I have an opportunity to purchase a polished Balchowsky three pot intake with carbs for a reasonable price. For those who do not know Max Balchowsky was an early advocate of the Buick Nailhead and his "Old Yeller" specials based on Ford straight axle chassis from the 40s frustrated the sports car set on their own turf, road racing. Max experimented with a number of intake designs; one for barrel, two four barrels, three pots and Webers. I know that Max was a genius when it comes to Nailhead performance but he was early to the game, did not produce many manifolds and I can not find out very much about how they actually performed. Russ Martin says he tried one on a hot cam motor and he could not get it to idle below 1,100 RPM. All of his manifolds were open plenum designs and that may make them difficult to tune for the street. I will be running a mild performance cam. Certainly like the look and having something Max Balchowsky designed and manufactured on my Nailhead would really be nice but not if it does not work. So, does anyone here, an old fart for sure, have any experience with these relics from the early days of Buick Nailhead performance?
I'll bet if you would use the Olds. J-2 carbs with the 2 carbs . that seal any air from getting by butterflys at idle that you could get to idle under 900 rpm
Envy? I'll only use it if it works. That is a thought. The J2 end carbs are hard to find these days but I would think a good carb guy could seal the regular 2GC up when converting them for end carb duty. Just learned that some of the Balchowsky intakes were marked "Reynolds" and sold as such.
J-2 carbs are not really difficult to acquire; it just requires money. Sealing the throttles on non-tripower end carbs is difficult unless one purchases the aftermarket throttle bodies. I know there are several different ones out there, I do NOT know the quality. If one goes this route, I would suggest looking for cast iron ones, not aluminum. Personally, I would rather use originals. Much less trouble, therefore less expensive if one considers one's time. The Rochester engineers found that to seal the throttle plates on the end carbs, they had to: (1) use a MUCH thicker throttle valve (plate) (2) use a larger closing angle. If they didn't do the above, the thinner plates when completely closed, would stick in the throttle body. Remember that non-end carbs are NOT designed to completely close. They should always be at least cracked open for idle air. Jon.
I think the carbs that Mr B used were from the straight 8 compound buick from the 40s.. Next check the Buick board the one that I viewed had Mr Ivo giving answers.. He stated that he ported heads for Mr B......... A while back the current care taker for old yeller Doctor Ernie MD of calif posted on the hamb...
The Jalopy Journal
