Most of the 'B's had problems the first few years after
they were introduced. I've seen very few of the early,
'50 thru '53 'B's that were not warped, you see one every
once in a while. They kept making improvements in them
and by the end of the run it was a pretty good trouble
free carburetor. I've seen very little warpage in the
later ones, don't know for sure but somewhere about
midway along they must have changed the alloy which seems
to cure the curled up edge problem. It's clear that they
were having leakage problems early on because the first
air horns had a very thin edged and soon after they went
to the thicker 1/2" edge on them. They also changed the
ball check in the well several times. I can't remember
which documents I saw this in but the hesitation was
addressed a couple of times, I think it was in the
service bulletins.
The Carters didn't have problems with edge warpage. Apparently
the use of more hold down screws helped, and/or maybe they had
tighter control of the zinc alloy they were using also in their
castings. It's a shame when you have to use a bead of silicone
rubber to seal up the seam on a carburetor. I've seen a few
with that blue goop bulging out from between the air horn and
main body and it taint pretty.
Denny G
Last edited by Denny Graham; 01/06/2014 4:09 PM.
