So, trying to help out a buddy with his 1959 Chevy Apache with the 235 and manual transmission. Carburetor was rebuilt, but it was a fail. After a few conversations with fella from Mike's carburetors we checked the bowl body and it was terribly warped. So we opted to get a rebuilt unit through O'reilly. Terrible idea. They, like a lot of box stores these days, source carburetors through Tomco and they are an extremely problematic supplier. First unit didn't even look anything like the original Rochester B. Bolted up fine though and had correct fuel, vacuum and linkage. Ran like crap and leaked fuel out the gasket between bowl and air horn. Probably stuck or faulty float level. Not my problem. Should have been only in need of adjustment out of the box, not repair. Back it goes.
Second unit comes and looks IDENTICAL to the original unit, except obviously it's been gone through and is clean. Yea says me. Go to put it on. NOPE! It has the smaller base with the mounting holes too close so somebody at Tomco pulled the wrong base out of the core pile. Two strikes.
Third unit comes and it looks like somebody honestly took the core we turned in and put it right back in the box. Might even have been the case, dunno. Three strikes, we're done with this fiasco. Refund. Can't get core back. O'reilly gives us a measly 25 bucks to make up for the fact that now we have no core. Manager says he cannot get the core back and nothing more he can do. I spend a LOT of money with O'reilly as I repair vehicles as a secondary source of income on the side, so I tell him that's ok, RL auto supply is more than happy to take my business if you can't make this situation right. He can't, I'm gone.
Now to the current situation and the actual questions.
So I have an 85 F150 that's had the ECM delete done and I'm currently rebuilding the engine and upgrading to Offy intake, 2150 carb, etc. So I now have a 78-ish Carter YF sitting here that was recently rebuilt in the last year and ran perfect on the truck until the engine broke a ring. Well, all of them actually. Weirdest thing you ever saw. That's irrelevant though. What is relevant is the carburetor. It fits perfectly on his intake. Fuel inlet is a match and the throttle linkage is SIMILARLY oriented, but there are some differences.
First question is, is there any way to make this carburetor work with his throttle linkage? The 59 truck linkage has just the bend on the end of the linkage rod that's supposed to slip through a hole in the throttle linkage on the side of the carb. But on the YF there is a ball pin as the donor truck of course had a modern style throttle cable that snaps on to it. It was designed to actually be PULLED somewhat horizontally by the throttle cable rather than PUSHED up like the linkage on the Rochester B. It ALMOST looks as though a guy could drill out the ball pin and slip the linkage rod through there, then clip it. I think it would almost certainly fit but I am NOT by any means confident in whether the setup would be capable of actuating the throttle lever properly or if it would just end up moving a small amount and then binding up. I don't want to drill out the ball pin just to find out it won't work and now the linkage is fubared.
Is there any kind of kit to deal with this linkage issue? Throttle cable adapter kit or linkage adapter kit of some kind?
The other question is whether or not the vacuum advance will be an issue. This truck has had the mini-HEI distributor swap done, so it actually has an S10 distributor from Langdon, and I'm unsure as to whether the type of vacuum needed on the new distributor was in fact the same type that was needed on the old one, or whether this YF carburetor can even supply the necessary TYPE of vacuum. I know there are differences in manifold versus venturi and this YF, being a 70's model, has several vacuum ports to choose from on it. I don't have an exact number for the carb as the tag is long gone, but is the model seen here:
My carter YF carburetorThanks for any insights anybody might have on my questions, or factors I've failed to consider. Thanks.
