So how do they go? Well, the first two off the line went to Charlie Yapp, in Ohio, to test on his own 1929 Cabin Speedster. Charlie is known for publishing Secrets, Vintage Speed & Sport magazine, covering all things Ford four-banger for near on 30 years now. And for developing and manufacturing a long list of cool Model A/B-based performance heads and other parts through Scalded Dog Speed Parts. The Speedster’s 125hp Model B engine is packed with his own products, of course, including the cool Roof 101 Cyclone Four-Port OHV conversion. This is what he had to say:
“To say these Stromberg 81’s are nice is an understatement of a highest magnitude. With a pair of nice old rebuilt 97’s pushing my Roof 101 OHV speedster around, I have been under the impression that the camshaft I’m running was the primary problem with my lumpy idle and twitchy tachometer . . . Wrong! It was the old carbs and their crocky idle circuits.
When I swapped out the old for the new 81s, the entire experience of getting her to run and driving was refreshed and smooth as a baby’s butt. She idles gently down to under 600 rpm (instead of an uneven 1200 rpm) and doesn’t stall when I step on it. I do not need to pump the pedal to fuel her up . . just turn the key and there she goes with stock jetting.
I have one of the “Rattler” flywheels and now the lack of vibration is even more impressive. The top end was exciting as I hit 65 mph so quickly shooting out the freeway ramp I thought I must have misread the speedo. Wow! The speed, pickup and smooth acceleration has made it imperative that I own a pair of these. . . . Donna was equally impressed by its ease of starting and smooth acceleration and going up hills without slowing down. Highway gas mileage was coming in at 18.5 mpg. Very impressive Sir!“