O'Dea alky carbs for Crescent

I emailed a carburetor question to Dick O'Dea, and while he didn't have an answer, he did give me some information on the carbs that he manufactured for a time, and I pass it along in case someone will find it useful or interesting.

He wrote:

"These carbs were 27mm venturi, and a copy of the Konig carb. Walt Blankenstein machined the carbs. They used a Konig float & float pin. The spray nozzle was pressed into the carb. body. We used a jet from an older Ford carburetor, that screwed in from the side and a brass hex plug to cap off the jet passage. The original Crescent came with 3 Amal gran prix carburetors. Each carb. had 6 adjustments including shims to raise and lower the float bowl. Volvo purchased these carburetors from England and the cost was about 25% of the original engine. Building as much as we could here in the states brought the cost down to compete with the Konig and Quincy". (end quote)

In stating that they were a copy of the Konig carb, I believe he is referring to the 32mm carb that was used on the 2-cylinder FB and FC engines. One difference is that those Konig carbs, at least those I've seen, had an adjustable needle valve rather than a main jet as O'Dea used.

For more history of the man and the Crescent engine, go to www.dickodea.com

I may have a picture from somewhere showing those carbs. I did not know Dick made them, I had guessed they were just one racer's attempt at a little more speed.

I worked for Walt during this time and remember a few details about the carbs and lower units. A lot of time was put into these pieces and I was lucky enough to be part of it. I did mainly the lower units, and Walt handled to carbs as they were a little trickier than the lower units. Got to see them come together and help Crecent become a great racing engine.

I had a set for a while; they were the wrong size for any of my junk and I don't think I still do have them. These carbs were easy enough to identify because "O'Dea" was cast into the side of the floatbowl. These were as-cast rough on the outside, not polished like the Konig carbs that inspired them.