Holley Tripower Carb Base Repair?

[Alan H. Tast]

Good fortune shown on me over the past few days while I was on the road for my job in the form of getting ahold of a set of correct C2SE tripower carbs, loose in a box, along with other parts like the correct C2SE-B distributor and some miscellaneous small parts. I've been looking for over 35 years for a set of correctly-numbered carbs, and especially so after getting a set of replacement '61 C1AE-AU/AV Galaxie-style ones 16 years ago (with two of them not having the Ford part number to boot), believe it or not.

Problem, though, is that mounting 'ears' on the two secondary carbs broke.

Secondary front carb w/ broken mounting ear

Secondary front carb w/ broken ear - another view

Prmary/center carb top view

Secondary rear carb top view w/ broken ear

I do have the ears that broke off of both carbs (the front primary had it zip-tied with the accelerator pump arm to one of the other 'feet'). I'm debating whether to try drill out the base/ear and 'pin' them back on with JB Weld, have someone weld them back on, or just try to find replacement bases.

A quick search for a replacement throttle body assembly yielded bases with PCV fittings and such (these don't have such an item).
Question is can these be repaired? Anyone have experience in dealing with this kind of thing? Or am I better off trying to find some parts carbs? And, if so, what ones will work? I suspect Holley 2-barrels from late '50s-'60s Ford trucks probably would work, but need to figure out throttle bore size cross-over that will be the same as what the FE tripower throttle bodies are.

To top it off, the day after getting the three carbs, I came across an almost complete manifold/carb/air cleaner setup.

Complete tripower

Complete tripower

Complete tripower

It also ended up coming home with me. So now I've got the rebuilt/refinished incorrect carbs on my hardtop, a set of correct carbs to rebuild and swap out, and the top end of an "M" setup for the Roadster if I ever want to put them on. Now to find a couple sets of 406-style C2SE-A/B/C heads...

[BobHH]

Alan, I've seen some really good repairs done with the Muggy weld welding rods and such. (MUGGYWELD.COM? There was a guy done here in NC that did some excellent work on carb and intake work. Fixed all types of rare pot metal parts. Unfortunately I looked for him a year ago or so and he had shut down his business and retired. You may be able to call the Muggy weld people and see if they recommend someone.

Bob

[ICON 1956]

Very nice find Alan , The hunt is still on for the bases with the broken ears. Hope you find them.

[claybreaker 144]

So a 63 wouldn't use C3AE-6090-C heads? There is a pair on facebook foor FE Fanatics.

[Ian M Greer]

According to William Wonder's research only the C2SE 6090-C heads found their way onto the later tail end of the 63 M productions models as I have .

[Ian M Greer]

Alan the -B distributor is , I think a much rarer find . You never see them on the internet , what is the date code on it ?

[Alan H. Tast]

Alan the -B distributor is , I think a much rarer find . You never see them on the internet , what is the date code on it ?

I want to think it's dated early Sept. '62, but I don't have pics handy right now to check.

[Alan H. Tast]

So a 63 wouldn't use C3AE-6090-C heads? There is a pair on facebook for FE Fanatics.

The C3AE-C heads are kind of an odd duck - they were used on late '63 390-4v Z-code cars, and some sources say were also used for high-altitude applications (think Denver, Colorado). The don't have larger valves like the C2SE-A/B/C 406 heads do but do have a smaller combustion chamber (re: higher compression).