6 cyl: How many carbs?

I have a '54 F100 with a basically stock 223 6cyl, 3 speed column shift, 3.91 gears and 29 in rear tires. It has a Y pipe just below the stock exhaust manifold running to 2 inch pipes all the way out the back with glass packs in the middle.

I am considering the following options (in order of expense, not preference) and would love any input or opinions.

1) Just keep the one Holley 1904 single carb and keep driving the truck every day.

2) Getting a 1BBl to 2BBl carb adapter and putting on a 2BBL Holley Weber carb

3) Offenhauser 2x1 intake and running 2 Holley 1904's

4) Offenhauser 3x1 with ??? carbs because I'm sure 3 1904's would be too much for the motor as it is.

At this point I am not considering the 2 or 4BBL Clifford intakes because I think they look too modern for what I'm after.

Thanks in advance,

Conor

 

Get the 2 bbl holley, drive it everyday if you can, but its all up to you.

 

I actually do drive it daily. The two cars in my signature are the only running cars I have.

Conor

 

i say eather the single 2bbl or the two 1's

 

A pair of 1904s will not only give you more power from 30 or 40 mph on up, but much more even fuel distribution.

 

The Holley/Weber from the 2.0/2.3 Ford 4s would work well even if you use 2 of them. A 223 is just under 2X as large as the 2.0(122) engine.

 

!) 1904's with glass bowls are not the smoothest running or best to tune but DEFINITELY the coolest...

2) H/w's 5200 series are as mentioned too small in general to use less than two...

3) two 1904's are always better (and cooler) than one...

4) three 1904's are better than two... , 1904's are/were available in all kinds of CFM for Fords' 223's down to 144's and various others like Rambler displacements.

Mixed or matched, multiple 1904's are good for hours and hours of tuning fun...

Powerband

Small Block Ford 250 Six:


Small Block Six 170 with H/W 5200:

 

I would run the two singles. A major improvement on these engines is to shave the head to up the compression. High lift rockers can be found on e-bay quite often for a very reasonable price. Check out the forrd truck enthusiast site and ford six.com for lots more info on these engines.

 

By the way, if you are looking for simple but cool, a 2Bbl to 1Bbl adapter ,(like Langdon's Stovebolt Engineering sells for @ $20 )with another "Holley/Weber 2Bbl to Holley 2Bbl adapter" should readily fit easily available Holley 2Bbl (2300 series 7448-350CFM)to the 223.

Here's 7448 on Small block Six 250 with outer carbs actually blocked off:





Powerband

The Sixth Sense Garage

 

The wealth of knowledge here is a great thing. My next question would be: is there a significant increase in performance using three carbs to off set the additional effort of tuning three carbs?

 

How would a 223 with an auto tranny work out with two single barrel 1904s? Could I use one with a dashpot and run one without?