David I would go with Jon's statement, "Carter did NOT offer a YF specifically for the 292, but one for a Ford 300 CID truck engine can be made to work well."
Jon barks and bites when you call him on the telephone so be polite. I don't blame him. He's has had thousands +++ to call him with no clue of what they want/need.
I for one would love to know which carburetors he would chose and which parts to swap/modify even though I don't own a 292.
Buoy - Personally, I would not use any of the YF's on a 292. I suggested the Ford YF simply because they are readily available and cheap; and seems a lot of folks are looking for cheap. And there is absolutely no comparison to ANY Rochester single barrel as far as quality. When I made the comment you quoted, I should have stated "non-smog 292", as Carter did offer the 4371s for a smog version of the 292. Please do not ask me how to recalibrate smog carburetors; I will not do so.
On my 1979 Ford 300 CID six shop van (now has been recycled thanks to inept drivers that require salt and cinders to open the front door in winter), I removed the original Holley single barrel carb (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too small), and replaced with an Offenhauser aluminum 4-barrel intake and Carter AFB 400 CFM 4-barrel. Very seldom did the engine get deep in the secondaries, but the primaries flow about what the stock single barrel for a 292 would flow; and the AFB is infinitely adjustable. With 3-step metering rods, I can adjust calibration at three different values of vacuum, plus idle.
At the same time, I removed the 3-speed manual transmission that Ford thought was necessary, and replaced it with a truck 4-speed.
Because of the Carter AFB, engine efficiency was great.
Because of the truck 4-speed, low speed power was amazing. The van would pull my loaded 16 foot trailer in low at idle.
The kicker is in the costs: Offy intake - $595., Carter 9400s AFB $1100., truck 4-speed (used) $250., new clutch and pressure plate (insurance) about $125.
But the results: With the Holley, the van never saw 12 MPG. I am not going to post mileage with the AFB, but I drove it (with a good friend who is a Chevy dude) from Eldon, Missouri to Chickasha, Oklahoma fully loaded with out stopping once (standard tank). Anyone interested can look up tank size, distance, and do their own math.
The van was finally recycled with about 450,000 miles due to rust from the aforementioned salt and cinders the third time. The cylinder head was never off the block, and the engine ran seemingly as well as it had at 100,000 miles.
If I were REQUIRED to stay with a single barrel carb, I would acquire a Zenith type 28AV12 or 228AV12, and recalibrate it to Zenith 7959 (23AV11) specs. This would require machining a new venturi, and replacing all of the jets.
When I do make a recommendation, I try to do so with all issues in mind; and my guess would be the majority would not spend what I spent on the van conversion (even though it paid for itself many times over), and yes, I did pull the Offy and the 9400s prior to scraping the van.
As far as the barking and biting.........................
It isn't the caller that has no clue that is aggravating, they are generally a pleasure to work with; it is the self-annointed expert who knows exactly what he wants and the only opinion he wants is agreement with his totally non-workable idea, and then he has someone to blame when his idea doesn't work. When agreement is not forthcoming, he wants to argue. I have time to try to answer questions, and try to help. I do not have time to argue.
Jon.
