What's the best 1bbl carb for the 200?

[Positively Ralf]

I know upgrading the carb is one of the first upgrades many people do to these engines but what is the best 1bbl carb available? I'm not counting the Pony one since there has been lots of negatives compared to the positives from what the reviews I've read around the net.

 

[CobraSix]

First, about the Pony carbs, if you can get your hands on one, they are the best out there. I had one until I swapped to the Oz250 set up. Loved it. Best carb I had ever run.

To answer the rest, it comes down to what you are looking for.

If you want simple and reliable, you can't beat the stock 1100.

I think the consensus is that for performance, the Carter RF flows the most CFM. There used to be a chart somewhere, but I forget where.

 

[rbohm]

First, about the Pony carbs, if you can get your hands on one, they are the best out there. I had one until I swapped to the Oz250 set up. Loved it. Best carb I had ever run.

i agree with this, although i have never had a pony built carb. remember that the internet is for the most part an anonymous place, and a lot of people will make claims without backing them up.

To answer the rest, it comes down to what you are looking for.

If you want simple and reliable, you can't beat the stock 1100.

I think the consensus is that for performance, the Carter RF flows the most CFM. There used to be a chart somewhere, but I forget where.

 

[JackFish]

Is anyone running a Carter RBS these days?
I'd like to try one, and if anyone has one in good shape I have a nice 5200 I could trade.
I suppose the issue would be the carb linkage, as I think they are set up for a cable throttle that comes across the valve cover?

 

[Positively Ralf]

Thanks for the replies guys. Although, where would one get the Pony carb these days considering they ar enot being made by Pony anymore. Wonder if anyone has a backstock of them

 

[CobraSix]

I got mine from one of the various vintage mustang forums.

 

[ludwig]

Pony sells 'improved' 1100s. They do their own internal engineering. You can still get a stock 1100 off the shelf or by ordering from a Mustang house.

 

[Positively Ralf]

Was doing some research but can't seem to find the answer to this one. How much better is the Carter RBS vs. the Carter YF? will the RBS carb bolt on to the 200 or will it need an adapter of some kind?

 

[Slipknotcc]

.

 

[CZLN6]

Howdy Back Ralf and all:

I'm away from my home computer, but got this connection. Anyway, tell me more about your criteria. What is your car/engine? What distributor? Any other upgrades? Are you looking for stock? Stock appearing? Are you willing/able to do adaptation and/or fabrication?

If you're talking about an upgrade with a LoM distributorYOu will need a carb with a SCV. That leaves a stock 1100, a Pony 1100 or finding an 1101 from a '63 - '64 Ford car with a 223 six. The stock 1100 flows 185 cfm. The 1101 flows 210. The 1101 is stock appearing and is almost a bolt-on. The only modification required is to flare the top of the carb inlet throat on the mounting adapter to clear the larger butterfly valve.

If you have a later distributor then your choices are; an 1101 from a '69 Mustang with a 250. It will fit the description as the 1101 above. Or a Carter RBS. it is rated at 215 and will require adaption of linkage, fuel lines, modify mounting holes and air cleaner.

Both the 1101 and the Carter RBS are simple, user friendly carbs, but both are susceptable to dirt and comtamination and require regular cleaning and rebuilding.

Adios, David

 

[Positively Ralf]

Hey hey David! Thanks for the info!

MY car is a 200 74 Maverick. Upgrades will be Pertronix a hotter coil for now followed hopefully by some gapping of the plugs as well as advancing degrees. And will a Vaporizer Pony carb not bolt onto this engine? I got the impression from your post that they will not and are only bolt ons for 60s 200s.

And I'm guessing the Carter YF is not worth it if I can pick up the RBS and an adapter. Unless of cours eI can find a 250 head and just bolt that on to the current block.

 

[simon]

Is anyone running a Carter RBS these days?

Me, me, me!!!!

it's on my 250. I can't say much about its performance, not yet. It idles well so far, if that is of any concern.
Buuut, I converted the throttle shaft to needle bearings, and fabricated my own "smog-exempt" main jet. At least this worked well; I love it when a plan comes together. I also have several RBS stacked away for spare parts and collected a few original carter rebuild kits over the past years (unlike the new HYGRADE crap kits, the N.O.S. carter kits still contain step-up rods and shit)

As far as the ponycarb's super-duper annular discharge booster 1100 is concerned, I will keep my big mouth shut. Obviously, ponycarb delivers good work, but common sense mandates that dogleg boosters have their place as well.

 

[Eric Rose]

If I read right, the original poster has a '74 Maverick. 74 was well after Ford stopped using the Load-O-Matic, so he's probably got a dual-advance points distributor or even a Duraspark.

I'd recommend the Carter carbs over Autolite just because they don't have the Spark Control Valve, so you can use a distributor with centrifugal advance. I'm not sure if the Pony Vaporizer will work with anything but the Load-O. The Carter carbs also came with features like electric choke and dashpots for automatic transmissions.

The Carters are easy to find, easy to rebuild, and they probably make the same power as a regular 1101. The throttle on mine doesn't look all that different from what I've seen on the Autolites, although I am using a cable throttle from a Maverick I would imagine a YF could be made to work with the stock rod linkage.

 

[JackFish]

The mav would have a cable throttle coming across the valve cover, no?
This limits your choices, as I think the 1100 and pony type stuff is positioned for the old mustang linkage.

 

[CZLN6]

Howdy Back Ralf and all:

Ahh! Yes, your stock carb will be a Carter YF, and it will be mated to a modern, vacuum and centrifugal advance ignition system. The YF is a good carb, and can be upgraded to a YF from a 1980ish Ford pickup with a 300 engine. IIRC the cfm goes from 185 to 210. It will be very stock in appearance and basically bolt on. Linkage, fuel lines, vacuum hoses and air cleaner should be a direct swap.

Please verify that your distributor is a point type???? You mentioned a Petronix upgrade. FYI- The first version of DuraSpark, pointless distributors began to appear in the '74 model year. The only way to know, for sure, is to take off the cap and look for the presence or lack of points. If you have points, then the Petronix is a good upgrade. If no points, open up the gaps to about .045" - .050" and enjoy.

The other option is a Carter RBS used on 250s from 1970 to about 1974. This is a different carb in appearance- very low profile and rated at 215 cfm.

Either of these carbs is a good performance upgrade, with a minimum of adaptation required.

Adios, David

 

[Eric Rose]

I would go for the Duraspark over the Pertronix just because the Duraspark parts are easier to find locally in the event of a failure. Any neighborhood parts store will have a Duraspark box.

 

[Positively Ralf]

Already got the Pertronix unit. Just too cold outside right now to install it.

As for the 300 YF, thanks for that info. It sucks that the Pony carb is for the earlier 200s only. Kinds of kills it for a lot of us. But back to the 300 YF, I'm still trying to understand the whole CFM side of things, but will the difference in 5 cfm from the RBS really be that big of a difference? Or is that too small a margin that in the end it won't matter?

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[Eric Rose]

It sucks that the Pony carb is for the earlier 200s only

Personally, I would rather have centrifugal advance than a a 1v carb tuned by "the hands of the master" and a Load-O-Matic. Also, you could probably do a 2v conversion for what the Vaporizer would cost, especially since they're no longer producing them.

 

[Frankenstang]

As far as the ponycarb's super-duper annular discharge booster 1100 is concerned, I will keep my big mouth shut.

At the risk of not taking this tip, I just wanted to add that I am currently running the vaporizer 1100 with non load-o dizzy (centrifugal advance only, dual point mallory) with the vacuum signal from the carb simply capped with a brass plug. It is working great throughout the range (although I still have no numbers on efficiency as yet
...seat of pants meter is ).

Pony will tell you this should not be done, they may suggest you need to plug the internal vacuum channels for the scv to do it...I just wanted to chime in since Eric asked the question above. As for any other commentary on pony the company...simon's tip will be my refrain. Sorry, did not intend to hijack/divert Ralph's thread, just wanted to respond to that question because I did not readily find the answer before I went this way. Otherwise...

The YF is a good carb

Good luck!

 

[JackFish]

The Holley 1946 is another option. It's by no means a performance carb, just 185cfm IIRC. Ford used a lot of them and they're probably comparable to the YF in performance.
I've rebuilt a few to get a couple in good running condition, and they're pretty straightforward when stripped of a few of the emissions encumbrances. Just put a cap on whatever ports you're not using.
I have collected about 4 different 2bbl carbs in excellent condition, but I run the 1946 anyways because the engine is stock and a daily driver, gets good 0-60 performance with a dizzy recurve, and is fairly efficient when tuned up properly.

Now that I have a rebuilt motor to break in I'll use it as well, but may start playing with the 2bbls later.