Carburator Mercury 255 Flathead

[dgmgohl]

I'm going to replace my Teapot carb with something new. What would be a good suggestion? What was the original carb that came with it from the factory?

[tubman]

I am using small base Rochester 2G carburetors on a couple of my engines. I am very happy with them. If you mount them backwards on the manifold, the throttle linkage and fuel line just about fall into place. The choke is completely backwards from what it needs to be for manual operation, but the Mercury manifolds have provisions for automatic chokes that also just about fall into place. One of my engines has an aluminum Canadian Mercury manifold and a 2GV (divorced choke carburetor). All I had to do was bend the linkage arm a little to make it line up. The second has a 2GC (choke on the carburetor,) and all I had to do to get that one working is to shorten the Mercury choke stove tube.

The small base Rochester's bolt right up to a Mercury manifold, but the throttle bores are larger. I used a 1 7/16" Rota-broach to bore the manifold out on both of mine and there seemed to be plenty of "meat" in the manifold so nothing broke through. The only downside I can see to this is that the distributor has to be changed as the Rochester does not have a port that supplies the proper venturi vacuum signal required by the stock Load-a-Matic distributor. You can go with either an old Mallory dual point (which I like) or you can have a later SBC distributor converted and recurved by any one of several people on this board; "charlieny" and "Bubba" come to mind.

[scicala]

Originally Posted by dgmgohl

I'm going to replace my Teapot carb with something new. What would be a good suggestion? What was the original carb that came with it from the factory?

It depends what year your 255 Mercury is. '49 thru '51 used the Holley model 885FF which is basicly a teapot two barrel with the cover on it for a side inlet air cleaner.


The '52 and '53 255 Mercury used a two barrel teapot model 1901 that used a conventional top mount air cleaner.


If it were mine, I would fix the original carb (if bad). Swapping to another brand from another engine just starts a chain reaction of changing parts, like the distributor, since the vacuum signal will be incorrect for the advance, air cleaner change, throttle linkage fabrication, fuel line hook up, ect…
I can help you with the original carb if it needs repair.


Sal

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by scicala

If it were mine, I would fix the original carb (if bad). Swapping to another brand from another engine just starts a chain reaction of changing parts, like the distributor, since the vacuum signal will be incorrect for the advance, air cleaner change, throttle linkage fabrication, fuel line hook up, ect…
I can help you with the original carb if it needs repair.


Sal

I'm keeping the "teapot" Holley that was original on my 52 Merc. Its not perfect but I've gotten used to it's idiosyncrasies and have adjusted my driving style to live with it..

[drolston]

I am running a Holley 390 cfm 4 barrel carb on my otherwise stock '53 Merc in the '34 pickup. Starts easy, runs great, decent mileage. Price is about $500.

[marko39]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by drolston

I am running a Holley 390 cfm 4 barrel carb on my otherwise stock '53 Merc in the '34 pickup. Starts easy, runs great, decent mileage. Price is about $500.

what all did you need to do to make linkage work with the 4 bbl.? what dist. are you using? Mark

[tubman]

Now that you mention the Holley 390 CFM unit, here are some numbers to think about : a Holley 94 flows about 140 CFM, while a small base Rochester flows around 280 CFM. You have to be careful comparing 2 BBL vs 4 BBL flow numbers because they are rated differently. The 94 and Rochester are both 2 BBLs, so I think you can do some meaningful comparisons.

I have a 255 '51 Merc with Edmunds heads, a Mallory dual point, and a small base 2GV in my '51 Ford club coupe. It starts easily, runs well, gets decent gas mileage (19 mpg on a 250 mile road trip at 65 on the interstate), and performs excellently overall. Since I use this car as my daily driver during the summer, I really appreciate not having to fool around with a dual carb setup. (It doesn't look nearly as impressive, though.)

The hardest part of installing one is preparing the manifold (although the carb does just bolt on). I'll agree with Sal about rebuilding the original if you are into stock restorations, but for a flathead powered DD, you will find a 2G hard to beat.

[drolston]

Originally Posted by marko39

what all did you need to do to make linkage work with the 4 bbl.? what dist. are you using? Mark

The '34 has a spoon type gas pedal with cable linkage to the left side of the carb. Speedway has the parts.

[Robz51]

You may want to send Sal your teapot and have him rebuild it. I did and my 52 Merc runs like new.
Rob

[Ol' Ron]

I use the 2GC and a Cheyv converted dist on my 280 flathead, The block is stock but bored To save an old hot rod engine .145" using Egge 3 ring pistons, EAB cam and heads. Can't believe the amt of torque the engine has. The Holley 2110 used on the 54/55 trucks will work with the load a matic dist and should preform well. I have no idea how much these carbs flow, but they have a throttle bore similar to the 2GC.

[old guy rich]

Charlie in ny rebuilt my Holley 885FF, 49 to 51 Merc carb and the car never ran better. I just put it on the other day. I love it. old guy.

[dgmgohl]

Sal, wondering what you charge for the rebuild? And where do I send it?

[scicala]

I'm not sure what happened. I answered your PM yesterday.


I just resent a PM to you to answer your questions. Also included my phone number and email address. Email might be easier than Ford Barn PM's


Thanks, Sal


Sal