I recently acquired a 1950 Chevy style line two door, I bought a 1959 235 already rebuilt and have a T5 to go behind it. my question is this, is an intake with a small four barrel more desirable than one with two one barrels? The Filling Station is selling new 2x1 Fenton manifolds for 150.00 tomorrow only thanks for your input
Check out Langdons Stovebolt. He was selling this setup for a while. Not sure if he still is. It's a total of 4 barrels.
A small 4bbl will likely run better,but two carbs always looks better then one,an can be made too run well.
When you go from one ( four barrel) to multi carb set up tuning becomes the issue. Small four barrel would be preferable depending on what has been done to the 235.
if buying a fenton reproduction intake, checkout the heat chamber and make sure it doesn't leak into the fuel air chamber. I bought one for a bargain price but wasted a lot of time trying to it work before it dawned on me what the obvious problem was..
it is rebuilt stock, I would like to shave the head and do a cam swap before installing. i really like the looks of the 1x2 wearing their two shiny hats. joethehuman, was the heat chamber area porous?
On the 235, 2x1 is MARGINALLY better performance-wise than the best (not the original) 1-barrel, but it requires thought and tuning expertise. Of course, looks and performance don't always go hand-in-hand. If a single four, either the Holley 390 or the Carter 400, would be the way to go. For both performance AND looks, because of the cylinder head design, three smaller 1-barrels with solid linkage give both, but as mentioned by Fat47, initial tuning becomes more difficult. Three 1-barrels on this engine are actually easier to tune than two 1-barrels, again because of the cylinder head design. Jon
Yes the aluminum was extremely porous to the point where gas would enter the heat chamber which is of course directly above the exhaust manifold,
Jon: something like 3 Carter singles (W-1) from the 216 for a mildly hopped up 235 or 261?? @carbking
For a mild 235, a good carb for a triple application is the YF used on the 134 CID Willys engines. For a mild 261, these will work, but three Carter W-1 420s from 1939 or 1940 Chevrolet 216 seem to work really well. The later 483s (1941-1942) and 574s (1946-1948) have a slightly larger main venturi than the 420s. The W-1's are less expensive than the YF's for Willys. Jon.
Be carefull about considering 3 carb manifolds. I have a 50 Chevy and there are clearance issues with the firewall brace and the back carb. I have always run 2 carbs & when I first started just stuck 2 stock 1 barrel carbs on, did the normal mixture screw adjustments and it ran fine. Not complex at all. Was it really dialed in, probably not but I drove it that way for years and it was trouble free. Not sure if anyone still makes a 4 barrel manifold as for that engine they were never very popular. You can also pick up used manifolds pretty easy, most have better looks than the Fenton, but may not be cheaper these days. If you go with used be aware that many have smaller ports for the 216, but nothing that can't be rectified with a drill press and hole saw.
I have two WA-1s that I think are 39 to 40 Pontiac? Jon set me up with two rebuilding kits for them. I got to say it's a good 10 years ago? I have them on a Tattersfield intake. Possibly the best flowing intake of the duals for the inline engine. Once on, I did an idle set up and air fuel mixture set up. I did the air fuel with a vacuum gauge getting as high a reading as I could. Then I set the idle by ear as it was easier for me to tell the difference in the sound of each carb. When doing my adjustments for the air fuel mixture, I was able to see a response from the front carb out of the left exhaust pipe. The rear carb affected the exhaust out of my right pipe. When both pipes had an even put put and no skipping, I knew I was there. I haven't had to touch them since.
Carbking, what do you feel gives better performance than a good rebuilt Rochester G? Other than being cold blooded on a cold day, mine works well. I'd like to find the best 1 one barrel for more power on my single card 235.
Your Rochester 1-barrel should be a B, not a G. Not my favorite carburetor. Being cold-blooded is not one of the B's many issues, if the choke is functioning. Fix the choke, and if you are happy otherwise, you should remain happy. But to answer your question: one would have to know the exact specifications as to what has been done to your 235; but there are probably several Carters, Holleys, Strombergs, and Zeniths that (opinion) are all better than the B. Shucks, you could hire a 15-year-old to stand on the running board, and pour gasoline into the engine out of a leaky boot, and be better than the B! Jon
Hahaha, it's true. I've had really good luck with a Carter yf on all the Chevys 6 I've had (230, 235, 261). The 261 is running a Ford 240/300 yf and it's perfect. The Bs always seem to leak from the lid and run rich after a little while.
Probably not what you want to hear but I went thru this about 50+ years ago, with my first car, a 54 Chevy. Do what looks the best to you because its not going to make a whole bunch of difference performance wise over the stock setup. Ran the dual exhaust because it at least sounds good.
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