MTFCA Forum

I have spent a surprising amount of time sourcing the various odd-ball gaskets (sealing washers) for Zenith S4BF carbs. Some are cheap and some are a little more expensive. A couple of them are quite difficult to find. I am getting myself what I need, but I have two questions:

1. Is there any interest in my supplying a "Kit" of washers for the S4BF, if made available?
2. Is there any interest in my supplying either a) numbered jets, or b) adjustable jets?

Please let me know via EMAIL if you have any interest

It's this sort of feedback which will determine if certain parts/services continue or cease.

I expect that the number of folks tackling one of these is limited, so I do not want to go to a bunch of effort building unwanted "buggy whips"...just judging how limited "limited" is. Thanks.

Scott, is the Zenith S4BF, the popular updraft carb that speedster guys use, or the side draft carb made specifically for Model T's; the carb with the pot metal venturi that is usually cracked and broken? If so, I have one and I don't know if its rebuildable, or not.

Terry

The S4BF is an updraft into a special manifold.

Zeniths virtually ALL have degraded pot metal venturi's and in very unfortunate circumstances, will actually crack the main housing.

If you have a side-draft Zenith, it is a different model than S4BF.

In any event, I buy such things if you ever decide to sell...thanks.

As for parts, everything is custom and no parts are really commercially available. When I work on these things for myself, I always make extra parts and then offer them for sale...often as a one-time thing if demand is very low...sometimes as a recurring thing if there is continuing demand. It makes repair pretty dicey for someone who doesn't have access to a pretty complete shop adept at making precision parts. They're more a labor of love than a commercial deal as each model seems to take different obsolete threads and requires purpose-built tooling and investment into odd-ball taps/dies. Once the investment is made, then it comes down to: is there a demand? Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't. That's why I'm hoping to gauge the interest in a gasket kit. Not a terrible investment, but it doesn't make sense for me to stock a bunch of stuff that will never sell. When a gasket costs $.25 or even $2, the postage is bigger than the part, and almost demands bulk numbers, but that is still dumb if the bulk just fills shelf space after the purchase. A kit doesn't look promising, which pretty much is why I asked first!

ModelTWoods wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:39 pm

Scott, is the Zenith S4BF, the side draft carb made specifically for Model T's; the carb with the pot metal venturi that is usually cracked and broken? If so, I have on and I don't know if its rebuildable, or not.

I have made billet venturi's & rebuilt them for my own use. The side draft for which you refer? Looks like a direct replacement carb. typically with a 2 throttle hole lever for early or late applications. Dont recall the #.

If this is the carb, I would be interested in a parts washer kit. I think I have enough doners for extra hard parts. Or if washer kits would work here.

John, thanks for your interest, but it looks like this project will not get off the ground. I am guessing the relative low numbers of Zeniths relative to Strombergs is the cause. I'm not surprised. Thank you for looking everyone.

I looked into gasket cutting and hard fiber washers with my Winfield carb project. I was going to have to order 1000’s of gaskets in each variation. The tooling and setup costs per gasket profile was relatively affordable... but 30 or so profiles later I would have been bankrupt.

I found a local high school that had a laser engraving machine for burning images into wood. Turns out it also works excellent for cutting paper, rubber sheet... and even rubberized fiber sheet! A few minutes to lay out the profiles and came up with a low volume, extremely low cost option for custom gaskets

This may be what Terry is referencing, I believe a direct competitor to the legendary Stromberg OF and RF. This one is NOS, with a swollen Venturi. I don’t think a gasket kit would be needed, but perhaps the Venturi.
I haven’t researched at all but I see “HT 3 1/2 F”. stamped very lightly on the cover. I’ve wanted to fix and try out, and will bet it s a dandy. So far they go for peanuts when they pop up, and I do see them often. It may give the Stromberg accessories a run for the money.
Stan’s work an marketing madethe OF famous, and desirable. They went from cheap money to the stratosphere. I used to buy them all the time for $25-50. Sounds like ancient history but just 10-15 years.

Dropacent wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 24, 2021 1:27 pm

This may be what Terry is referencing, I believe a direct competitor to the legendary Stromberg OF and RF. This one is NOS, with a swollen Venturi. I don’t think a gasket kit would be needed, but perhaps the Venturi.
I haven’t researched at all but I see “HT 3 1/2 F”. stamped very lightly on the cover. I’ve wanted to fix and try out, and will bet it s a dandy. So far they go for peanuts when they pop up, and I do see them often. It may give the Stromberg accessories a run for the money.
Stan’s work an marketing madethe OF famous, and desirable. They went from cheap money to the stratosphere. I used to buy them all the time for $25-50. Sounds like ancient history but just 10-15 years. 10CE3269-5186-4809-9AAB-F0D98991FFA0.jpeg71AF9670-857A-431C-B2E8-E863F7C48E0E.jpeg62C0D52C-2B7C-4E7F-B125-1A03A7B5EA20.jpeg1BA583E1-06FF-4ADE-ABF6-EDBE0F15E492.jpeg

This is the one I was referencing also. Have not run one yet. I made 2 replacement venturies, one as original & one larger.
Looks like it would be a dandy carb. Everyone I have seen has the exploding pot metal venturi.