Can someone school me on 2 barrel carbs (Rochesters, Strombergs, Holleys......) Performance, easibility to work on, reliability
I'm running a pair Holley 94's on my straight 8 Buick. Very easy to rebuild and run out real nice. Holley 97's are popular too.
im with anythinggm. I run 2 Holley 94s on my flathead and like them a lot. I have runa few Rochesters and they seem a little more temperamental and get leaky a little quick in my opinion. Stromberg 97s are an awesome carb. If I had the money that is what I would run judging purely on people reviews of them. My 94s are very easy to adjust, very cheap to rebuild, and dont keep me guessing too much and I am far from a carb expert. 94 gets my vote
I make my decision based on the era of the car that I am trying to match. Early 50s...Stromberg 97s. Early 60s...Rochesters. Any of them can be made to work well. Figure out what you want and then you can get more help in how to make your choice work well. Your question is too ambiguous. It would take a book to compare and contrast. Everyone will have an opinion based on their successes and failures.
Well if I pick it by era it's gonna be kinda hard. My truck is a 50 Chevy truck and my engine is a 61 Nailhead
Nothing better then a "WELL REBUILT" Stromberg 97, 48 or 81, oh and the LZ..won't leak if rebuilt the right way.. They go any era.. Duane..
I was thinking of maybe running the Holleys in a 500-350-500 configuration with the 350 as the primary carb what do you guys think. Is this to much for my 401ci
The 2bbl Holleys you are speaking of are essentially the same as the primary side of a 4150/4160 Holley 4bbl, so there's no real problem with parts. They don't fit on many 3x2 manifolds, though, other than ones specifically designed for them (for ex. BB Mopar, BBC OE manifolds). They don't really fit into our era, but if they work for you, give it a shot. Keep in mind that the Holleys built for tri-power use on OE stuff are somewhat different than the "universal" ones sold for aftermarket use.
Not sure if these are still available.... Holly made a 500 CFM 2bl that had progressive opening ****erflies instead of the common simultaneous opening models. While those won't work with some manifolds, for some situations they are great. Something to remember; 2bl carbs are typically rated double the depression/vacuum of 4 barrel carbs. That means a 500CFM 2bl is equivalent to only about 325(as I remember) CFM of flow using the 4 barrel rating.
What kind of manifold will you be running? Most of the Nailhead stuff I know is for three bolt carbs.
I don't have any experience with stombergs but I always liked the 2gc Rochester and the autolite 2100. I had a couple cars with Carter 2bbls on them and they ****ed out loud.
I'd have to say holleys or strombergs are the eisiest to work on, but for what you are doing there is nothing wrong with rochesters, and you should have enough cfms to run them, i'd go 3 small base ones unless you want some serious CFM's. Most new type holleys are too big, but i'm sure if they have the right hardware the tradtional police(myself included) cant complain. Really start with looking at what manifolds are avalible, i aint a nailhead guy so i'm in the dark, but runner wise, i'd ***ume you probably want to stay around that same sizw of carb it was intended for. BTW if the modern type holley 4bbls came out in '57 when did the 2bbls come out?????
THe 2300 series 4412 and 7448 - 500 and 350 CFM Holleys are popular aftermarket carbs. They are used in circle track 2Bbl racing cl***es which makes parts widely available and versatile . They are usually too big for 3X2 setups . 3X1/2/1 setup:
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