I saw this on an Ebay auction car. The car is nice but the carburetor got my attention. Can anyone tell me what it is? It looks like a backward facing side-draft to me.

 

That is a Rochester AA carb. 49-50 Olds and I'm pretty sure Cadillac used it too. They switched to the BB downdraft carb in 51, then in 1952 to Carter WGD for 2-barrel applications and Rochester 4GC for four barrels. A couple years in early 50s they used Carter WCFB four barrels on some engines.

 

That is one good looking carburetor. It must be a subjective thing because I bet most people would reply, "huh, good looking?". Are they any good? re-buildable? and finally, wouldn't a couple look good on a 455?

 

I think there were enough "issues" with them that they switched to downdraft carburetion. Then four-barrels came along and rendered them obsolete.

The NAOC guys seem to like them though. Probably more a restoration thing. Doubt they'd bolt to a "modern" (post-64) Olds engine.

The chrome aircleaner in the pic is aftermarket. These things had a huge aircleaner assembly that hung off to the side of the engine and had a duct running to the carb throat.

 

It's a downdraft carb. Other than that, rocketraider is probably dead on.




An example of a Holley updraft carb on my Dads '31 Ford. Note that it also takes its air from the rear.

Norm

 

i wish they made those olds rocket valve covers for later model rockets... like a 77'...

 

I was thinking about that once and thought that a person could get the repro ones for the chevys and use the cable dressing covers at least. You could weld a nut onto the top of the cover in the correct location and then just bolt them on. The dimensions may not be spot on but it would be a start.

 

Or better yet you could have a machinist fabricate a 1/4" adapter plate to put in between the valve covers and the head. Then you would have to use double valve cover gaskets though. You also might have problems clearing the power brake booster on some applications.