1932 Detroit Lubricator carburettors.

[Ian NZ]

Is there anybody know anything about the 1932 Detroit carburetors I have rebuilt my 1933 one using the 1932 Ford June, Sept/Oct service Manuals. I have fitted it to the 32 and it will not run unless I pull the choke out about half way, then its roughly, will not idle, I have tried altering the mixture control, no difference, raised the float level too 1 inch, the specifications say 1-3/16 inch which I had set it too, freed up the vanes which would not move freely etc, to the service manuals when I rebuilt it. Fuel pressure from the pump 4-1/2 lbs.
I had to make up some special tools to remove the valves etc.

[Lawrie]

Ian, you must be a massicist using one of those.
Lawrie

[G.M.]

The best fix if you drive the car is a 33 or 34 intake manifold
with a Stromberg carb. The Detroit carb makes the engine run
like a V/8 60. G.M.

[rockfla]

Ian
Ours did the same thing, only worse, it would not run unless on FULL choke and could only get it to idle at or above 1200rpm's, the mixture adjustment did nothing and then you had no acceleration.....Rudy Faltameyer (Spelling) in South Carolina restored and rebuilt ours....so I am no expert but I "believe" its the veins??? I can tell you once they are set up right ours runs the car beautifully. So don't give up!!!! Maybe David R can extend his impeccable knowledge to the situation.

[rotorwrench]

If a person has to pull the choke to inrichen the mixture enough to get it to run then the fuel isn't flowing like it should. There could be blockage in a fuel pathway somewhere in there.

[deuce_roadster]

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The taper on the metering rod changed between 32 and 33. If you swapped that it might have made a difference. The change in the rod would not be obvious to the naked eye.

[FrankWest]

Charlie NY rebuilds DL carbs

[Bruce_MO]

Hang in there with your DL carb. I've had one on my '32 Victoria and I've had almost no issues with it in over 30 years of intermittent driving. The car idles, drives and accelerates very well. I've had many more problems with power valve leaks, hesitation, and poor accelerator pump problems on later carbs. The only problem I ever had with it was the plunger for the accelerator pump would get "sticky" with varnish build-up and make it difficult to work the gas pedal. Steel wool fixed that.

Good luck.

[DavidG]

Apart from thorough cleaning of every component (applicable to all carburetors), there are only three things that can go wrong with a D/L carburetors. (Assuming that the carburetor has either all '32 parts or all '33 parts as some of them differ as deuce roadster has indicated.)

The first is sticking vanes. They must move freely in the carburetor's center section and the collar in which their studs insert must move up and down freely without binding. The spring retracting the collar must be in good working order. Both the vanes and area where they move within the carburetor's center section must be free of blisters and other imperfections in the zinc die castings (which tend to blister with age). Also care must taken when assembling the vanes to ensure that the choke arm is in the correct position relative to the vanes.

The second is a worn float level valve pin which will stick and limit the flow of fuel into the carburetor. NOS valve pins are near impossible to find, but used pins can be reground by a competent machinist to restore the proper fit and operation.

The third is a worn throttle shaft. Excessive wear on the shaft will cause erratic idle speeds.

Excluding the very earliest '32 version, The D/L has far fewer parts than any Ford carburetor that followed and in one respect its simple design is far advanced compared to those that immediately followed as it has a variable venturi, a feature found on carburetors used just before carburetors were replaced with fuel injection.

I rebuild my own D/L carburetors and have used them successfully for over fifty years. And yes, if you do it yourself you will either need to find or make a replica of the KRW special tool to completely disassemble and reassemble one (which you need to do to achieve total cleanliness). Also, to do the job right, you will need copies of both the '32 and '33 service bulletins.

They do run a little rough until the engine warms up if it's cold and may leak a little in hard right hand turns, but no carburetor is without idiosyncrasies.

[rockfla]

David
Our float tends to stick after sitting for a while, thus when you go to crank it fuel will run out of the bowl.....A gentle wrap with a rubber handle screw driver on the top cures the problem....Might that be a warn pin on the float??? Other than that It performs beautifully????

[DavidG]

Sounds like it. It is a common occurrence when a shoulder is worn into the taper of the float valve pin. Restoring the taper on the pin usually cures it unless the seat in the inlet is worn out of round. I've not yet found it necessary to restore a seat so my guess is that is not a common problem.

[rockfla]

David
Do you have a picture of the "special" KR Wilson tool needed that you can post, we have 3 extras, 1 I know is a 33 that I would like to play with and learn how to build them myself!!!

[Old Redneck]

I sent Charlie in N.Y. my DL carb and he will repair it like new. He the best I have found.

[DavidG]

Robert,

There are actually two of them, KRW V71 and V72 as shown on page A-21-3 of the '32 book and below. They work with both the '32 and '33 versions.

In addition to the metering pin cited by deuce roadster above, the '33 center section differs from the '32 center section as a result of an increase in the size of the the accelerator pump (which is also larger, naturally). The base is of course also different by virtue of the addition of a separate throttle control on the left side of the '33 base.

[rockfla]

Thanks David
Our 32 book is with the car up in Georgia, i'll read up and look it up when we get it back.

[Ian NZ]

David G, What do you set the float level at, the service instructions it says 1-3/16 inch plus or minus 1/16 inch do you find that correct and another thing I am repacking the metering pin 18- 9525 assy gland with two packings with 1/8' square graphite packing it looks as if it is leaking there and is that correct.

[DavidG]

I use the level specified in the Service Bulletins. I've never had to repack a metering pin and thinking about it, it would seem to be something that would rarely be required given the modest amount of movement that would occur over the life of the carburetor. I've found the initial setting of the metering pin specified has not required any subsequent adjustment.

[Supertuner700]

Can you still buy new accelerator pumps? If so from who?

[DavidG]

Not that I am aware of, unfortunately. Your mentioning the accelerator pump reminds me of two other things that can seriously compromise the performance of a D/L carburetor and those are having the accelerator pump and/or the surrounding choke collar replated. All those little holes in those two components have functions and plating can block or change the size of the holes and compromise the carburetor's operation.


As cited by Ken above, I understand that Charlie in New York has mastered the process of rebuilding D/L carburetors.

[Terry,OH]

There are a few people that can supply new or good used parts.

Performancenowdirect.com has rebuilding kits

The Carburetor shop also has a rebuilding kit#300 and parts 573-392-7378
also Scott Henningsen is another rebuilder


Detroit Lubricator made many carburetors for car manufacturers beside Ford.
I have found the pins for the vane plates wear quite a bit this can result in the vanes not moving correctly.

Beside the two Ford Service bulletins mentioned above "Dyke's Automobile Encyclopedia" has a good write up on the Carb. that can be found on-line.