Well just got off the phone with my machine shop and it looks like my '57 292 for my Ranchero will be buttoned back up on Monday (should have been today, but supplier sent the wrong pistons). They basically went through the motor, bored .060, balanced internals, valve job, heads, Isky 260 cam, stock '57 dist., nothing to major. I am looking to get it back in the car early next week and then time for break in. I have an Edelbrock 573 intake that I have cleaned up. I'll be running 3 Holley 94 8BA carbs with progressive linkage from eelco when it's all said and done. My question is this: What jets and powervalves should I start out with to try to tune this thing. Anyone have a setup similar that can chime in? The jets I have are 51's for the primary and 50's for the secondaries. This is what the setup came with when I got it. I can't find any markings on the powervalves, but it looks like the primary is different then the other two. I can order new from Vintage speed I just don't want to throw away money one stuff that I won't use. This setup came from an old drag car so all 3 choke butterflies were removed. I am replacing just the primary carb's butterfly I figured the other two wouldn't be neccessary. Anyone with any help on this would be great. I have done a search both here and on the web and found that what I have should be close. I guess I just wanted to see if anyone else had some setup close to this with experience. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings!
You do not need power valves in the secondary carbs. Vintage speed has block offs. Since you are running progressive linkage, close off the idle adjustment screws by screwing them in. Don't over tighten. I would run the choke plates in all the carbs as you get the best air flow with them in. No need to hook them up. As far as a power valve for the middle carb, if the cam is not too aggressive go down one or two from stock, which I believe is a 7.5. Vintage Speed had power valves that are machined to seal correctly as well as special gaskets. Nice jet plugs also-have hex head for tightening and a special gasket. As far as jets, try it with what you have. 51's are stock for 8BA's. I have a 312, same intake, with a very aggressive cam, am running a ECG-5 middle carb and 8BA's on the end. Car runs good with the setup, but still needs some work with the carbs. For the life of me I can't remember what jets and power valve I am running but I am going to go through the carbs again, will replace the middle carb with 2110 (ECG-6 with bigger throttle bores, converted auto choke to manual.).
Here is a picture of 553 Edelbrock...........not as good as the 773, but OK for a street motor. I could write all night about setting up a tripower system to really work properly. Send me an email and I'll respond with more details if you want. Some of the best running tripower cars......along with almost every factory tripower setup did not use power valves or idle circuits in the secondary carbs. Also, it really helps to have 12 degree throttle plates in the secondaries and a 5 degree in the primary. There are a number of tricks to building a good tripower setup, one is making sure all of the mating surfaces on the 94's are totally flat, filling, not just plugging the secondary power valves, an filling the idle circuits. Last but not least is the throttle plates, 12 degree in the secondaries and 5 in the primary. If the throttle plates can hold liquid...................you will have one of the better tripowers out their....................throttle response a properly setup tripower setup is crisp and smooth. IMHO
I'd block off the end carbs and make the initial start up with a single 94 carb. Once the engine is broken in and the bugs worked out then you can always put the other 2 carbs into service. A thin piece of sheet metal between the gasket and the carb base will eliminate a lot of potential problems getting the new engine dialed in. It can be difficult diagnosing problems if you make a bunch of changes all at one time....vacuum leaks, flooding carbs etc etc
Setting up the tree twos on my car, they must have been off six times the first year. It takes an atitude, never give up, record every move, and check what you did before you do something else. They can be much admired and trouble free when you finally hit the sweet spot.
I could stay up all night and read the tri setup tips, ACCoupe. Why PM, when you can type it once for all of us. I'm thinking install a single intake system because I couldn't think as simple and as clear as, tommy. The whole fear is the setup sitting hot and idling, when the ring pressure against the new bore is to shut down the fore and aft carbs, pound the rings with the single carb; then at least the engine can idle for the carb tuning with a pressurized ring set that only takes a few romps around the block, give or take 50 miles to shake down any water and/or oil leaks.
FIRat and the rest of this thread.................. OK, I will put something together and post it..............seems that when I get long winded writing the site cuts me off and I have to go back and sign in again..............sometimes loosing everthing I have written. So, give me until tonight and I'll try and post my thoughts and experiences setting up tripower for the past 30+ years. Also, I guess I was thinking about the tripower and not about the "Brand New Motor". If you are dead set on starting this new motor with the tripower (if it were my motor I would bolt on a factory manifold/carb to break it in with)then by all means use all the carbs............not just the center unless you will not be going over 2000 RPM. You can adjust the progressive side of the linkage to make sure you are getting the correct amount of fuel for break-in and then change it later. IMHO
Thanks so much, ACCoupe. Long winded text are where the jewel sentences are placed. You just read and read, and you thought one sentence was enough, but your tricks build on top of tricks, (for the past 30+ yrs.). I have been in the L/Winded, where one miss on the keyboard she vanishes in the night. Been there, done that. What I now apply in the short keystroke world, is to double click on any word in the message window... When it highlights the word in blue, I then press down on the ctrl key, press the A key, which highlights all the winded text I wrote. I then hold down control, (or leave it down), press C to save the text. If something happens sending the "post quick reply," I have the, ctrl and V key to paste the winded message as you see here.
While I'm here, does anyone know where to pick up one of the Edelbrock 3 deuce intakes for the Y Block. Just got a 56 F250, still have to pick up but mine none the less and it has the factory Y Block V8, not sure if it's 292 or 312 yet though. Should I just hit EPay or what? Also interested in finding a lumpy cam.
eBay, or swaps.....long out of production. Cams are available from Isky, Erson, Chris Nielsen, or John Mummert http://www.ford-y-block.com/ If it is original it is a 272. The 312 was never offered in trucks, (some were dealer installed, later on, & some warranty replacements used 312s), & the 292 wasn't offered in trucks until '57. When you change intake manifolds, or more specifically the carb....if it is a '56, and it has the original distributor, you MUST swap to a '57-up distributor...it will run very poorly otherwise. You can still get '57-up style dizzys at Auto Zone, NAPA, Advance Auto, etc. Just order one for a '64 F-100 with a 292...there's only one model available, but older listings often don't show up. The '57-up version can be converted to electronics if you want....Crane/Accel/Pertronix/Mallory etc. all make kits. For anyone else, the '54-'56 distributors can also be converted to electronic....so far as I know Pertronix is the only company that makes a kit. I'd never bother, myself...the only reason I can see to do it is for a total restoration....but, it can be done. It STILL won't work right without using the original carburetor.
Thanks for that bit of info, I did some more research after I posted that and found out about ford-y-block.com, thanks for the heads up on the engine, didn't know they didn't put 292's in at the factory until 57. According to what I read on ford-y-block you can bore the 272 out to a 292 if I read it right? Thanks for telling me about the distibutor as well, if I would have done this stuff later and couldn't figure out why it was running crappy it would have pissed me off!
Yep. Normally you don't even need to sonic check the block, even with a .125 overbore....lots of meat in the 272 blocks...but, if the block in question shows a lot of core shift it might be wise. Though, for the most part, 292s are common enough that in that case I'd look for a different block.
OK, I'll try and go through this, but if you have any questions let me know. Let me say this in the begining, I believe that making a tri-power setup reliable and driver friendly needs to have the two secondary carbs act as slaves. By this I mean the secondary carbs do not have; 1. Power Valves 2. Idle Circuits 3. Accelerators If you take a look at the factory tri-power setups, you will find that the 427/435 tri-power along with the Ford 406 did not run accelerator pumps nor power vlaves. In fact the Ford 406 carbs had no provisions for accelerator pumps at all. Now, there were factory tri-power setups that did have power valves, but the reason they had power valves was because the carbs were opened by vacuum-controlled linkage, and since it opened much slower than mechanical linkage, that extra shot of gas was required to transition the secondary carbs into play. Now lets talk about the Three Bolt Holley 94. Remember that the 94 stands for 94/100 of an inch........which is the venturi size. This is mostly true, but you can find some that are 1-1/16 of an inch also. When trying to put together a tri-power setup look for all of the same carb. I have mostly used 91-99's(39-41 cars) and 21-99's(42-46 cars). I believe it helps to have a matched setup. When the 94 came out it was sophisticated compared to the Stromberg, but by todays standard it is just simple. Basically, two-hold-down bars known as nozzle bar clamps secure the nozzle bar in place. There are two nozzle bars in each carb, which should be the same style bar (because these cars are old, the chances of the nozzle bars being replaced at some time is very high). The nozzle bar contains channels for the low-speed, high-speed and idle circuits. The accelerator pump squirter is also held in place by the nozzle bar clamp, and squirts fuel into each venturi when the throttle activates the pump. On the bottom of the fuel bowl is the power valve, which is an enrichment device that is normally open when no vacuum is available. When you get manifold vacuum, created by running the motor, the power valve closes. To do so, the vacuum must overcome the spring on the power valve, which is rated between 2.5 and 7.5 in-lbs............depending on which one you actually have installed. So, in a non-vacuum state, the power valve is open, the engine fires and idles, producing high vacuum.......which pulls the power valve closed, and the engine is then running off the idle circuits. As the car leaves and the RPM increases, the low-speed circuits are supplying fuel, and then the high-speed circuits come in, rpm increases and the vacuum drops. The spring on the power valve overcomes the vacuum and the power valve is lifted open to enrich the mixture. As rpm comes back down, vacuum increases and overcomes the spring ...............pushing the valve closed. Now this is great if you have just one carb as the power vlave actually supplies enough fuet to enrich a basic 250/312ci motor. But, if you are running three carbs, you can potentially have enough power-valve-supplied fuel for a 750ci motor, and that is more than twice what a 312 requires. So, rather than rely on the power valve in the secondary carbs, it is much easier to simply jet the secondary carbs properly and plug the power valve. So, that is why the 94 is a very good candidate for a tripower setup. Now the reason they can be a total nighmare if they are not rebuilt properly. THEY ARE OLD, and at the hands of amateur rebuilders (no offense intended), but most 94's have been rebuilt over and over again. While the 94 is really a great carb, doing things like installing the throttle plates upside down, mixing spray-nozzle styles and over torquing screws all make for a carb that willnot precisely meter fuel. Any leaks of fuel or air will upset the balance of this metering system causing a poor running car and a tri-power setup that is very hard to maintain any kind of tune or driveablity. Because of the 94's design the tops tend to warp, likewise the air horn can warp and allow fuel leaks from the fuel bowl........both externally and internally. Also, outside air pressure skews the pressure-to-vacuum relationship allowing the power valve to open when you don't want it to, so it is very important that no air leaks come from worn out throttle shafts. I will put in a plug (pun intended) for Vintage Speed products. If you don't want to worry about rebuilding the 94, or the bases.............they have what you need to make the carb become new again. OK, now lets talk about modifing the 94. Since I am pushing towards doing away with the secondary power vavles (two outside carbs) I will say that just plugging the power valve is not enough in my book, I always epoxy them in with a metal epoxy. I also recommend that you do not run the accelerator pumps in the two secondary carbs...........but if you must at least put the linkage rod on the shortest stroke, or let the rod rest on the throttle shaft attachment plate. The real concern on the secondary carbs should be float level and jet sizes (more on jet sizes later). One other thing here, what I am saying is only for tri-power setups. Dual two barrel or four two barrel setups USE power valves and idle circuits. The way a tri-power setup should run is that the motor should have no way of knowing the secondary carbs exist until the linkage pulls them into operation. Ther should be no air or fuel coming from either secondary carb unless the linkage has opened them. To insure a good seal, I have always used 12 dgree throttle plates, which allows them to open quicker in the outside carbs. For the primary carb I actually used the stock throttle plate for a number of years (which is 4 degrees), and when Vintage Speed came out with a 5 degree I switched. This is important...............the throttle plates need to be matched perfectly to each carb base to insure as perfect a seal as possible. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Talking about throttle plates, lets not forget about the throttle shafts. If they are loose, you need to, no, let me say that you must get oversized shafts, ream them out, and make sure the new ones fit tight...................THIS IS IMPORTANT. You can get these shafts from Vintage Speed or Speedway Motors. OK, now lets talk about jetting of the tri-power setup. For a motor with a cam, head work, headers and such............for a warmed up motor of over 312, the largest venturi that would work best (IMHO) would be the 1-1/16 or 1-5/32. Now lets talk in general terms, I would start something around .050/.051 jets in the primary carb. The secondary carb will typically be two (2) jet sizes smaller. Whatever you do, normally, the jet sizes in the primary carb are never more than three sizes larger or smaller than stock, since the venturi area dictates how much fuel can ultimately be atomized. When running a carb'd street motor, the rule of fuel pressure is simple, less is best. You only need th required fuel to keep the float bowls full. The fuel pressure doesn't force gas through the carbs, it merely fills the float bowls, and the fuel is drawn in the carb, so excess fuel pressure can only cause problems in the needle and seat area. I would recommend 2/3psi. This is another important fact in setting up a tri-power to work well (IMHO) you need to setup the system with the "bases only"..........this will let you see first hand (the throttle plates) what is happening when setting up the progressive linkage. So, in setting up the linkage, you want to have the primary carb at 65 percent open when the secondaries just start to open. So.....take 65 percent of your maximum rpm and set the linkage accordingly. Of course you can't do this for rpm when just settin up the bases, but the 65 percent rule will get you in the ball park when you get the motor running and want to fine tune the setup. One thing I didn't mention was filling of the idle circuits on the secondary carbs. I believe this is also important and should be done, making the outside carbs just slaves and allowing a much easier tuning of the motor buy allowing only the primary carb to have active idle circuits, so the motor is totally tuned by the center carb. If you want to tune the center carb with a vacuum gauge go ahead, but normally 1/2 turn on the idle air screws will bring the carb close enough. If you are usning a vacuum gauge tune for the most vacuum at idle. Back in the old days, you could take the car out on the road and run it at mid range for 30 minutes or so, then shut the motor down with little of no idle time.............pull out the plugs and read them............looking for that mocha brown color...........now with the unleaded gas and HEI ignition systems it can be difficult to read plugs as they tend to burn very hot and very clean...........not leaving behind distinctive colors. So........now that I can't think straight anymore I'll stop...........but if you have any questions let me know.
Thank you, ACCoupe. That sheet walked the walk. I have a comment and a question. The comment is now to follow the Coupe's every step, set the manifold on the new engine, and spank the rear tires... in a bad way, (cops chasing, neighbors calling other neighbors about all the dogs barking and car alarms going off kind of break in the engine). My question is: Would a multi angle plate system be more of a, "progressive" throttle response, rather than an abrupt hit at the drive-train? Meaning, what if you stagger the throttle plates? What if - you ran the base center plate, but have the front at the 5 plate, and the WOT finalized with a 12 at the HEI, or maybe a 9 if the parts website even has any stagger plates? Just wondering if 3 would smooth out the abrupt to the WOT, that maybe a throttle plate stagger would fluff a set of 8's all lined up on a manifold. Shutting down the fuel on the other 2 is your little trick of the manifold trade. Nice write.
This will largely depend on the particular manifold design, the plenum(s), and the exhaust system. With nearly all conventional multi-carb intakes I have seen, you can possibly do more harm than good....you run a healthy chance of leaning out certain cylinders. You may find that you help one cylinder & lean out another. In that case mixture tabs can help...but that is way over most guys' heads...& truthfully best done utilizing a wet flow bench. With some of the older tunnel rams like the Edelbrock TR-1Y, which have rather large plenums, we sometimes found that altering SECONDARY linkage so it was not 1:1 with the primaries helped...not what you are referring to though. I could see this possibly also working (maybe) with some of the 6 or 8 carb log intakes like a Vac-U-Fab....would not be my starting point, but it MIGHT be something to try down the road for the guy with odd mixture distribution, a cam with large overlap, & who wants to run all this on the street.
OK, regarding the comment on following "The Coupe's every step", well, I will try and do that if you would like. I keep pictures on http://groups.msn.com/FordFlathead1932to1953/cobraschopped31av85window.msnw but can certainly post every now and then. When the motor fires for the first time it will be on an engine dyno.........just to make sure I have everthing correct, break it in with a good fuel/air ratio, and make sure the boost retard works as it should. Then it comes out and goes in the Coupe. The first time it fires in the Coupe will be with the headers only, much like done on the dyno.......so yes, there will neighbors screeming, children running, dogs barking, car alarms going off.................and hopefully my neighbor hood policeman will either be on duty or not be listening. Question; well........have never thought of a multiple plate system. Lets look at what this would do to the motor. A tri-power manifold is designed just like a factory two barrel manifold.......kind of.....................lets take the Navarro tri-power manifold that is now being produced by H&H. Let me tell a story first, I met Barney Navarro once some years ago when I was trying to decide if I should buy his "High Flow" heads (domed heads), and while talking with him I asked about the design of his tri-power manifold and asked why he thought it was better than anything on the market. He told me that he kind of reverse engineered the manifold by cutting appart the factory manifold...........looking at it carefully, then just putting two more carbs, one at each end. Now this is over simplifing it, but the design didn't vary much from Henry's except it had two more carbs. Now we are still talking flatheads here, but many people including the late Rod Furtado had run every type of tri-power manifold available for the flatmotor and told me there was very little difference between them all (I have also heard this from other flathead people). So with that said, if the tri-power setup is dialed in correctly assuming you use the 65% rule, then there should be no "Big Bang" to the drive train as the primary carb is at 65% throttle and the others are just starting to come on line. The other 35% comes fairly fast, but is very linnear, and if jets are set correctly on the Primary and Secondary carbs you will see a steady rise in HP on the dyno. This is very similar to a four barrel. When the second set of throttle plates open you don't get a sudden and abrupt shock to the drivetrain. If you were to get a sudden shock (on a tri-power setup) I would have to say it wasn't set up properly. Now if you are talking about 4/6/8 carbs, that now becomes somewhat problematic, as most of these systems were only used @WOT. I have seen people use a progressive throttle system on 4/6/8 carbs, but have never tried it myself. To try and make a 4 carb setup run on progressive linkage on an inline setup may work OK, but on a log setup I just don't know. Lets talk a little further about using the 12 degree plates on the seondaries. The reasons are, faster movement off the seat/venturi and less chance of sticking (this is always a problem), and most aftermarket throttle plates are thicker than original so you can whittle on them a little. The other thing about staggering the plates would be fuel distribution. Having more fuel sooner or later when the center carb is already at 65% throttle may not benifit total fuel flow, and when you running 450/500cfm you want everything to flow smoothly causing "abrupt" feelings in the seat of your pants. IMHO OK, just a few more.............thoughts............always put in new needle-and-seats when rebuilding the 94, and use the flat seat type like some vendors sell. This eliminates virtually any problem caused by a hanging needle valve. They are quick to open and positive when closing. Float leve is critical on 94's, so be careful the float is set at the proper level and that the float itself is level and not twisted. Setting is 1-5/16". Before putting the top on the body fo the 94, fill the fuel bowl with mineral spirts and blast air into the venturi area of the 94, a short blast of air provides a fine mist of mineral spirts out of both spray bars, a very good test to be certain all circuits are working. There are four different types of spray bars for the 94 carb, two in each carb. Be certain both are the same. There is a large annular one, kind of rounded on the top...........this is the most desirable one. It takes a small step in the carb top and is pretty easy to modify if the 94 doesn't already have them. These where available on the late model 94s's, I think after 53/54. And..................make sure that each body is perfectly flat and make sure to fly cut the two float bowl screws to make them perfectly flat also........just some hints for sealing the carb up tight. IMHO
Some great advice in Chopped's posts....and this is probably the most important thing to heed in the last one. If you feel an abrupt change in power...something's not right. It should be smooth as hell & come on like a freight train....very linear. This holds true regardless of whether it is a conventional four barrel or a multi-carb system, for the street & track. The one possible exception, as we both noted, would be a log-type intake...not really designed for anything but WOT. They can be made to work, sometimes more successfully than other times. Cam timing & overlap choices are key to making one run smoothly (within reason).
Quote ACCoupe: "Float level is critical on 94's, so be careful the float is set at the proper level and that the float itself is level and not twisted. Setting is 1-5/16"...." What does the leveling tool touch from point A To Point B on the carb body? What is the tool used? Is the tool a fixed jig where you can just home make a tool for this precision work? Will the different float needle set fit into the body where the old needle and seat used to fit? Photo build of the carb assembly by any chance, say, at a different website? There are four different types of spray bars for the 94 carb, two in each carb. Be certain both are the same. There is a large annular one, kind of rounded on the top...........this is the most desirable one. It takes a small step in the carb top and is pretty easy to modify if the 94 doesn't already have them. These where available on the late model 94s's, I think after 53/54." Out of the 4 types, are these tubes (same size) across the board, or is this a size front/back use this size and base carb uses this size. If these are 4 different diameters, then in the theory, the jet tubes can begin in a linear fuel feed as well, if tubes are in the diameter and these just drop in the carb body? What is the leak past the carb body hole for the tube and tube being submerged in fuel? That is a tight build. You are a nasty man, Mr. Coupe. I've seen guys like you work the tracks. Me asking questions, like, "What is under the hood" then the retort, "Oh, an old worn out heavy V6 truck engine.' 'See the 6 exhaust pipes' 'That's why the front end sags... Lots of Weight"... Whatever you say, Mr. Pwer/2/Wght, sir. I do not want to be around for that noise or roll up next to it. I think I'll lose even if I can cut the light; loosing to a set of wipers. The bottom end looks as strong as the chassis. That is a well put together car... or dragster with a mean engine. Do you have any of the float pics, needle and flat seat photos, the fuel rails? I can picture all that you described, but the 3 bar throttle linkage and all that rebuild of the carb is more fill to this thread. You are hammering out a lot of info. Thanks. I do not want to force too much out of you, but is the Tri all assembled or were the bodies in a blank or gutted shape where you could build the carb and show the measuring of the float, the plugging up of the idle holes needing addressing on the two outer carb bodies? I sure like that bottom end and the chassis mod at the pumpkin. That rod is going to stop quick. I would think that if the center carb is jetted for WOT, what would hurt the stepped plates? The fuel flowing out of the smaller venturi bore carbs would not lean the engine. How could the engine lean out if the small bore, using less air, less fuel; can address their own air bore hole in the proportion to the suck of one cylinder at a time? That is a lot of a rich, would it not be? The ratchet back on the advance by the blower is interesting. How is that accomplished? Is that the basic mechanical reverse vacuum system when you lift off the the gas pedal?
"If you take a look at the factory tri-power setups, you will find that the 427/435 tri-power along with the Ford 406 did not run accelerator pumps nor power vlaves. In fact the Ford 406 carbs had no provisions for accelerator pumps at all." Huh!? Thats some info I have never heard before! I've set up several of these and have ran many of them, and they all had accelerator pumps. I would be very surprised not to see them on any tripower set up. With mechanical progressive linkage I would expect a really bad flat spot. The tripowers on all my flatheads, and all my FE Fords will continue to have them!
Awesome information here. Thanks to everyone posting! I had planned on running the stock single carb. and manifold for about 500 miles until the motor was broke in. Then I would start fiddling with the tripower. I think armed with the information on this post I should be able to get it setup. Again thanks to all. I hope this also helps out someone else in the future!
I would think the flat spot is the linkage lean, meaning, you WOT'd the plates open so fast, the flat spot is no fuel entering the faster air, where the fuel was slower to come out of the jet holes to compensate for the loss of power. Is that the fault of the N/A engine or is it the plate or fuel flow function? Are not the accel pumps specifically for that air to fuel lag at the WOT? What my attack theory is to eliminate that lag by slowing the air (specifically) to bring that fuel along with a non-lag progressive or linear throttle plate angle, (opening). After all, it's the one cylinder. Well, kind of machine gun fast where the lag is kind of progressive so you feel it lag. I'm really working the air flow rather than a jetting or fuel problem. I need to remove the lag somehow? If either combination of same throttle plate angle to all carbs is a progressive 3 bar link (see Coupe's Tri photo of the 3 carb manifold), or a progressive log (is that "log" the correct meaning = multi carb bank or banks of carbs in a row?) with a linear or stepped angled plates all the way down the log progression is if the lag is eliminated when all the holes begin to open up for one spinning cylinder. I like to keep it simple, so all I see is a multi carb log attacking a single cylinder. The other cylinders kind of follow the other. Why not figure out one cylinder's idiosyncrasy. Maybe a static linear in the steps of FI might be on the line of, "backward engineering" understanding how to tune the air flow to the cylinder? This is just more discussion I ponder when I see a bunch of air tubes working the one cylinder. How can the engineers build a carb with all the fuel circuitry and then, BigMikeC hears and sees all this discrepancy at the (factory) carb bodies? No provision for accel pumps, as in; is there not a cast carb body that has all the cast marks where a drill hole must be made for an air screw adjuster must be to slow tune the idle circuit. Or, the extra fuel bladder (in the cast) and all that circuitry out the accel pump designed into the carb, then a fat spray to compensate for the WOT of a faster moving foot pedal? I am trying to match the, Coupe's mean machine at the manifold. His flathead is very intimidating. If I match what he has, and I play my plate in the theory way... All I'm looking for is an inch ahead of his wheel when the flag drops... He has to work that inch back. I think I won with a progressive anti-lag opening, where the solid WOT of the, Coupe's throttle plates all at once lagged at the line... by an inch, (is the theory to the progressive pedal push down).
BigMikeC, Can't say what you have worked on, just my own experiences over the past 40 years of working on cars and 30 years of drag racing in NHRA/IHRA. All of the late 61 through mid year 63Ford 406's I ever worked on with tri-power did not have accelerator pumps on the secondary carbs. I know that the dealer installed tri-power could have been different, as the 6B068-B was for manual trans and the 6B068-C was for automatics...........maybe they could have had accelerator pumps. All of the cars I worked on were drag cars, not street cars and most of these were bought from Ford for Racing. The 427/435's Chevys were the same way, although I've only worked on 3 that were on the car, and 1 that was off. As for having a flat spot, if a tri-power setup has a flat spot, it is not set up correctly or has a serious issue with incorrect fuel/air ratio/rebuild/linkage. Come out to California some time and we will give you a ride in a couple of flatties with tri-power setups, and I think you will change your mind. FIRat, OK, I will try and take some pictures as I am rebuilding a tri-power setup as we speak for 292/312 Y block. It may take me a few weeks to finish as I will be at the SFGP most of this week...............I will get some pictures. Float levels, well...........I have made many gauges, use to have a carboard one, then made one out of welders wire and still think I have those somewhere. Measurement is taken from the surface of the carb to the bottom of the float when it is extened. The spray bars are located in the venturi, but connect to the float bowl, and if they leak you have a problem. There are gaskets and screws that attach them and they fit fairly tight. The air horn on the spray bar is what is really different along with the mounting, but the more air you pass over the bar, the more fuel will follow. Next time we can talk about the Coupe and 289ci flatmotor.
FIrat, Here is a picture of the mock up motor with my home built headers, 625 demon VR, and the real deal mag from Joe Hunt.
Mike, It took me sometime to get used the many strange and different things the BIG3 did back in the old days. I mostly go from my own or my friends experience although I have been known to plant my foot firmly in my mouth at times. If you get a chance to every talk with Charlie at Vintage Speed sometime, get him into a discussion on setting up tri-powers.............it could be the best 1-2 hours you will ever have talking carbs and setups. Anyway, if you ever need help setting up the tri-power doen't hesitate to give me a jingle, and if you do make it the West Coast, let me know and we will spend some time talking cars.
16 years later... Does anyone have tips for incorporating Fordmatic kickdown linkage with the triple deuce Stromberg setup on the Y-block?
Both of my Ford 3X2s set ups have accelerator pumps in all three carbs, but only power valves in the center carb. Bones
The Jalopy Journal
