Holley 1904 on a DODE head?

David_Conwill

David_Conwill

Well-known member
The previous owner put a Carter YF on my mongrel 170 (‘68 block, ‘70 head). I’d like to go back to a Holley 1904 or 1908, if for no other reason than for the manual choke (currently there’s an automatic choke hooked to the choke cable, which isn’t a great arrangement).

Will the 1904 physically bolt to the DODE head? I believe the DODE has the larger carb hole, but I’m not sure if the bolt spacing is different.

By the way, somebody chucked my carb heater, so the carb bolts directly the intake on my car, if it makes a difference. I wouldn’t mind going back to carb heat at some point, for the fuel economy and driveability advantages.

-Dave
 
Howdy Dave:

1st a couple of FYIs- The holley #1904 came in several iterations over the years and vehaicle application. It was THE carb from 1955 - 1962 on Ford and Edsel cars with six cylinder engines. It was used on 215 and 223 sixes with a CFM of 170, and 144 and 170 sixes with cfms of 130 and 150, in Falcons. Auto choke versions were used in the Mercury car lines. The #1909s appeared in the 1962 model year and depending on car line could have either a manual or auto choke. 1963 saw the Autolite 1100 become the standard carb for all FoMoCo lines.

Your '70 head may or may not have have the larger carb hole, but most likely. You'll have to check to verify. The stock carb for a '70 170 is a YF. Most likely you will have to make an adapter to orient the linkage and fuel line to use a #1904 in place of your YF. FYI- all Side bowl holley one barrel carbs are SCV type for use with a Load-O-Matic distributor. What distrubutor are you using now?

Hope that helps.

Adios, David
 
Thanks for the reply.

I’m using a ‘68-type points distributor at the moment. I knew from your book that the 1904 was an SCV carburetor, but figured I could just cap off those ports and run it like the YF.

-Dave
 
Howdy back:

When you say run it like a YF, what do your mean. The Yfs have a specific ported vacuum source for the '68 distributor. What vacuum source are you planning to use for the vacuum advance? Does this '68 distributor have two taps at the vacuum cannister? One on the inside of the cannister and one on the outside? Keep it coming.

Adios, David
 
CZLN6":3jq8qg08 said:
Howdy back:

When you say run it like a YF, what do your mean. The Yfs have a specific ported vacuum source for the '68 distributor. What vacuum source are you planning to use for the vacuum advance? Does this '68 distributor have two taps at the vacuum cannister? One on the inside of the cannister and one on the outside? Keep it coming.

Adios, David
Click to expand...

I guess I’d forgotten about the ported vacuum. There is a way to recurve the distributor for use with manifold vacuum, I think, but I’m not sure if I want to tackle that. My goal in switching to the 1904 was to simplify, after all.

Perhaps it would be easier to find a true manual-choke YF. I think that design was used from sometime in the early 1950s, so I'm sure one must exist.

I don’t recall the number of vacuum ports on the distributor for certain, but two sounds right - one advances, and one retards, if I recall correctly. I remember my dad and I looking at it, thinking they were hooked up backward, and switching them. It really ran terrible after that!

On a side note. I think Mallory made a high-performance points distributor for our sixes back in the Load-o-Matic days, didn’t they? Were those pure mechanical advance?

Thanks for all the help.

-Dave
 
I think Mallory made a high-performance points distributor for our sixes back in the Load-o-Matic days, didn’t they? Were those pure mechanical advance?
Click to expand...

your right they did in the 50's and on. also some with a vac adv. too in later 60's :nod:
 
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