I sure would like to have tri power for my 33 chevy coupe project but my buddy just took his off due to uneven fuel/air distribution, higher coolant temps, cherry red exhaust here and there, etc. Is this typical for these units? The front and rear carb throttle plates are sealed nicely and closed all the way at part throttle. A factory setup with a 2GC did not seem to have any of these issues. Is it just fuel/air distribution due to intake design or am I missing something?
I suppose it might depend on who made the intake, but sounds more like a tuning issue to me. Vacuum leaks, mis-adjusted carbs, etc... I set up my pops 3x2 using an old Fenton intake and factory tri-power carbs(no idle circuit on end carbs) and it runs fine. Also had the same carbs on an old Edelbrock intake with no trouble. I think you should buy the intake cheap off him since he doesn't know what to do with it and then take the time to set it up correctly for your ride.
First, there shouldn't be any problems. There must be something wrong with your set-up. The problem I've found with my own tri-power, and subsequently on 2 others I worked on, was that the secondary carbs really don't seal well enough. You can verify this by putting an airflow "meter" over the secondary carbs when at idle. I got mine at a foreign car aftermarket shop. It has a rubber boot that goes over the carb, with a plastic air flow device on top of the boot. So it really does "see" any air going through the carb. None of the secondary carbs I measeured seemed to be completely shut at idle. An air leak here, would mean lean mixture, which means higher exhaust and coolant temps. The fix...take the bases off the carbs and look through te butterflies with a light on the other side. Or put some liquid in them and see if it holds. I've found that the edges of the butterflies (and they should be thicker and angle cut, as opposed to a nromal one) tend to have roughness on them, enough to hold them slightly open. I used very fine sandpaper to take off the flaws, and them VERY carefully replaced them in the bores, and kept tapping on them, and checking to see if they were in a good sealing position before tightening them down. This worked well for me, as checked by the ariflow meter, afterwards. Be sure to "stake" the ends of the throttle blade screws when finished tightening them, so they can't back out!
The Inherent problem with Tri-Power is that they do not make as much horsepower ( on most OHV V8's ) as a well set up single 4 barrel carb. Not fiction or heresay ... FACT. Proven on the dyno many times. Both set ups tuned by folks who know what they are doing. BUT the TRI-Power wins hands down on LOOKS ...
True about the hp difference if compared to a more modern Holley 'big' AFB, but they usually make more power than the single 2bbl, the single WCFB, Single 4jet, or Aero carb on primitive 4bbl intakes they would have replaced back in the 50s when trips were popular. We all know that a modern air flow style intake, with a single big Holley 4bbl, alum Dart style heads on a 383 stroker sbc makes big power, but thats not what most of us are after...is it?
The problem with the 2G setup is that unless you have the factory end carbs the ones you are using are not going to seal. So you are going to have air leaking by. The base plate and butterflys have to be made specially to seal up. I think that the red hot exhaust is more than likely a tune up problem, usually it is cause by slow timing. Folks time them slow to run on cheap gas, the down side is that a performance engine will not perform on cheap gas.
On my set up, bought with the car, the tri-power caused surging and stumbling. I bought a kit from hotrodcarbs.com, which included new bases and it cured all the above problems.
I'm going on 5 years with no problems. My dump carbs almost seal to good, if I don't open them often enough they will stick closed.
sounds like timing to me..is the linkage progressive? <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
It sounds like there was a setup,tune issue on your buddies deal. Like mentioned before talk to Larry Fulton at Automotion Rochester Service www.hotrodcarbs.com. I got my parts from him and he was a big help. Too much fuel pressure screws them up (surge and bad idle). The gas that we have here in PA is 10-15% methanol and seems to go bad quickly. So they may need a wide open throttle once in a while to put fresh gas in the secondaries. I'll have the coupe's 3- 2bbl 327 Chevy on the dyno in a couple months and I'll post the results. Smokey
Not to hijack the thread, summit's kit says jet the center at #80 and ends at #56 Speedway says center at #56 and ends at #55. well the bigger the number the smaller the jet, right? I am old and cornfused
Bigger the number bigger the jet,I think thats another base line Probably max ,I cant wait to see what my center carb is jetted at ,I have a 327 ,fulie heads andd flat top pistons and on another thread I asked some questions ,My boat carb should be jetted higher for the original application ,Which I think I wanna use ,Im learning that the jets you get in these kits are only a base line where to start .....Remember there is different compression ratios ....And cams......
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