Gotcha, you thought it was CARS, didn't you? I've been working for the last few days getting some Stromberg OF's and RF's ready to go. Decided to line the OF's all up and take a picture. 16 of them. I know, I could have lined them up in four rows of four but I just remembered about the 16th one after I had them all lined up in three rows of five. Off to the mail some of them go.



Here are some RF's

Stan, if those run half as good as they look when you are done with them they ought to go like stink! Dave

I wonder how a speedster would run with a pair of those RF's on it? The RF seems like the ultimate side draft carburetor. They are about 10 times harder to find a good complete core compared to the OF.

Thanks, David. The OF's run about as well as anything you can put on a T. It's not hard to see why they sold so many of them.

You're right, Royce, they are hard to find that are intact. The aluminum seems to deteriorate in them for some reason. The one on the far right in the picture is corroded along the top of the gas inlet. Another common problem with them is that the arm that runs the needle valve lift is broken off on about half of them. The second one from the left has the arm broken right at the fulcrum screw. That little arm would be pretty time consuming to reproduce. I think the throttle shaft tends to break off, too. I've seen two or three more that have the throttle shaft and the arm missing. Must have been too much pressure on that little arm. The idle jet sticks in the aluminum and is pretty hard to remove, too. The one on the left belongs to Gary London, it's only the second one I've done and have had running on a test engine and I was really surprised at how well it runs.

I'd like to try a set of them on an engine, I'll bet they'd really run. Just a single runs good, I'll bet duals would really go.

it's lookin' like there's gonna be a worldwide shortage of rouge !!!

Garnet

You blokes havn't heard of SU carburettors have you?

Good job too or there'd be none of them left either;)

Looks like a great collection though...

Cheers

Ab

Stan How do set up the RFs? I have a couple of them in good shape but don't know how to adjust them.

http://www.carsofmydreams.com/sites/carsofmydreams/files/Strombeg_LF_Manual.pdf

Brendan, the knob on the top is the main jet adjustment, the one on the engine side is the idle adjustment. The idle jet -- which is in the passage under the brass screw closest to the idle adjustment on the side should be checked to make sure it is clean before adjusting. I use guitar strings for jet cleaners, don't use acetylene torch tip cleaners as they will open up the jet too large. The hole in the idle jet is .025, don't enlarge it.

To adjust, open the main jet four or five turns from closed, start the engine, at about 1/4 throttle, screw the main jet down until it starts to starve for gas, open it up 1/4 turn, slow the engine down and adjust the idle. At this altitude, 4500 feet, about 3/4 of a turn out from closed seems to be a good nominal setting. The amount of fuel in the mixture is controlled by the jet size in the idle jet, the mixture knob is the amount of air being mixed in with the fuel and transferred into the intake. If it won't idle, remove the plug in the engine side of the body between the idle adjustment and the mounting flange and make sure the hole into the venturi is open. It is a very small hole and plugs pretty easily although not as much as the hole in the idle jet does. If it stumbles when opening the throttle open the main jet up 1/8 turn at the time and it should be in pretty good balance.

They are a pretty simple carb and much different than the LF. I don't like the LF very well.

Anthony, did SU make an accessory carburetor for the Model T? I've never seen one.

Stan, I don't think SU ever marketed a carb aimed at the T, but there was an old boy around a few years back here in the UK who had a really sweet running T, which he used to tour all over the place. It ran an SU off a Mini, as well as a Mini distributor driven by a bike chain off the front of the cam.

About 20 years ago, Robin Pharis of Folsom, California ran two SU carbs on his T. It worked extreamly well. Don't remember what other modifications he made. He let me drive one of his T's which was the first time for me.

Neil

I for one can tell you about the great work Stan is doing on these carbs. He is really providing us with a huge amount of knowledge and expertise in rebuilding these great carbs. His latest tweek is using small button head screw with gasket on the back side where those pesky little plugs used to leak. The "new over the counter" modern needle and seat eliminates problems of the float level. Stan, Thanks so much for the work you did making my OF run better than new! Looks better too.

Thanks, Gene. They are great carbs and I am continuing to refine my rebuilding processes and knowledge of them and am trying to figure out ways to make more of the missing or damaged parts.

I think I have now replaced just about all of the earlier needle and seat conversions I did with the more available Viton tipped needle and a replaceable seat available from most parts houses. If you know of anyone who bought one or had me rebuild one in which I used the earlier style of needle and seat tell them to contact me and I will replace that set with the newer design at no charge. I did not keep track of the ones I've sold on ebay so there still may be some out there. The earlier needle and seat works fine, the problem with them is that I was not tying the needle solid and the float was banging around during shipping and damaging the needle. Other than that, they also were -- and should continue to be -- troublefree. The leaking plugs needed a solution. I'd about had it with those little brass plugs. The little button head allen screws and neoprene washers have solved that problem.

I have also reprinted the instruction book for the newer style of OF and have added several pages of information about them to it.

I will be assembling a "kit" for people who want to rebuild their own with all the gaskets, new needle and seat, etc. Not ready yet but will be somewhere down the line.

I won't tell who I'm doing this for because I think he wants to show up at a speedster run with these on his engine, but I'm doing a matched set of three OF's for a guy who is building a speedster and is going to build a manifold to run three side draft OF's on it. Should look pretty cool and run great. Zoom, zoom!!!