Dual plane aftermarket intake, Summit 500 or 600 cfm carb, dual exhaust, re-curved distributor weights = one happy guy.
Apparently, that's top secret. However, if it's somewhere in the U.S., I doubt that he's more than ten miles from a used, affordable small block Chevrolet four barrel intake manifold.
You have to make sure that the engine is in good shape to be able to do things to "make it run better. That includes a good tune up that includes a compression test. Make sure that the timing chain doesn't have a bunch of slop in it. My experience is that a correct size 4 barrel with small primaries and much larger secondary's performs better and if you keep your foot out of it gets better mileage and better all around driving than a two barrel. The haters will come out in force with their undies in knots but truth be your money may be better spent installing a good quality HEI distributor and leaving the two barrel. On my 71 C 30 that did have an Edelbrock carb and performer intake that was an instant gain of about 2mpg, far quicker starts and smoother operation. ON these old trucks 2 mpg can be a huge percentage gain if you go from 14 to 14 or 14 to 16.
Hmmmmm So on the first post the OP dosent state what engine or the CI he has and on post 5 it's stated a 2bbl won't really help ?????? I just had a engine on a run stand right now that I have fired cam break in with a 2bbl on it that id wager of i swapped out to the intake and 4bbl it going to run when installed might show a 100 hp difference or more. That said it's 488" and was broke in with a small Rodchestor 2bbl on a old 396 cast iron manifold and I expect the engine to redline at about 7000 RPM and the intended intake is out getting bungs for nitrous. Respefully id suggest finding out what engine and such before saying a 4bbl won't help. With out knowing at what RPM the carb and intake becomes a choke point its hard to really say it's not going to help. Id also say respectfully that there a lot of 4bbl intakes even if he still ran the 2bbl on adapter on top of them would show a HP gain on the top end . I recall in the 80s when the street stock circle track cars were allowed a 4bbl Intake but with 500 holley 2bbl vs stock 2bbl and a rodchester ( think they were 500cfm) the Brazenskie modifed cast factory manifold was good for nearly 20 HP on the dyno and and the Bowlaws tweaked card was another 8 hp. That was a flat top 350 with a hydraulic cam that had a lift limit. I'd wager the same carb on a modern dual plane or even a early single plane would have made even more . I know for a fact the same engine with a scorpion intake and a 750 made about another 30 HP on a dyno when it got put into a modifed . the intake made 5 more than the Torquer. The question was were can I get 4BBL manifold and carb . If on a very tight budget I'd look on Facebook Market place if you want aftermarket aluminum and a performance type carburetor. ANY car swap meet is going to have a lot in the $50 on up. If the OP is not mechanical inclined and wants a basically stock 350 SBC to run about the best it can with good throttle response it's going to be hard to beat a Edelbrock performer ( or knock off) and a 600 Edelbrock performance carb followed by a Holley 600 Vacume secondary carb . It's not going to over carb on the primaries and run better than a 2bbl that will a bit opened abruptly . Even a old Holley spread bore. Had better drivabilty over a stock 2bbl if tuned correctly . Might not gain much HP But nobody is driving WOT all the time unless racing . So peak HP is really not a factor . Now if this was on a factory 307 you might not gain much with any intake but there would likely be a gain from the intake alone albeit not much.
I think the title of the thread changed. Regardless, I believe one could infer it wasn’t a built up engine running around with a 2bbl
Someone might just give him an intake if he'd let us know where he's located. I ran a spreadbore double pumper Holley on my t-bucket at first, it was the best seat of the pants accelerating combo I ever had on it, would actually make you lose your stomach on th hit. I switched to a regular 650 dp square bore next, then to the dual quads that are still on it today, but that ol spread bore sure had a great kick in the pants.
This is a huge talking point when it comes to folks when they want to do Y on X vehicle. Most folks romantize their driving as 3500-6500 'racers' but in reality they are 1500-3500 'commuters' at best.
As noted previously, a small volume dual plane, small carb 400-500cfm. Factory cast iron, would work great as well.
283 two barrel 185 hp 283 four barrel 220 hp 327 two barrel motor hp 210 hp 327 4 barrel motor hp 250 hp Hello, A 283 SBC motor with a two barrel carb came in a lot of stock Chevy sedans in 1957. The base model was 185 hp. The upgrade was a 4 barrel carb with the same internals. That came to 220hp. So, as minimal as 35 hp is or was, it certainly had more power. The dragstrip times were lower and the 0-60 times were also quicker. So, that was the easiest add on horsepower gain we could think of as teenagers. My friend had a 283 with a two barrel. At the time he did not care if is had a two barrel, it was a daily cruiser and it got him everywhere he wanted to go. So, for a few months, he drove all over the place from the beaches, cruising around our local Bixby Knolls area and up into the mountains for a different environment. Enough power to get us there 40 miles away at the beach cove to 7000 feet up into the mountains for a thin air cruise. Since it was his first car, as long as it got him where he wanted to go and did not require a ton of cash, He was satisfied with that. We all drove what we could get our hands on, but this 57 Chevy was one of the earliest teenage owned cars in our group. Jnaki As the hot rod/drag race stories were evident after the dragstrip movies and acceleration runs down the Cherry Avenue Drags location, then the concept of going faster was slowly creeping into all of our brains. Add this and the horsepower is evident. Change that and more horsepower is gained. It was endless in our hot rod build stories we all read and loved. Others had already completed their experiments in motor building and now in all of the magazines, were stories of increasing horsepower on stock motors from Detroit. Primarily, SBC motors. So, with his new after school job, now, he/we were looking around at all of the local favorite speed shops for clues to hp gain, build costs and products available. We were not replacing cam folks as yet. So, that was out. Headers, yes, he bought a set to fit his 57 Chevy and bolt on to his stock muffler system. Then the next thing was looking at dual carbs for the 283, which surpassed his pocket book at the time. the closest thing was a new manifold and a 4 barrel carb, sitting on the shelf of the speed shop. We were now looking at the new manifold and 4 barrel carb system on his work bench. So, we picked out a night after school and began to make the changes. By the next morning, he had a functioning 57 Chevy sedan with a 4 barrel carb for added power. Now, according to all magazine specs, it hovered around 220 hp. A good 35 hp gain. Nothing else was changed and we all felt proud of our work and accomplishments. No times from the drags, but the o-60 times were faster. After almost a whole summer, we decided that a dual quad system was going to be the tops for his 283 and give him the most power besides a centrifugal supercharger. So, we made a trade for his 4 barrel carb system for a dual quad system. Yes, who would trade such as system one for the other? A guy with a 283 and dual quad system got tired of running a 4 barrel each time he accelerated from the stop sign and he wanted a smoother drive. So, he wanted us to do the work if he provided the dual quad system. We put on the single 4 barrel carb/manifold on the other 283 and the guy was happy as a lark. It made his daily driving simple and fairly quick, but now he was running better system for his needs. When we finished putting on the dual quad system on my friend’s 283, we decided to put in a Duntov Cam and lifters. Now, with his 283, it was the most modified motor of all of our teenage group. He had one fast 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop and the sounds it made were impressive through the gears. More horsepower was evident and yes, the zero to 60 times were faster. YRMV
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