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I was talking to the owner of the Carburetor Shop in Eldon, MO yesterday, and learned some interesting things. The B&B carb was Carter's bottom-line unit, the W-1 was mid grade, and the WA was the premium model. In 1947, there was a strike at the B&B plant that cut off supply for several months late in the year. Carter had to supply Plymouth with the W-1 normally found on Chevy to meet contract obligations. Plymouth had to cast a different intake manifold for the W-1 to bolt up (spacing was 2 11/16 vs 2 15/16). The W-1 was used for 2-3 months at the end of the 47 model year, and people who bought Plymouths at that time got better acceleration and about 5 MPG better mileage. There were lots of complaints, but this was before class-action lawsuits, so Plymouth owners just had to live with it. For those of you who want to bolt up a W-1- don't use it as a single, it's too small. The Chevy engine was 213 cu in, the Plymouth was 218 cu in, and 3% larger is about as much you can go without internal carb mods.
Everyone has heard of the "miracle factory carb" that somehow shows up on someone's car and gets a million miles per gallon. The proud owner starts bragging, then Men In Black show up and Do Whatever It Takes to get the carb back- which is why no one has a "miracle carb". This likely got started as an experiment of Henry Ford. Henry and George Holley were friends, and Holley was experimenting with a diaphram-pumper carb (like that found in 2-strokes) known as the Bracke for automotive use. Ford bought 1000 of them, fitted them to a batch of cars that were sent all over the U.S. with instructions to get customer feedback AND to replace them with the standard "Detroit Lubricator" at the 1st service interval. The Bracke wasn't suited for the job, the "Lubricator" was superior- BUT very few people could properly adjust it. So the story got out that the Bracke was being supressed- and continues in one form or another to this day.
Everyone has heard of the "miracle factory carb" that somehow shows up on someone's car and gets a million miles per gallon. The proud owner starts bragging, then Men In Black show up and Do Whatever It Takes to get the carb back- which is why no one has a "miracle carb". This likely got started as an experiment of Henry Ford. Henry and George Holley were friends, and Holley was experimenting with a diaphram-pumper carb (like that found in 2-strokes) known as the Bracke for automotive use. Ford bought 1000 of them, fitted them to a batch of cars that were sent all over the U.S. with instructions to get customer feedback AND to replace them with the standard "Detroit Lubricator" at the 1st service interval. The Bracke wasn't suited for the job, the "Lubricator" was superior- BUT very few people could properly adjust it. So the story got out that the Bracke was being supressed- and continues in one form or another to this day.