dual carbs on my 235? should i do it?

hey dudes, like most of us, i really dig multi carbs on an vintage engine. well, my 235 is bone stock and i want to flair it up a bit. i instantly thought of a cam and headers and especially one of those offenhauser or fenton dual carb intake manifiolds. problem is, most people i talk to say it's a huge pain to try and tune the carbs to work well and be able to drive it for everyday use. but i can't stay away, they're just way too cool! so i'm wondering, is this a good idea for my daily driver? cuz this is my only car and i need to be able to drive this thing to school every day and stuff like that. so how the hell do you tune it right? if anyone has a good running 235 chevy with dual carbs, let me know your secret of how you got it to work so well!

oh and if anyone was wondering what kind of car it is, this motor is in my '58 chevy delray.

 

I run dual carbs on my 235, and tuning is no problem. The runners are all connected, so the carbs don't have to be perfectly synced. I have a flow meter from by vw days, and use that to get them synced at idle, and then make adjustments to the linkage to make sure they are opening at relatively the same time. That said, I will be getting rid of my dual carb set up and going to a 4 barrel intake and carb. Those little 1 barrel carbs don't flow very well, and leak. I want more power. I'm running Stromberg BXOV-2 carbs, in an original AMERICAN MADE Fenton intake.

 

yes do it! I had duals carbs and fenton headers on my old '50 coupe. my buddy and I traded cars for a day and I couldnt believe how much of a difference it makes. His was a bone stock '53 and it seemed really slow..Its nice to have that little extra power on todays highways.

 

HUGE difference in power/get up and go!!!!!!! do it.

 

huge differenced in power and fuel economy.

they are not that hard to tune,just like anything else,once you get it tuned correctly. "set it and forget it"

carb choice is important,rochesters work very well,but leak.carters are a better choice,zeniths being primo.

any carb will work,the trick is to find carbs that together are slightly smaller then what you need.

i have not heard anything good about running a 4 barrel carb on a 216-261 engine family.i know they work well on the layer gen inliner.

 

i'm putt'in duel's on my dodge a100 with slant 6, go for it!

 

great idea to upgrade to two carbs, I used two small base Rodchesters from a 216 on a 216 intake, runs great and lots of power. Check on the stovebolt.com site for great information on the set up and other changes and improvements that can be made. Upgrade to an electronic ignition will also help with drive ability. [/IMG]

 

Bought a kit from Tom Langdon with no problems what so ever. I believe he sells Ford Excort carbs from the '80s.

 

thanks guys, i think i might just do it. so where can i get these zenith or carter carbs? and are they gonna blow me out of the water for price? and thanks for the stovebolt.com suggestion im gonna go get on there and see what i can find.

 

I also run the Langdon setup.awesome. great power, the electric chokes are nice and I can pull 20mpg with the t5

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

go for it!

 

If I had to do it over I would run the dual carb setup. In another post you were thinking of running the Clifford. I have that set-up with a Holley 2 barrel, had it so I used it. I had to repair the brand new Clifford intake, crack at the back flange. My set-up runs good, but the dual carbs have a cool factor that the single 2 barrel doesn’t.

 

that was the other thing i was looking at. the 4 barrel sounded like it could be a good thing and slightly easier to get tuned correctly. clifford performance makes the intake i've been looking at. i know i'm going to be switching out the stock manifold to a better one, but i decided to throw it out here to see what more people have to say about multi carbs or one bigger carb. do you think a 4 barrel would be smarter than duals?

 

You can make either two singles or a four-barrel work. You can do the four-barrel for less money.

The amount of power increase ????? is going to depend on the design of the intake, which carburetor(s) you choose, and your skill as a tuner. It is quite possible to achieve modest gains with each on an otherwise stock engine. It is also quite possible to achieve less power and lower economy with each.

As to looks, what looks good to one, may not look so good to another. It is your choice in the looks category.

Personally, I like multiple carbs. The only thing I have that is carbureted (other than the John Deere and the weed eater) that doesn't have multiples is the GTO. And if I can ever find any one to fab the air cleaner to the shaker hood, it will be multiple as well.

Jon.

 

Forget the four barrel. Go with the two carb set up. It's only right!! As was said already, two small base carbs from a 216 intake is all you need. I run a pair of Carter WA-1s on a Tattersfield intake. They are a matched pair and once set up I've not had to touch them. In my opinion they would be easier to dial in than a four barrel. Now that fellow Jon who just posted before me is the guy to go to for carb kits if the need arises. He set me up with kits for my two Carters.
Dom

 

well mine is stock, but eventually i'll put a cam in it. and it'll have tube headers and glasspacks out the back. with this set up, what would you recommend? I'm not the most amazing tuner.

 

just wondering, are all carter wa1 carbs the same? and what make you believe it's easier than a four barrel?

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=690613

 

I agree that the dual carbs looks great, but I want more power. I have read that the BXOV-2 carbs only flow about 120-130 CFM. Since my engine isnt seen while racing, I will swap out the carbs to a single 650 CFM 4 barrel. My motor rips, but there is always more. Here is my motor build.

1954 Chevy 235 Block (decked .010, and bored .060 over)
848 Head (100% stock. I bought a NOS head)
Patricks E-2 Rumpy Cam
Langdons Mini HEI Dist
Fenton Dual Carb Intake
2- Stromberg BXOV-2 Carbs
Tube Style Ceramic Coated Headers

Additional:
World Class T5 Trans
1978 Camaro Rear End w/ 3.73 gears

 

Hell yes, do it!!! You wont regret it!!!!

 

You are starving your motor anyways with those Stormbergs since they are for a 216, hence they are smaller.

 

I agree, and the larger 4 barrel will solve that issue. When I was building the engine I was going for looks. Now Im going to wake the beast. I should be running it at Kingdon Drags this weekend so I will have something to compare when I do the swap.

 

4bbl on a 235?

Everything I've read seems to say two decent singles - preferrably not leaky old Rochester B's - will not only improve power and performance but fuel economy as well.

 

A small 4 barrel similar to the Rochester 4gc works well on a 235. With two 1's, its more about looks and Cabbies 235 is modified so those little one barrels won't cut it.

 

Dual carbs!! If you don't I will.

 

What is a good carb choice then (if not Rochesters)?

 

All is fine and dandy with a dual 1bbl... but remember you have a 58 (just like me). I'm in the same boat and am going 2 be struggling with a hood clearance issue for air cleaners. You don't have that capability of running those air cleaners in the pictures people are posting.

 

I have been on both sides of this, I paid big $ for a set of YF's and never could get them tuned right, it was fast as hell when I stepped on the loud pedal but it would always load up at idle, then I came across a nice set of carter W-1's and it was night and day difference, not quite as fast but dependable and ran good, however they are needing to be given a once over here soon too.

I'll say this, if I had it to do all over again I would have rebuilt my engine stock, left a single carb and kept my home made split manifold on there. That engine ran really consistantly with that set up.

dont get me wrong I love chirping 3rd gear with a 3 on the tree but that big cam and carbs that need fiddling with isn't fun for daily stuff.

this is why I have learned that I tend to be more of a kustom guy and not a hot rod guy. Im more skilled with a welder than I am a wrench

 

also, I don't know this for fact but I have been warned by several people over the years to avoid the rochester B's I have been told they are hard to sinc.

Dickster once told me the best thing I could ever do for my engine is run 2 94's, I have also heard that the BXOV-2's are the best carbs for these set ups too?

personally I can vouch for the Carter w-1's, you can buy them remaned from chevy of the 40's, they're a little pricey but unless you come across a really clean rebuildable matched set seems kinda worth it to me...

 

I have heard constantly that the Rochester B's are lousy carbs, but I do not find that to be true. I was lucky to find a matched set off of 216 cu in and that may be the toughest problem to solve. I rebuilt them and set the float level about 1/8" lower than the spec called for. I balanced them with a cheap Edlebrock uni sync. I've been running them for two years painted (not annodized) with no leaks and no hesitations or flat spots. Can't speak to the mileage as I hate to keep track of that. I would set it up the same way again if I could find the matched carbs again.