The Ford Barn

Paul from Maine · 03-10-2014, 08:19 PM

I've seen frost on my TT's Holley NH on muggy summer days, so I am wondering how hot does a cast iron Zenith really get? The fuel available in the late '20's was half kerosene, so it stands to reason that the engineers wanted the carburetor to be as warm as possible to aid in the vaporization of the crappy fuel then available. I run a Tilly and have never had vapor lock issues, but I have no idea how warm a Zenith might get being purposely placed in such close proximity to the exhaust manifold. Maybe adding some kerosene to an A's fuel would solve everyone's vapor lock issues! After all, that's what type of fuel (a mixture of kerosene and gas) a Model A was designed to burn! My '27 T came with a Holley Vaporizer carburetor from the factory which was similar in design to the carburetor on the Fordson Tractor which was started on gas, but run on kerosene! Ironic that Kerosene is now more expensive! Though I hate the crappy ethanol contaminated gas we have now, at least we have plenty of it and it is far superior to what was available in the late twenties. If you read the automotive literature of the time, writers were lamenting the scarcity of quality gasoline that had been available in sufficient quantities to meet demand just a few years previous. Some late twenties publications predicted horrendous fuel shortages in the near future. The Model T may have put America on wheels in the twenties, but production of quality fuels in that era couldn't keep up with the demand created by the explosion of the number of drivers. Hence the crappy gas that required exhaust manifold heat to vaporize the low quality fuel. Today's fuel might just vaporize too well at too low a temperature to work well in the Model A's fuel system that was designed for fuels with much higher temperatures of vaporization! Really, someone should mix some kerosene in their fuel if they are suffering from vapor lock! I am going to try it just for fun this summer!

03-10-2014, 08:19 PM	#9
Paul from Maine Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Oxford Hills, Maine Posts: 325	Re: Searching for a phenolic carb spacer I've seen frost on my TT's Holley NH on muggy summer days, so I am wondering how hot does a cast iron Zenith really get? The fuel available in the late '20's was half kerosene, so it stands to reason that the engineers wanted the carburetor to be as warm as possible to aid in the vaporization of the crappy fuel then available. I run a Tilly and have never had vapor lock issues, but I have no idea how warm a Zenith might get being purposely placed in such close proximity to the exhaust manifold. Maybe adding some kerosene to an A's fuel would solve everyone's vapor lock issues! After all, that's what type of fuel (a mixture of kerosene and gas) a Model A was designed to burn! My '27 T came with a Holley Vaporizer carburetor from the factory which was similar in design to the carburetor on the Fordson Tractor which was started on gas, but run on kerosene! Ironic that Kerosene is now more expensive! Though I hate the crappy ethanol contaminated gas we have now, at least we have plenty of it and it is far superior to what was available in the late twenties. If you read the automotive literature of the time, writers were lamenting the scarcity of quality gasoline that had been available in sufficient quantities to meet demand just a few years previous. Some late twenties publications predicted horrendous fuel shortages in the near future. The Model T may have put America on wheels in the twenties, but production of quality fuels in that era couldn't keep up with the demand created by the explosion of the number of drivers. Hence the crappy gas that required exhaust manifold heat to vaporize the low quality fuel. Today's fuel might just vaporize too well at too low a temperature to work well in the Model A's fuel system that was designed for fuels with much higher temperatures of vaporization! Really, someone should mix some kerosene in their fuel if they are suffering from vapor lock! I am going to try it just for fun this summer!