$1800 for a Speedway Tri power set up with Chinese tiny pseudo Stromberg carburetors is a lot of money. You can buy a FI Tech set up for about half of that. Very satisfied with the one on my Poncho. Instant start up, performance, reliability and gas mileage. FWIW, I had a 58 Chevy 348 280 HP with factory three Rochesters and loved it. Doubt it would have pulled the same with three of those tiny Strombergs. We've all seen many of HAMB threads where posers only want tri power set ups for looks only and many with only the center carburetor working and the end carbs blocked off. You can get a lot more performance spending $1800 on engine internals then bolting on a Speedway tri power set up.
You are 100% correct in all of the above info. ..and those wanting a trouble free tri-power should read your middle paragraph slowly and then perhaps realize that GM & Rochester engineers working together, built a very good & dependable carb system. In our modern era, most people don't want to look around for genuine GM tri-power carbs. The least expensive Olds J2 setup with manifold I ever bought, was right here on hamb. It was missing the center carb which is not a big deal, as a regular small base 2GC will work as intended. Nobody here wanted it?? He ended up dropping the price and added free shipping @ $200, so I bought it instantly. I bought 5 complete Olds setups at one estate, that is how much faith I have in these systems. I personally would not buy the "kit" to convert regular 2GC's to trips. As far as I know, nobody casts the bases out of Iron, and the repro Aluminum bases will not provide a long lasting sealing surface on the end carbs like Iron does. The people who have run threads on tri-powers here with "idle issues" are related to these kits, or carbs they tried to modify themselves. Those idle issues are the outboard carbs leaking vacuum past the closed throttle plates. Rochester for 1958, changed to a stronger carb return spring design. The 1957 versions used a very light duty vertical "pull spring" going up to an extended pin on the upper part of the carb. I would think they did this as the Vacuum controlled outboard linkage and it's oversized vac can bellows, needed a stronger spring setup to close the plates & bellow quicker, or tighter. Pic below shows a 58-61 genuine tri-power outboard carb with the so called "mousetrap" spring wrapped around the throttle plate shaft. The 57 carbs will also work fine for us using mechanical linkages.
Frank, you're knowledge is a gift. My pal Bruce and I were given a J-2 set-up. We had already bought the car that it was on ( the engine was non-existent) and his wife nagged at her hubby until he told us to go ahead and take it! More yrs. ago then I care to think about. Hope you're doing well, Carp.
The problem for guys like me is the that I couldn’t tell a real end carb from a primary, so swap meet scrounging is a crap shoot.
I pulled my posts off this thread when I seen that it didn't take but a couple negatives about Tripower for OP to ditch the idea and run away. If he had acquired one he would be another naysayer . Clearly he knows his limitations................................
I believe they are , the throttle blades are thicker and are made to seal against the bore , preventing vacuum leaks at idle.
1 the base is thicker / taller 2 no mixture screws 3 the butterfly plate is thicker and elliptical and ends are beveled. Like a angle sliced bologna so it seals in a round hole
My 32 had 3 x2's...didn't care that a good 4 barrel would out perfrom it....had to have the look on one of my cars before I croak. Bought a used system on CList and then went through it all. Many good info on the net and a guy in Florida was a big help with rebuild parts. There is a tripower group here on the HAMB. I will confess to you that I only ran on the center carb...With a new car/build I wanted to sort the car out first then deal with the outer carbs. I had all the linkage and gas lines so it looked ready to go...had block off plates and plugged fuel lines that very few could see. Car ran great on the center carb and I didn't run it over 80mph or race it so no big deal with the missing barrels.
Really appreciate all the comments. $1800 is a lot for something that may need constant adjusting. I was only going for the looks but id much rather have the performance. Who knows though, somewhere down the line i may change my mind.
You can build a set up your self, for less then 1800 bucks , research, when done correctly they do not need constant adjustment............. you can do this.
My OEM Pontiac setups did not require constant adjustment, after I got rid of the brass fuel filters they were quite trouble free. Next up will be a Ford version for my 428, but I will be going with the Holley carbs like they came with, not 94's or 97's. Yes, an aftermarket 4 barrel would probably be more efficient, but I am going to go for the wow factor just this once.
I used the Speedway kit and it is running great on only the center 2g carb , still got the original 48 drive train so won't put linkage and fuel to the end two until all the parts are gathered to update transmission and rear end. It is a 400 sbc, so pretty sure when matted with the other 2 hooked up we would get that sweet tri-power sound followed by or proceeded by a bang.
I've been running a 6V (3X2) original Ford/ Holley set up for more than 20 years on my 390 FE. I'd be the last one to say they are trouble free, but when set up correctly they work very well and make decent power. I remember when I was a kid looking through a Petersen Publications magazine showing all the different 6V setups Ford produced for all their V8 engines, thinking how cool it would be to have something like that. Well, friends of mine found a complete setup for sale at Back to the 50's swap meed and got it for me. I installed it on a fresh 390 and put it in the car. It looks cool, sounds cool and works so very well there aren't too many days that I don't smile just thinking about it. When I'm driving it, it's all about smiles per gallon (MPG kinda sucks, but oh well), I couldn't be much happier. The need for a little maintenance and a few adjustments from time to time is greatly overshadowed by the pleasure derived from owning and driving a car with such a great looking and working 3 deuce setup. If you like the idea of a tri power for your car, don't let the nay-sayers dissuade you. It may be a bit of extra work, but if you get the right parts to start with and set it up correctly, the pleasure will far outweigh any extra work. Besides, you are likely to enhance your automotive repair skill set; that can't be all bad.
If I was going to run a 3x2 set up I’d use this manifold and two barrel Holleys . Everyone is using the Stromberg or Rochester set up. https://www.jegs.com/i/Weiand/925/7...MIirSBl5HO4AIVyx-tBh2tfQu7EAQYASABEgKszPD_BwE
It's a cool-looking set up. I've ran a tripower with three 2gc carbs on this 32 Roadster for 15 years. The carbs are plentiful and cheap and real easy to rebuild.
Definitely not as easy as a single four, but way cooler!! Once I got the bugs worked out it's been great. I used Rochesters on a 302 Ford. It'll sit and idle all day, runs great down the road, plenty of power, for me anyway, and gets like 17 mpg, if I keep my foot out of it!!
Go easy on me, I just joined !! I don't profess to be the most traditional guy when it comes to hot rods but I do have a passion for 32 Fords.
Interesting thread. I don’t know much about 3 deuce setups for American cars, but over the years I’ve worked on a bunch of Brit cars w/ multiple carb setups, and have two assumptions that help get a good tune: --like others mentioned, the carbs need to be in good condition, w/ no vacuum leaks, including the throttle shafts. --setting up the vacuum properly on each carb is critical to getting the vehicle to run right. I like the Uni-Syn carb synchronizer (now sold by Edelbrock), and have sold a few to members of this board, as I pick them up at garage sales every so often. Here’s a pic of a 3-deuce setup I saw on Craigslist; don’t know if that’s a good price, but they’re still out there. https://baltimore.craigslist.org/pts/d/fulton-3x2-small-block-chevy/6821055722.html RM209
Can you put up some better pics of the front and rear carbs? . Those are early front inlet, and the driver side of the front carb pic, shows what looks to be the correct "3x2 end carb" lower bracket on the throttle plate. are the front and rear carb drilled for the idle mixture screws? Look at my pic in this thread, you can see what a 3x2 non-drilled carb base looks like . (Used only on the genuine 3x2 end carbs).
If I remember correctly , Offenhauser , uses large base GM carbs and Edelbrock , uses small base GM carbs . The 97 type carbs are just way past my era , for performance , prone to leakage , and small . A well maintained , correct carb , GM or Holley carbed 3 twos , will work well but most only run around with the outers blocked or linkage adjusted so they never are a factor to deal with . As time and thinking evolved , the 3 twos became , a memory for a reason . Did you ever see a 302 Z28 , or an SCJ Mustang factory equipped with 3 twos ? I never have . There are many reasons for this decision and , Im thinking producing reliable HP was tops on the factory list at this time and era . Everyone shuns a Qjet , 4V this is by far one of the best if not the best performance carb available for a GM engine . Once you determine it can be easily be tuned way beyond factory settings there is no end to the driving and performance gains to this carb . Does it look Hot Rod ? Hell no . Does most dual master cylinders and disc brakes look Hot Rod or and Auto trans ? But they seem to work damn well with ease of maintenance . If you want something to look old school as hell and needs to to tinkered with daily , get yourself a hand jammin knuckle Harley , and leave the Hot Rod for driving and reliability . To each his own , I have been there and done a lot , life changes and styles change . The 3 twos scream vintage Hot Rod to me , I just know most bases are worn out many , many years ago and tinkered with by many hands finding a good usable set up is way tougher that just finding one and making it work great . But in today’s world something I think a lot about is , a 25 year old FI car is now considered vintage by many .
Bought a 348 tri power manifold and carbs hanging on a shop wall in 93 for 200 bucks. put the carbs on an Offenhauser SBC intake and they worked wonderful ! Had 1 problem in the many miles and few years I had the roadster...Not opening the end carbs enough....One of the end carb throttle shafts got tarnished and wanted to stick...and luckily it happened on the freeway... WOT...oh, crap...were haulin' now...course the vette that was horsing next to me kinda dropped way back..a few kicks at the throttle and she finally settled back down. After that I would periodically shoot some WD 40 on those end carb shafts just to keep things working free.
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