VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 nos carb on ebay for 235 engine

chevgene.....that's NOS rochester carb on ebay. part # is 21-302.....what do you think ?

I can't find it on eBay.....can you email me the full Ebay item number?

On the plus side-
That is the 1956 style carburetor and is the replacement for 1950 and up with automatic choke. In my opinion it is the best of the Rochester carburetors up to that date. From the box style it was porbably one of the last new ones made, probably in the late '60's. The bowl cover should not be warped as many that have been in service for years is. I have one like it on my 1950 and it performs well.

On the minus side-
It may "work" OK as is. What I did with mine before using is remove the bowl cover and check for corrosion insde and made sure the power piston was free to move. Mine did have some of the light powder type corrosion which cleaned up easily. I replaced the bowl cover gasket (a kit costs about $14.00 and gasket is in kit, the unused parts just good to have for spares) also made sure the check ball in the accelerator pump was free.
I paid like $50.00 for mine-was lucky. Don't know if I would spend $200 for one as I am from the old school and remember when they sold for $12.00 new. The price may be high but sometimes we have no alternative I guess.

thanks chevgene for your advice on that NOS carb on the bay. as a newly joined member(check in the mail)I value your advice, you pretty much told me what I was wanting to hear....looking forward to chatting with you and the others on the this forum

The pleasure is ours as without you we would be talking to ourselves :)

Once you really get to know these old Rochester carbs you can pick them up at swap meets and on ebay used for often less than 15 or 20 dollars, I would rather have 10 of them at $20 each or even better 20 at $10 each than one at $200 just be careful and get the ones from 1953 thru 63, some of them will be used for parts and others will be in good condition, the airhorns changed from the clamp on air cleaners to the center bolt on jobs, but I will use a modern bowl with one of the airhorns from a 53-54-55 without any trouble. The early ones (1951) have the thinner bowls and often will be warped. If you are looking at swap meets carry a thin feeler gaugeor pen knife with a thin blade and check and see if the blade will go between the float bowl and the air horn, that will let you cull the warped ones. I have planed them down flat with a piece of emory cloth supported by a thick pane of glass and made them functional, just to see if I could. Also you can often find the main jets of several different sizes. There were continously made improvements in the throttle bases and the choke bowls and also some complicated changes in the airhorns during the many years they were standard equipment on Chevrolets, GMC, AMC cars and light trucks.

The 1956 carburetor is the latest one that you canuse on a 1956 or older enine - unless you use a later model air cleaner. Exception would be if you get one from a truck and it will have a hand choke.

I would rather pay a fair price for one good, fresh carburetor than piece a bunch of waorn-out ones together. Have been that route and unless you can do all the work your self you will end up having more invested tah in buying a new carb. The new unit will have nice tight fitting throttle shafts and no linkage wear.

thinking about lining myself up spitmanifold and dual carbs setup on my 56 235 engine for my 50 chevy coupe. thought I might use 56 rochester for the primary with auto choke. and a pick-up rochester with manual choke for secondary. does this sound OK? and will a 53-54 stock corvette factory equip spitmanifold fit on the 50 chevy without a lot of cleance problems. I was reading in the archives about how a lot of fenton headers on the rear exhaust pipe have problems clearing the steering to hard left. what do you think?