bdtutton wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:40 am
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Here is my question...did Ford make improvements to the carburetors over time to make the Model T run better - YES
were the changes just to cut costs? - YES
Basically, do the later carburetors work better than earlier ones? DEPENDS
Answer 1 This explains most every carb available for a T many pictures a must to read...
By Stan Howe on Friday, October 24, 2008 - 06:27 pm:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/70303.html
Answer 2 http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1441246815 More info than whats below
By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Wednesday, September 02, 2015 - 10:14 am:
All you have to do is look at the amount of machining and parts it took to make the carb and you can tell what is going to run better. The early 4 and 5 ball Kingstons were expensive to cast and took a lot of machining and parts assembly. The later ones have far fewer parts and were designed and built as quickly and cheaply as possible and still have an acceptable level of performance.
The Holley two screw, which is really just an early version of the G, took a lot of parts and accurate machining. The G is the same. There are many machined places, it takes a separate venturi, a snap ring, an idle tube with a threaded jet and an attachment nut, a screwed in fuel nozzle with a gasket, a cover for that hole that the venturi fits into; threaded for the friction nut, 4 slits in that threaded boss for the friction nut, three screws to hold it on, an adjustment knob with a separate knob, a two piece throttle shaft and arm, etc. Just think about the three screws to hold the cover on. If they cost 1/10 of a cent each ten of them cost a penny, a hundred cost a dime a thousand cost a dollar, ten thousand cost ten dollars. In 1914 that was a lot of money. Think about what it cost to machine the body and all those parts compared to an NH. Overall, an NH has only one or two parts that have to fit fairly accurately and those fits are all in the body, not separate parts that have to fit and be assembled.
Think about the assembly time to put together a Holley G as opposed to an NH.
In 1914 Ford made over 200,000 cars. That means 200,000 carburetors. Ten cents saved on every carburetor was $20,000 at year's end. That was a lot of money. If Ford could save $1 or a little more on every carburetor that is close to a quarter of a million dollars a year. They bought those carbs on contract from Kingston and Holley, not only low bid but who could supply them.
Ramping up production from 35,000 cars in 1911 to over 200,000 in 1914 took a lot of capital outlay for machinery and facilities, not just at Ford but for Kingston, Holley and the other Ford suppliers. I'm sure they were looking for designs that were faster and cheaper to build with the machinery and trained employees they already had. Ford could hire assembly workers and teach them to turn the wrench to the right to tighten whatever bolt they were putting in but the carburetor builders had to have machinists who could run a lathe and other machines to produce more carburetors. That they were able to increase their production nearly 6 times over between 1911 and 1914 is a story that should be told.
The cost of material is also significant. A Holley G or Kingston 4 ball weighs far more than the later carburetors and is made out of brass or a variety of bronze mixes which are even more expensive than brass. A 5 ball Kingston weighs more than any of the later carbs. There must have been a significant reduction in material cost when Holley figured out how to cast the G in iron instead of brass for the 1918-19 model years. The cost of brass at the time was probably very high due to the demand for brass during WWI for shell casings. Saving 5@ on the cost of each brass carburetor by making a smaller carburetor or reducing the material cost by 50@ between brass in 1920 and the new cast iron Holley NH made it possible for Holley to supply those carbs to Ford for around 30 Cents where in 1914 they were paying well over a dollar per carburetor - as near as I can tell.
Answer 3 - User experience reigns - Vaporizer may be at the bottom of the list