Technical 235 triple carb on my 53' Chevy 3100..Should I do it??

I picked up this intake and carb setup in exchange for some welding work. It came off a running 235 motor about a year ago (Says previous owner). The intake has no markings on it and it's aluminum. The carbs are all Rochester's. Would this setup function well on my freshly rebuilt, pretty much stock 235? My truck is a 53' but the motor is a 54' Thanks

 

Why not, and add header or split manifolds and exhaust. I think a cam profile change would help, little more lift and druation than stock, for the added induction.
I am sure someone will chime in with real experience on this combo....sounds like a nice set-up, the carb throttle linkage,set-up and syncing might be a bit challenging at first.

 

It'll work well, if used with a more aggressive cam, compression increase, some good ignition, & dual exhaust.
If that's you in the avatar, I'd go with a 500" Cad instead ...

 

on a stock engine,you will be over carbureted,unless you change the camshaft. Also you'll have to modify the fender brace on the truck to clear the rear carb. For the Cool Factor,,,, Of coarse you should do it.!! LOL

 

Good call on the 500 Cad...Lol.. Not me, just a funny pic I found.

 

I really don't want to get back into the motor, Perhaps I'll sell it and go with a two carb setup like I originally planned. Would the Fenton dual carb Fenton intake and header be a better choice for my setup?

 

What would my three carb setup be worth? Thanks everyone for your knowledge.

 

You could remove the middle carb, install a block off plate and run dual carbs. Dual carbs, cam, and dual exhaust would give you a nice power boost and not kill low speed power if you don't go too wild on the cam.

 

Hmmm

Hmmmmm!!! Good idea, I could block off the middle carb but leave it in place for looks. If I ran two of the carbs and put on a Fenton header would I be over carbureted for me pretty much stock 235??

 

Consider the source , but, personally, if I had it, I'd give it a go.
Fuel distribution will be optimum with all three carbs.
Put a Pertronix converter in the dizzy, split the pipes (or Fentons), and you should be good to go.

And start looking for some Barker Hi-lift rockers (intakes only). They not only will increase valve lift, but effective duration as well (quicker lift to .050"). A little edge, without having to dig too deep. (Into the motor that is, not the pocketbook).

 

Running only the outer two would starve the center intake and be unbalanced.
There is a reason why dual intakes have the carbs in between the 3 intakes on the head.
The better ones even have a baffle in the center to get better balanced fuel distribution.

3 carbs are ideal for the 3 intakes in theory, however the carbs would have to be really small (small venturi) with a stock 235 and should have a mechanical power valve.

The Rochester has a vacuum operated power valve and are notoriously difficult to tune properly with mulit-carb setups, let alone a stock 235 with little vacuum when using 3 carbs.

Early corvettes had 3 side-draft carbs with a dual exhaust and a 235 with 261 cam.

 

Try it you can always block off the center carb! Gary

 

More carbs will do NOTHING for a stock motor. To take advantage of more carburetors you need more displacement, better breathing, higher revs, free exhaust, more cam.

Since you drive a truck you DO NOT WANT too much of a hop up because you will increase power at high speeds, while killing power at low speed. You want to increase the mid range and top end without killing the low speed pulling power of your truck. This means not too much carburetors and not too much cam.

Multi carbs are not necessary, and will do no good, unless you have the cam and exhaust to go with them. Even then, more than 2 carbs would be too much.

 

Yup, gotta agree with your post and info.
The 3 carbs would be a lot more balanced then 2 on far ends of the manifold, that was designeds for 3 carbs, and very efficient even fuel distribution. I also agree with the right size carbs and jetting for this set-up too.
I would also venture to say this 3 carb set-up with good flowing exhaust, the right size carbs, would be more fuel efficient than a single carb stocker engine...

 

More info on Triple carb setups....
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Triple1barrels.htm

The shop owner is a HAMB member...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/carbking.70250/

 

From the experience with my 54 Chevy in high school in 1962 I can tell you that when you stand in it the thing will be like flushing a toilet. It will run better stock, that's too much carburetion. Other opinions may vary but that's mine

 

You guys are great!!!!! Thanks for the info....

 

I have run three potbelly rochesters on a Chev 6 several different times.IME it works better than the 2X1 setup.Heres why,with the progressive linkage you run on the center carb most of the time.You can adjust the end carbs to come in whenever you want or not at all.I had this setup on a 61 Biscayne with a fresh,stock 235. Only other thing it had was a split manifold. Easy starting,good mileage.I had the linkage set so that the end carbs started open at about 2/3ds throttle.It ran much harder than it did stock.I have had a number of 2X1 setups on both 235-261 and 230-292 engines.Unless you want to take the carbs apart and modify them appropriately you will always have that annoying off idle stumble.The 3X2 does not do this.All you need do is turn the idle screw on the end carbs in until they bottom lightly and back the idle speed screw off until it does not touch the idle cam.You can disconnect the acc pumps or not.If you leave the choke plates in use a little spring or a piece of safety wire so they cant close.

 

Here's a blueflame with triples in a friend's 35 Chevy roadster

 

Interesting!! More great info and first hand knowledge to process. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

Looks 100% badass.... The triple carb look is hard to beat!

 

I would check on stovebolt.com. I think the rear carb might need some extra firewall clearance on a truck. I don't know about three carbs, but I ran two (Holley-Weber) on a 261 I had, and it worked great.
don

 

What he said.Tom at stovebolt is a great source of help with parts and info on any Chevy or GMC 6 .

 

Thanks fellas for the replies, I think I'm gonna give Langdon's a call. I wanna make sure I do it once and do it right. If I have to go with a (smaller) two carb setup I will. BTW, here's the 53' it's going in.....

 

For your truck you would be better off with a single carb on a stock manifold.

 

If you're mainly going for looks, block off the outside carbs and run the center one.

 

Hi. when I set up my 235 installed in my 46 Coupe for mainly highway cruising I did the following - bored 0.060, 264 grind cam, hardened valve seats to use the junk gas we have now, dual 2 barrel Clifford intake using two 2 barrel Webber Carbs with progressive linkage, shorty tube headers with stock mufflers as I just did not want the noise with my bad hearing. I am running stock 3 on the tree & original torque tube rear end with a change in the ring & pinion from the 411 to a 355 ratio. New Coker bias look Radials with 600/16 on the front & 700/16 on the rear. This is a great highway driver now at todays speed limits. I currently do not have a tach installed but the math shows this to give me around a 2,500 RPM at 65 MPH so the engine is not screaming at those speeds. This changed my speedometer by 11 MPH.
I will soon be replacing all wiring and adding a vintage air unit.
Right after I installed the engine I checked milage with the GPS & it was doing a bit over 16 MPG at 65 & now with everything broken in I know it is doing much better but will have to reinstall the GPS to check that.