Fish Carburetor

[Nium]

I was running a couple of searches on the Pogue 200 mpg carb (for grins) and came across a carb I hadn't heard of but seems to have been an actual production item from the 1950's. I've found limited examples of this carb on eBay. Has anyone tried to fit a Fish carb to a Series or know of anyone who has? Did it work? Which one M1, M3? Any information out there greatly appreciated? It looks like currently a company http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/NewFishProduction.htm is going to manufacture these carbs in limited quantities and I must admit my curiosity has been aroused.

[SafeAirOne]

I hate to be critical, but...


Frightening customer service red flags from the quoted page:



"ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS:


1. Please allow 3 to 6 months for delivery..."

"4. If you can’t follow directions for payment your order will be returned to you immediately and you will be deleted from your position on the list. I.e., no personal checks, no credit cards, no money orders that expire in 90 days, etc"...

"5. Delivery in 3 to 6 months means delivery in 3 to 6 months. If you start badgering us with phone calls, emails, and the like, even if you have followed the directions, your order will be returned to you immediately and you will be deleted from your position on the list, permanently"...

And finally:

"If you are mechanically challenged, please don’t order a Fish carburetor. We have enough problems troubleshooting vacuum leaks and the like (caused by porous intake manifolds, leaking and rotten gaskets, etc.) for men who actually have mechanical ability."

The most accurate qoute:" If you want to monitor our progress on the Internet, check in regularly on mikebrownsolutions.com. As we progress, we will put up photos on the web site with captions detailing our progress—when the castings arrive, when we start machining, assembly, etc. I.e., there will be no need for phone calls, emails, etc." NOTE that the last time the website was updated was August 11, 2009. Don't call seeking updates or else you'll loose your place in the 3-6 month delivery line!


It REALLY makes me want to send them $850 of my money.:rolleyes:


EDIT: I'm glad the "How to Attract and Capture Women" link from his homepage (http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/)is a dead link. I wouldn't want it to undermine his credibility.

[I Leak Oil]

Agreed, looks shady to me....
My 40 year old ariens snow blower died during this last storm. I took the carb apart to clean it out. While looking at it, it's just as complicated (or lack there of) as my weber 34ich and I could probably make it fit my rover! For $60 I can get a new one so when my weber finally becomes unrebuildable I'll throw a tecumseh carb on the rover and probably won't notice any difference in mileage or power from the 2.25:D

Well, hopfully by then my 2.5L diesel will be refreshed and installed though.

[Nium]

Yeah, I have to agree there are definately things about Mr. Brown's site that raise my eyebrows too. I wasn't trying to promote Mr. Brown just mentioning that apparently there is enough interest out there for this carb that someone was taking the time to resurrect them.SafeAirOne I had noticed the date of the last update on the guy's website definitely not a confidence builder to contact 'im. Hadn't noticed the "How to Attract and Capture Women" link I didn't peruse his site that much.LOL :sly:

The Fish carb was invented by John Robert Fish in the '30's and produced by his son's company (I think I read that right) in Daytona Beach, Fla. during the '50's and was used by the racer "Fireball Roberts". Currently (for the next 8 hrs) I even found an example of an original Fish carb on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fish-carburetor-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2a0d9460eaQQitemZ18061 6454378QQptZMo (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fish-carburetor-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2a0d9460eaQQitemZ18061 6454378QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccesso ries)torsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fish-carburetor-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2a0d9460eaQQitemZ18061 6454378QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccesso ries)

From what I've read there was a lot of supposed conspiracy surrounding the Daytona Beach company which seemed similar to what Preston Tucker may have went through.

I'm just curious to find out if anyone has any experience with these carbs as from the little I've read, so far, they seem like they'd be a superior product to conventional carbs but I don't know. Curiosity's got me but definitely tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Fish carb story http://www.fireballroberts.com/Fish_Story.htm

[I Leak Oil]

That's an interesting read. Thanks for posting it. I just have to wonder though, if it's so superior to the traditional carburator desgn, why didn't it take the carb market over?

[Terrys]

That carb was intended to be used on several different engines, but all of them had swept volumes of nearly twice the 148 c.i. of our engines, so the minimal velocity duct in it wouldn't do much to atomize the fuel. They had a good idea and it seemed to work, but what they might have benefitted from was a business manager. There's an old stock car guy nearby. I'm gonna stop in on him tomorrow and see what he recalls. He has some pretty neat relics in his shop/museum, including a 1952 Sprint midget with triples.

[SafeAirOne]

That's an interesting read. Thanks for posting it. I just have to wonder though, if it's so superior to the traditional carburetor design, why didn't it take the carb market over?


Agreed--That was pretty interesting. I wish the cutaway pic was larger.

I'm kind of skeptical of conspiracy tales, though I suppose anything is possible...

[cousindave]

Does anyone here have any experience with these carbs? I find it alittle hard to believe that someone would take a 100mpg carb off their 72 duster to replace with a more modern 10-15 mpg one

[SafeAirOne]

Does anyone here have any experience with these carbs? I find it alittle hard to believe that someone would take a 100mpg carb off their 72 duster to replace with a more modern 10-15 mpg one

I didn't see any claim that the fish carb was a 100mpg carb. In fact, the 100mpg carb is pretty intelligently debunked on the website (http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/fish3.htm).

[Nium]

Been digging more. The Fish was just a better carb with reported 20% better mpg and 30% better horsepower over competitors. A smaller version was made by a firm from Canada (Fish Canadian Carburettors) which also sold in Europe called the Minnow. Also a version was made for the VW Beetle. Then later they were made under the name Reece-Fish. I find it particularly interesting that the carb didn't need any adjustment it was self adjusting even for altitude.

Another site with brochures
http://fish.jan-wulf.de/dok-eng.html

and another (somewhat down the page after the Pogue and supposed "super carbs" lol) with a snippet on the Fish
http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=785

Curiouser and curiouser

Cheers