I was removing an intake and carb from a 57 Ford I found in a junk yard for use on a 292 I am rebuilding.  The Ford still had a complete 312 Thunderbird Special under the hood, and yes I bought the hole engine.  The intake has a Carter carb #2441 mounted on it.  My Question is are Holley carbs a better choice or the Carter #2441.

tom in iowa

54 Merc wagon

54 sunvalley

I think first you have to define for us what your goal is: restoring to originality, or for a daily driver, or for performance, etc.

sorry

  I am building for a daily driver , I will be boring a 292 into a 312 with some performance upgrades, and it will all be installed in a 54 ranch wagon.

tom in iowa

54 Merc wagon

54 sunvalley

Tom: You can't bore a 292 to 312 dimensions. You need the 312 crank assembly. However, using 312 stock dimension pistons will get you to slightly under 300 cu " However, there may be a crank clearance issue with some designs of pistons. Someone on this site can clarify that point.

Paul

As I recall the Carter was used ont he '57 Mercury. Pulled one off a Merc in '63 and put it on my '58 Ford Custom 300  292. Motor was stock with factory dual exhaust system. Ran great for what it was. Had to clip a little off the spring in the vaccum diaphram that operated the seondaries to get them to open soon enough to suit me. Never touched the jetting.

If it's anything like the newer Carters/Edelbrocks, I'd go with Holley.


Lawrenceville, GA

I'll throw in a word for the Demon line of carbs, which are similar to Holleys but more tuneable. I put one on my 312 Y and it's been very good. The other day I saw a new 525 CFM Road Demon Jr. for $275. Of course it depends on your budget.

As Joey said, you need to consider what you are trying to do.

As slumlord said, I've only seen Carter AFBs on '57 Merc 312s.

'57 T-Birds only had 2 barrel (292 engine) or 4 barrel Holleys (312 engine); (Dual quad and supercharged 312s had Holley teapots)

'57 312 Fords I've seen had Ford or Holley carbs. (Dual quad and supercharged 312s had Holley teapots like the 'Birds)

As Charlie said, the 312 engine '57 Holley (or any 4150 or 4160 series Holley) is very tuneable with Holley made accessories; I think more easily tuned (sorted out) than the Carter.



In the March - April 2010 issue of Y-Block Magazine, Ted Eaton chronicled the dynamometer results of testing sixteen (16!) different four barrel carburetors on a .060 over 312 with unmodified '57 'G' heads, a stock '57 type iron 4 bbl. intake, a streetable aftermarket cam, 1.4 to1 rockerarms, and a set of Red's or old Hedman exhaust headers.



Three of the sixteen four barrel carbs tested were original equipment '57 FoMoCo units.

- Ford 'flattop' 440 cfm unit (Ford made, one piece end-bowl design with a removable flat top [not modular end bowls like a 4150 or 4160 series Holley], and vacuum controlled secondaries)

- Holley 410 cfm unit (Ford ECZ-AD I.D. stamping) [4150 type with 2 metering blocks and vacuum controlled secondaries]

- Carter 400 cfm unit (Ford ECZ-AA I.D. stamping) [with vacuum controlled secondaries]



The testing rpm range Ted used for the engine was 2500 to 5500. In the chart that Ted generated to indicate the results, he listed the peak horsepower and torque produced, average horsepower and torque produced, and a performance 'score' for each carburetor. The performance score was generated for comparison purposes by mathematical incorporating the average horsepower and torque produced using each carburetor.



Using Ted's scoring system,

- the '57 Ford 440 cfm flattop finished 5th out of 16 with a score 1534.2,

- the '57 Holley 410 cfm finished 10th out of 16 with a score of 1502.5, and

- the '57 Carter 400 cfm AFB finished 16th out of 16 with a score of 1466.1



NOTE: I will never forget the sound made by a Carter AFB when the secondaries open. There must be something about the shape of the air horn or something. -Music to my ears! How do you put that into a scoring system???



NoShortcuts




NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

The Carter carbs came on a good number of Ford cars with automatic transmission equipped 312’s in Texas.  I have a stack of the carbs and still have an unmolested ’57 Club Coupe with a factory Carter equipped 312.

 

The Carter carbs as a general rule are more dirt resistant than the Holley carbs and therefore tend to make for better long term drivers especially if the engine sits for awhile between driving episodes.  On the flip side, the Carter carbs can be finicky if sitting for more than just a few days in draining themselves of fuel which necessitates some heavy cranking or an electric fuel pump to get them restarted.  The Holleys on the other hand like to be kitted every 2-3 years and can be tempermental at times when their air bleeds get a little dirty.

 

Thanks to NoShortcuts for posting the info from the YBM regarding the carb testing.  From a performance standpoint and reproven on the dyno, the ECZ Holley 4V carb will outperform the ECZ Carter 4V carb when each are being run as delivered from the factory.  But both are 1957 technology in fuel metering circuitry which has improved vastly since then.  The newer carbs are more tunable along with better designed fuel curves which make them the better choice when camshafts, ignition, and compression ratios are altered from the original specifications.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)