Simmons Super Power Carburetor

[VowellArt]

Does any one know much about this carburetor? I got one and am trying to rebuild it. Do they make float valves for them? It looks a bit like a Holley NH Straight Through, with a Center Drain, even the float looks like a Holly's. But there is this little flapper just behind the Choke butterfly, I'm assuming it has something to do with either the choking or idling at low speed. If it does something for the choking of the car, then maybe it helps in starting or something. Never seen one of these and of course I'm going to draw it too, but I'd like to know if anybody has one and can tell me if and where I can get parts for it, I'd like to replace that grosse jet with a float needle valve. Also does anybody know what the float is set to? I measured it at .250, but that may be not accurate, because of that grosse jet that was installed.

Any information and of pictures you can give would be greatly appreciated.

[John Warren]

This one?

[Pep C Strebeck]

I have one on the car and tell you that they run well. Some have said that they are a "hard" starting carburetor, but I have never found that to be the issue. It starts easily with either the hand crank or starter. As for the flapper, it is supposed to help with the low speed idle to make it run smoother at a lower RPM. The flapper is your traditional pot-metal and is often missing or damaged (swollen and cracked).

As for the parts, most everything is the same as a standard Holley NH. The only difference that I have noticed is the spray needle. The standard NH needle is on the left and the one from a Simmons is on the right:

This difference has been noted on 4 different Simmons Super Power carburetors that I have had (also the Western Auto version as well). The only other difference is the wire heating element at the mounting flange just past the throttle butterfly.

Hopefully this is helpful.

[VowellArt]

I was going to ask what that wire was for, because this one doesn't have one, but it does have that flapper and it moves pretty freely too. So does anybody know what height the float is supposed to be set to? Or is it set like the Holley's?

[Mark Gregush]

Should be the same as the Holley.

[Adam]

A good photo of the decal. Someone should print a batch of them.

It mentions “power and speed” so a good restored Simmons with a nice decal would probably bring about double the price of a straight-thru Holley.

[Mark Gregush]

You could put lipstick on a pig too.

[Bob Williams]

[Matt_A_1926]

They're a great little carb. In many ways an improved NH straight through. The flapper helps with idle, but also will automatically enrichen or lean your mixture as you drive and suction changes. I have one I bought for 10 dollars at a swap meet and clean up.myself. tested it on my coupe. It has definitely an improvement in power and shift from low to high pickup. Only reasons i dont run it now is my flapper would sometimes stick, needs more cleaning, and now with my engine being rebuilt.im upgrading to a Stromberg OF. Definitely get that Simmons rebuilt. It's worth it.

[George N Lake Ozark]

Mart, do you have any pics of the carb you are working on ??
And is this a carb you may have fetched from Brother Derrick ???

[Mark Gregush]

Adam sorry about my comment, somehow I miss read or part of your post did not show in the preview.

[VowellArt]

George, yes it is the carburetor that was on that 27 Fordor of his that we got running last Saturday. He bought a new Holley NH for it (because he like Holley's) along with a new tank and starter switch (the switch he needed the old original was shorting out). He said I could have this one because I was interested in drawing it, but after doing some research I just might trade my Kingston L-4 for this one, if it is really as good as they say.

As for that decal...no problem, if anyone has an example of what those pat. numbers at the bottom are, I'll lay out the art tonight.

[VowellArt]

As near as I can figure, this is what the carburetor bowl logo looks like.

[VowellArt]

I noticed this evening that mine had that heater wire and it broke off, I guess. Does anybody know what kind of wire it is? If it is soft steel wire, I can wind one myself and reinstall it into the mouth of the carburetor...if it is something a bit more extravagant (like zinc wire for instance), that may take some searching for.

[VowellArt]

I think I need to rework that logo a bit...just got a new sample.

[VowellArt]

Ok, revised logo...I think this is closer to the original than my previous attempt.

[VowellArt]

And given that the SIMMONS banner may be a different color other than white, I'm thinking it was some sort of gold color from the way it faded on that carb picture.

[Mark Gregush]

It has been suggest to take the wire out and plug the hole. While it might help(?) with the atomizing of the fuel, hooked up it could be a fire hazard.
Might be Nichrome wire;
What is Nichrome wire used for?
Nichrome Wire and Ribbon (80% Ni/20%Cr). Nichrome is a non-magnetic alloy of nickel and chromium. Nichrome is widely used in heating elements. It is wound in wire coils to a certain electrical resistance, and current passed through to produce heat.

[Scott_Conger]

Martynn

your work is absolutely superb. What talent (and what software)!
Thank you for what you do for the hobby.

[Mark Gregush]

Ditto what Scott said. Anyone have a good photo of the decal on the Western Auto version?

[VowellArt]

Oooh, I love to see the Western Auto version, does it look anything like this one? Or is it a standard Western Auto logo? Or any other logos you guys might need, this one (other than the research on those patent numbers and that banner color) was a piece of cake.

[VowellArt]

Mark, as for that wire in the front, I doubt it gets that much hotter than the intake manifold, but since it translates the heat directly into the fuel flow path I can see how it would help in vaporizing the fuel mixture...which would make this carb the smallest vaporizer carb out there.

[Mark Gregush]

I don't think the wire was heated except for starting. Once the car was started and warmed up the heat stove would come into play.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/70 ... 1498280187
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29 ... 1191117865

[Scott_Conger]

Mark

I have always wondered about that. I wonder if there was a wire from the starter terminal over to the wire. That would ensure the wire had a limited operational period, but wonder if that really helped any...that seems like a very short operation period. Alternatively, how else would the operator be certain it didn't draw current constantly if operated with a manual switch? I have several of these carbs and never gave much thought to bringing one back to life...

[Mark Gregush]

You know what they say about assume, but I assumed there was a switch and as you, never gave it much thought. Nether my Post reprint or copy of the 1922 WASC books list the carb.

[Scott_Conger]

Mark

now you've done it. When things warm up I am going to see if I can test one for both resistance and insulation resistance, and hook up a 6V battery to see what kind of heat that thing makes. I am beginning to believe it makes only modest heat (when cooled with a flow of air) and was meant to operate continuously through the ignition switch. That's a relatively heavy looking wire in Pep's photo and I wonder if the whole thing didn't come with a power resistor to knock down voltage. I think knowing the resistance in Ohms will give some indication of temporary energization vs continuous based on Amp draw at 6VDC.

[Mark Gregush]

Sorta like the choke coil and air shut off on a Solex VW carb on all the time the car is running.

[VowellArt]

Ok I got to looking closer to that logo and saw that there was some sort of shading round the ball as well as on the banner end, so I modified the last one slightly...let me know what you guys think, if this one is closer to the actual logo or not. It didn't make any design sense that the black right edge was so bloody thick, so I took a closer look and yep, there was shading there. I laid in a shading band to see if it looked more like the one on that carburetor bowl and also had to lay in more on the banner end also to even out the black on that side of the logo.

[VowellArt]

In the interest of reproducibility (because you'd never be able to make a half tone like the one I just did above and make it come looking correct) I did this one removing ever other line. This way the line shading is defined and will reproduce easily.

Remember to make this logo you need to do separation and spot color the seps. If you want I could post the seps here with the spots too, it would be easy for me, because the art is vector art.

[VowellArt]

For those of you who are interested, this should do it.

[VowellArt]

Is this the Western Auto Logo for the Simmons Super Power Carburetor? This carburetor was referenced in the old forum in August 2009
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80 ... 1257224811 And Eric Hylen referred to the carb as "Western Auto Wizard Imroved carb for Ford cars. "

This is the only logo I've been able to come up with that has the Wizard name on it.

[Ruxstel24]

Not sure about the Wizard model...I am sure, everything Western Auto was Wizard.
Seems my grandfather had a lawnmower with that Wizard logo on it.

Beautiful work Martynn

[Corey Walker]

I’ve got 2, one with a Simmons tag and the other with a tag Made for Western Auto by Simmons. The one with the plain Simmons tag doesn’t have patent dates cast into the body. Decals were long gone when I got them.

[VowellArt]

Ok, here is the Simmons Super Power Carburetor, with the heating element as an option. It seems that not all Simmons came with one...the one I've got having been sold here on the West Coast, didn't have the heating element, the place where it installs has a plug that is removeable, if you chose to buy the element option or maybe they sold the plug with the carb incase you wanted to uninstall the heating element.
A lot of the Holley NH parts will fit, some may need to be modified slightly, but where I wasn't sure I gave the measurements (in the hope that helps).

Anyhoo, I think I've covered all the bases here, but if there is something I've missed, let me know.

[VowellArt]

Correction...the battery died on my mic (yes, I've got a digital one), just put in a new battery and got a different reading on the thickness of the Throttle and Choke plates....0283

I know it is sort of unnecessary, but thought since I had to correct the original, might as well post the correction here too.

[John Warren]

Very Nice!!!!