:

Wait a minute, service call? Stan, you better hurry up, already some T guys here and we're drinking all the beer.....:-)

And thanks for the great carb info.

Rob, from Applebees on Hilton Head Island


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Timothy Kelly on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 08:41 pm:

Rob - it's good to hear that you made it safely to Hilton Head Island.

I too feel like I am on an Island. But that's another story that's way off topic.

Enjoy the Concours and Ford tour. Both should be great.

I wish the stars had aligned differently, such that they would have allowed me to join you, with or without my car.

Cheers,

Timothy


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 09:41 pm:

Tim,

We all empathize with your "island" situation. In your absence, I'lll try to uphold the early Ford standards you have established :-).

Seriously, I'm glad you and your family made it through the storm without significant damage or injury.

Rob

Some bar somewhere on Hilton Head Island (sucks to be me)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Thursday, November 01, 2012 - 11:16 pm:

I'll be there in about 27 hours if all works out as planned. Hold my seat.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Friday, November 02, 2012 - 06:37 am:

Great to hear from you Rob. Enjoy your time in Paradise.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Friday, November 02, 2012 - 07:44 am:

Mike,

Woke up this morning and pinched myself. It hurt, so it's true, I'm really at Hilton Head.

I'll start a thread about it in a day or so. Could be a "collision of cultures" when us Model T types join the "classy" cars at the concours. I've already met several T'ers with a variety of cars.

Now, back to the bar......... :-)

Rob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, November 02, 2012 - 08:58 am:

Yes, some HCCA say Model Ts are like a certain orifice: everybody has one, but nobody talks about 'em. :-)

I counted in an HCCA roster once, and about 40% of members listed a T in their collection.

Enjoy your time, and remember: it's not what some judgemental stranger thinks of your car that counts.

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dennis Seth - Ohio on Friday, November 02, 2012 - 09:46 am:

Stan did a carb for me and it looks and runs great but with all these comments Stan may have to get a new larger hat!


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