Delco Carburetor Parts And Service Manual
Curtis Boykins
We have compiled some very valuable resources for your D-Series International! Below you will find links to PDF copies of various parts, service and instruction manuals that will help you understand, maintain and restore your truck.
I am looking for a Stromberg Aerotype Carburetor for a 1937 Buick Roadmaster Series 80. It has the Fireball 320 ci Inline 8. My grandpa and I have looked everywhere to find parts for this thing and are not having any luck. The car was parked 12 years ago because the carburetor is to blame for it not running very good. The previous owner bypassed the auto-choke by bending the lever that connects the mechanism to that part of the carburetor. He installed a manual choke in order to get it to run. We wish to return it to factory original. We have found a couple of places that sell rebuild kits for the carburetor but no where can we find the upper portion to replace it. The current carb we have is complete just not fully functioning. If anyone has one for sale or knows someone who does it would be appreciated. I am totally out of ideas. We want to keep the car as original as possible. The Model is an A-22 or 22-A from what info I can find on it.
Additionally, Buick insisted on the use of the Delco automatic choke. Possibly the only good thing that can be said about the Delco automatic choke is that it was discontinued after only 2 model years.
In 1938, both the Marvel and the Stromberg were redesigned. The Marvel wasn't much better; however, the Stromberg would have been a good unit except Buick still insisted on the Delco choke. Again, neither carb worked well (the Stromberg would work fairly well in mild climates, as mechanics quickly learned to adjust the choke so it would go completely open, and let the customer worry about starting with only half a choke).
Both the Carter and 1939 Strombergs were excellent carburetors, and virtually ALL original 1937 and 1938 Marvels and Strombergs were removed from service in 1939 by owners who really wanted to drive their cars.
The modification is really quite easy. As both the 1937 and 1938 were experimental designs, the throttle linkage was placed on the opposite side of the throttle shaft from other 2 barrel carburetors of the period. Because of this placement, starting the engine with a non-Buick carb or a 1939 standard carb would cause the engine to immediately race to WOT (wide open throttle). Pressing the footfeed to the floor would then allow the engine to come back to idle. Somewhat difficult to learn to drive a vehicle in this manner.
So how to modify: think of a child's seesaw; when one child goes up, the child on the other end goes down. Substitute the throttle shaft for the seesaw center support and the modification is obvious. Simply fabricate a flat steel arm that will bolt to the throttle on the 1939 (or newer) Buick carb that will move the throttle link to the opposite side of the throttle shaft (on the same side of the carburetor). Measure the center to center distance from the center of the end of the throttle shaft to the center of the hole for the throttle linkage, and drill a hole in the arm you fabricated to move the linkage the same distance.
On the other hand; should you have a numbers-matching showcar that needs only to run from the trailer to the showfield, or should you choose to ignore the advice given in the preceding three paragraphs.....the carb for which you are looking is available, but NOT cheap.
After posting the above post, I checked to see where in California Poway is located. With your location, you can probably drive the car, although not well, using the 1937 carb you have with the choke set permanently in the wide open position. Even with the choke disabled, it still is not a good carburetor.
Peter - I honestly do not know. The CD replaced the BD fairly early in production. We virtually never get kit requests for a type BD. I talk most folks out of rebuilding their CD, and replacing it with a Stromberg. As far as applications of the choke, I do not know. Several companies offered divorced chokes in this time period. Most of them did not work well, and many of the cars equipped with the divorced chokes have manual choke add-ons.
I have no record that any manufacturer other than Buick actually used either the BD or the CD, but Marvel did offer them in the aftermarket. In 45 years I have yet to see one of the aftermarket versions. I cannot believe Marvel sold many of them.
As we have discussed that my 1937 Buick (now in Winnipeg) had the Marvel BD. A gentleman with a 1937 Buick Special Phaeton about 15 miles from me had his originally set up with the CD-1B. He showed it to me. I commented on how much larger and more complicated it looked than my BD-1. I think he has a retrofitted Carter with a manual choke now.
When performing maintenance, it is critical that you know and understand what part you are working with. The distributor on your F-134 is no different. Whether you are buying parts for a tune up, an electronic ignition upgrade or perhaps a whole new distributor, it is critical that you buy the correct parts. Luckily, most distributors have a metal tag riveted or screwed to the casing that tells you what type it is. However, sometimes that metal tag is gone after fifty plus years of faithful service. If this is the case, fear not, there are other ways of identifying your distributor model. Eddie was looking for a way to tell what type of distributor he had. "How do you tell if you have an IAY or an IAD distributor? What would most likely be in a '62 3B?" Nick responded: "Both types of distributors will fit the same engine. I've already had to change mine from an IAD to an IAY. From what I've learned over the past couple of days, some of the more obvious differences are as follows:
- IAY- The clips for the distributor cap are screwed in, not riveted, and are quite short. Your screwdriver would be perpendicular to the distributor to remove them; these screws go through the casting and thread into tabs sticking up from the metal plate that holds the points. This can be seen easily when you remove the cap; the rotor is quite small
- IAD- The clips for the distributor cap are riveted in closer to the bottom of the distributor casting and are quite long. The metal plate holding the points has two screws holding it straight down to tabs mounted to the inside of the casting. Your screwdriver would be vertical in this case; the rotor is quite large."
- Prestolite model numbers:
IAY-4012
IAY-4401
IAY-4401A
IAY-4401B - AutoLite Model numbers:
IAT-4204A
IAT-4405
- IAY-4012 - Left hand rotation, 4-cylinder, centrifugal advance 11 degrees.
- IAY-4401 - Same as above.
- IAY-4401A - Left hand rotation, 4-cylinder, centrifugal advance 13.5 degrees.
- IAY-4401B - Same as above.
- IAT-4204A - Left hand rotation, 4-cylinder, vacuum advance of 6 degrees.
- IAT-4405 - Same as above.
Chuck brought up the point that: "I have seen various distributors listed in Chilton's and the other manuals, but do they have individual manuals that pertain specifically to singular models?" Wes K listed a few manuals that he had come across:
- "The general 'Autolite Electrical Equipment Maintenance and Operation Manual' copyright every few years from 1934 through about 1962.
- Autolite Electrical Equipment Specification Book.
- Autolite Service Parts Catalog.
- Army manual TM 9-1825B Ordnance Maintenance Electrical Equipment.