The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Anyone use Langdons 32/36 carb?

with all the headaches my carb is giving me on my GMC 228, I'm thinking about just going to a new carb, been thinking about trying langdon's 32/36 carb system. Does anyone have any experience with this? Have you liked it? Any information would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

aren't you running a Zenith? ANY other carb, including a Carter, would be a giant leap backwards.
Jerry

Don't believe even Tom would recommend the 32/36 on your GMC. I've run a pair of the Holley-Webbers and it worked well on a 235.

I spoke to Tom about it, and he told me it would be a big step forwards,. But then again he is selling them,. Maybe I'll just send my carb in for a full rebuild.

Didn't you find and fix a vacuum leak that (at the time) solved the carb issues you recently had? If so what are the new symptoms. I purchased a NOS Zenith from carbking and it's been great. I'd give him a call and get his input and check on a new NOS carb if one's required.

Good Luck, RonR

Boy, those Zenith Carbs are pretty good carbs and for a stock engine, would be hard to beat. I have never thought that a single Holly Weber 5200 (32/36 Weber licensed to Holly in the 70s) was sufficient to feed a 235 chevy, let alone a larger GMC motor. The primary seems just a little too small. Now, using a pair of them, that is a different story and a pair of them run pretty well (I have run them on both 235 motors and 261 motors.) The thing is that a lot of folks want to move to a 32.36 progressive carb because they cant get the stock carb, whatever that may be, to run right. And its almost always the case that the poor running state of affairs remained after a home done basement carb rebuild.

I have said this for a while now and I stick to my guns on this. These carbs are now really old and in many cases just plain used up. They need more then just a soak in carb cleaner and a carb kit installed. Some of them have badly worn or seating throttle blades, worn throttle shafts, deformed ball seats, clogged internal passages that need to have a plug or two removed to access for cleaning and checking. The professional builders have so much more available to them, ultrasonic cleaners and chromate baths, all the tools to create new seats for the check balls, replacement plugs so access the hard to reach places, all the proper specifications for adjustment, wet and/or dry flow benches.

You might consider getting that Zenith of yours to someone (like Larry Isgro in New York) who knows what they are doing with an old worn out carb and have the carb rebuilt by a professional and see if that does not do the trick. I love the 32/36 carbs, as well as the Weber 38/38 carbs but even I don't think I would use one on a stock motor over a Zenith, or a Rochester or carter for that matter.

As Mike posted:

The Zenith carburetors are excellent.
Larry Isgro is excellent.

Larry Isgro Carburetors Inc
1604 Argyle Rd, Wantagh, NY 11793
(516) 783-1041

I'm using a 32/36 on a 235 in my 57 tonner and it's much better than the worn out original. I don't have any experience with other carbs to compare to.

In the FWIW category, I have all of the EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE experience with Webers that I EVER plan on having. Trailered race car using 4 cylinder. $1800. worth of a Weber IDA couldn't compete with a $5. swap meet Autolite 2100. And I even paid to have a "Weber racing expert" redo my failure. He couldn't make it work any better than I did. I would rather have a Rochester B than another *&^%$#@ Weber!

The Zenith 28 and 228 carbs, on the other hand, are excellent. As to being worn out??? maybe, if the carburetor had more than 500k miles. Virtually bullet-proof.

Mike mentioned that sometimes older carbs need to have plugs removed, and the passages cleaned, and no supplier of the plugs.

Well, the plugs ARE available mail order, however; think outside the box. Those of you that are fishermen are aware of lead split shot sinkers. Zenith used lead balls. And a split shot sinker is nothing more than a lead ball with a slot. Use a sinker maybe 1/3 larger diameter than the passage, and a drift punch, and you can plug the hole.

Probably the biggest issue with the Zenith is the accelerator pump check valves. These are pressed in, and require a special tool (that can be made quicker than the time I typed this post). But they are brass. Wash them in-place with gasoline, test, and if they don't leak (and they probably won't) don't change them.

Yes, for race only vehicles where the cost of the repair is a signed blank check; the race Webers can be made to run really well. But I am still not sure that I cannot make the same power out of a common American-made carb (except for 1G + cornering). And on the street, no comparison.

Jon.

I am running a 32/36 Weber on my 261 and love it. Did have to increase the jet sizes to get it to run good. I use the truck (49 3600) for pulling a 2000 lb vintage camper and works so much better than the Rochester that was on the engine. One difference which takes some getting use to is that I need to give it more throttle to get the performance. Dave

Jon:

do you rebuild carbs?

Thecarburetorshop.com. Read all about Jon and crew.

Mike, did so for about 50 years; now too busy with the manufacture of rebuilding kits. Have not had time to work on carbs now for over 6 years (the kit business, however, is booming).

The Weber in my last post was NEW, and supposedly the HOT SETUP.

When it failed miserably when compared to an Autolite 2100 that I had rebuilt, I rebuilt and recalibrated the Weber....same result. So gave the Weber (and a signed blank check) to a company specializing in Weber modifications for racing along with the specs for our engine. Again....same result.

If you guys want to run Webers, be my guest. But if you have issues, and call me for help; I am going to suggest you remove the Weber, and hire a 15-year old to stand on the running board and pour gas into the engine from a leaky boot! In my eyes, this would be an upgrade!

Jon.

Hehhehheh, yep I hear you on the Webers. I had a tripower 45dcoe set up that I ran for a bit. Looked great, but was a bit of a handful to get dialed in, and pretty expensive. Ran like heck when it ran, was awful when it wanted to be, read that temperamental. I just got tired of having to always make adjustments. I miss that set up in some ways but not in others. I like the 1974 ford pinto version of the 5200 for a dual set up mostly because if the carbs are rebuilt correctly, they usually run great right out of the box.

I have never tinkered with the autolite 2100. Will have to make it a point to add that to my list of things to tinker with.

Thanks for the follow Up!

I'm 100% with Jon on using any Weber unless you have a dyno and have Weber send every possible part combination for that particular carb. We have a flow bench, and both a chassis and engine dyno and figure on 4 or 5 days to get Webers dialed in---not worth it for ANY street ride. Once set they do stay stable and work at various altitudes. On my 34 Chevy I just use the bodies for the injector look and have new electronic injectors with computer control for the actual working. Best Weber set up I've ever messed with. Here is a Weber system that has raised the Land Speed Record (LSR) every year for the last half dozen years from a former 90mph to a present 140mph with a factory Model A block engine in a 29 Coupe.

[img]https://s8.postimg.cc/esuhl1ddt/IMG_3982.jpg[/img]

Hello all,
Hoping to get a little direction here. I currently have a 1950 chevy 3100 with a 1954 235. I installed one of Tom Langdons 32/36 which seems to have worked ok for awhile. But now when I press the gas pedal it “bogs”. It starts up fine and idles ok but it’s when I go to dive it I’m having issues. I was thinking about to putting a single barrel Rochester on there to see how it runs. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

-Jesse

This is an old thread but it sounds to me like the accelerator pump has failed.

Are you running a Pertronix ignition? That's how they act when they go bad.

Take the air cleaner off and look down the throat of the carb with the engine turned off.

Manually goose the throttle.

If the accelerator pump is working, you will see a squirt of fuel into the center of the carb and you'll here the spritz.

If you don't see or hear the gas squirting out, then your accelerator pump is bad.

If it's working, your problem lies elsewhere.