Holley 1904 woes

[Dan&Becky'sScout80]

1963 scout 80 with a stock 152.
I am posting this question on all three forums I go to, so if you see a “re-run” elsewhere, please bear with me. I rebuilt the holley 1904 a couple of years ago, to get my 152 running before I pulled it out to refurbish the scout. I figured the carb. would be ok sitting wrapped tight and boxed up on the shelf, but it was full, and I mean literally full of white powder when I pulled the float bowl. I ran gas with sta-bil through it before storage, it did no good, I must not have drained it well either. The carb looks like it is toast, so off to the junkyards I go to find a rebuild candidate.
My questions,

What the heck was all that white powder? I have seen gum and varnish problems, but nothing like this stuff. (I wish I would have taken some pics).

I know there are no scouts in any yards in the area, would a 1904 from say a ford or amc work on my scout? I know that they put 1904s on a whole lot of vehicles over many years. What makes one unique to the scout? The throttle body? The jet size? What would I have to do to make one work on the scout?

I have an old holley 1920 sitting around, but the bolt holes were spaced too far apart when I tried it. Would another model holley or other brand carb. single barrel work on my engine?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I am getting so close to getting my scout back on the road.
Dan

[sdowney717]

pot metal corrosion, the zinc is corroding.

You can do 2 things. First soak it in white vinegar for about 5 hours rinse, inspect and repeat.
blow out all the passages with compressed air.
Then soak it in 90% rubbing alcohol

After a vinegar soak neutralize with some ammonia.

etc...

[Dan&Becky'sScout80]

I have a kit already, and will rebuild the carb, if I can find a part it needs. The valve is shot on the economizer/main well. I think that the corrosion has really done a number on this carb, though. I want to find another 1904 to rebuild, or use for parts.

I was hoping that they were similar enough from other vehicles to make my hunt a little easier at the junkyard.

thanks,
Dan

[Natefank]

I sent out my 1904 to rock auto.com and had them rebuild mine, they replaced all worn parts and added a few that were missing. Only $137, I thought it was well worth it. That white powder isn't too big of a deal, a good rinsing like sdowney explained and you should be good

[Greg R]

I lived through this movie with the 1904 on my '60 F100.

It is possible to resuscitate it. There's a guy over on IHONLY North.com that actually made titanium economizer valve poppets. Send your old rotten economizer valve plus whatever cash and you will get one with the poppet valve and new spring. Post a question in the carburetor tech forum. Another guy there, Michael Mayben, is a guru with these things. He's not currently handy and he's off for a spell, but a future resource to consider.

Mine not only had the "white death", but the fuel had gelled to a white pudding after the truck set for 5 years.

Everything possible got cleaned, including drilling out the lead seals on cross drillings in the emulsion and air bleed circuits. Then the circuits got cleaned with as small a bore brush I could find, actually Mayben helped there too. That was extremely delicate without screwing up the body. While the vinegar bath is a good idea, it may not clean out those tiny orifices like a strand of copper wire from a stranded conductor wire. But in the end it payed off. I still have the original carb and it runs sweet.

I have found that engine fogging spray to be an excellent storage aid, so if you don't plan on using that rebuilt, or any, carb right away fog it as you assemble it.

Then pack it with a desiccant bag or two, save them from your vitamin supplement jars or that new stereo you got, heck I keep a bunch in an old nut jar.

Moisture is the death of these things, especially when the chromate treatment\plating is all but gone.

[radar232]

There are a few options on ebay. One of which is listed for a Scout, the rest Ford.
Kind a pricey right now though... between $155-$250
just in case you can't find a rebuildable core.

[Doc Stewart]

Far and awy, the best thing to do with that 1904 is to bury it deep in the backyard.
Then replace it with a Weber from Stovebolt.com.
Runs much beter and eliminated the standard 1904 problems.

That said, Mike Mayben has lots of info on the 1904 at IHON.com. I followed his instructions and made a reasonable [not good] carb out of mine. When I haul it down from the ranch next summer, it gets a four speed transmission and a Weber carb!!

[Dan&Becky'sScout80]

All good advise from you guys. I saw the work that Mr. Mayben has done on on the IH only site, got good info there too. I think he is the only one doing anything like this.

I lucked out and found a really nice 1904 sitting in a pile of old carbs with everything working on it. I think it had been sitting in the old guy’s barn for quite some time. Between the carb and a kit, I will have less than 50 bucks invested.

Doc, I know that it is kinda insane to keep working with a 1904, but I want to find the quickest/cost effective (cheapskate) solution to this carb problem, so I can get my old scout back on the road after sitting for so long. I fully intend to look into the Weber option in the future.

[Doc Stewart]

"Doc, I know that it is kinda insane to keep working with a 1904, but I want to find the quickest/cost effective (cheapskate) solution to this carb problem, so I can get my old scout back on the road after sitting for so long. I fully intend to look into the Weber option in the future."
My sediments exactly!