3 duece eldebrock with Rochester 2 jets or offy intake with stromberg 97s? On a sbc 350 crate motor??
Genuine Rochester tri-power progressive carbs from the 50s are sooo reliable, and run flawlessly Many setups out there are not real tri-power carbs, which I would not use. ...but, for an old time hot rod build, "IF" you had an old time motor, the 97's are used for the proper look.
I agree 100% on the period correct statement, my rochesters are really reliable! But the look of 97s are nice! My rochesters seem to be original .. Rebuilt of course. They have stamping numbers on the passenger side that match late 60s I think. As far as the true 3 duece setup I'm unsure what you mean by that. My center carb is what it cruises on and about 3/4 throttle is where the outer 2 come into play.
If you are talking about a Offy 360 degree manifold, the Edelbrock is a much better design. Although there are a few exceptions, most of the Offy manifolds aren't great. While they were an improvement over what most manufacturers once put on their engines, in most cases there is something else available that's comparable but better. On the other hand, if nostalgia matters most, then do that and just live with the shortcomings.
Thanks a lot for the input, I don't know if I really want to loose the 'rowdiness' of my jalopy though so maybe I should stick with the eldebrock and 2 jets!
Edelbrock and Rochesters will be hard to beat. Saw a complete ready to bolt on setup in Cleveland Craigslist last week,
Original 50s small base tri-power carbs, the center one has the choke, and does not really "need" to be from a tri-power. It's the outboard carbs that need to be. The front and rear outboard carbs always had non matching part numbers, due to the front one having the Vac can. But the way we use them as progressive, mechanical, they don't need to be a true front carb and a true rear carb...as long as they are real outboard carbs. These have no idle circuits, no chokes, and the very important very thick butterfly plates. These thick plates are somewhat misunderstood; most posts say the thick plates are for a tighter seal, but from the ones I have worked on, the thick plates don't dig a groove into the throttle bore when closing all the way each time. A thin plate will eat into the wall at some point, and could stick as it tries to open. On the center carb, the plate never shuts completely, so that it can idle. So, it will never wear a groove. On the outboard carbs, the plates shut tightly against the bores. 60s tri-power carbs can be a mix of base sizes between center and outers, or all 3 big bases.
Chokes sometimes get gutted on hotrodded motors. I have one setup like that which was raced in the late 50s....and if you look for the recent thread on Randy Bianci's old 32 with a 348, there is a great pic of gutted Roch trips on it. If there are no idle mix screws on the end carbs, that's a good sign. Now go look at the upper potmetal part of the carb, where all those ckoke shafts, and ports would be. On a true tri-power end carb, the bosses are cast in, but never drilled out. A converted carb, would have small plugs installed in all those holes.
If I think of it, I will take some pics tommorrow. One of a stock setup w/ vac secondaries, a mechanical progressive setup, and a gutted choke one. all of mine are 57/58 J2 Olds. 50s Cad and Chevy are very similar; minor changes in fuel inlets, etc.
If you don't have chokes it's not a major deal. Porsche made road cars that came from the factory with no choke. Pump thge gas for some fuel to start, then let it warm up a little before driving. The starting enrichment on two-barrel IDA and DCOE Webers is just one step better than nothing. There are lots of those on street cars and people get by fine.
Sweet awesome ill look for the pics! It seems to be fine now with no chokes, but it hasn't turned cold yet !!!
A while back, I was taking to Larry, who works at Edelbrock. I was telling him it was a bitch to get my Edelbrock tri-power manifold to seal properly. He said they had been getting a lot of returns. This was 10 years ago. I hope they've improved the manifolds.
Pics of Olds 57-58 factory trips. Second 2 pics in top row; trying to show the never drilled bosses on the genuine outboard carbs. Pic number one is of a race car center carb with the center gutted. They cut out the factory air cleaner bridge that had the threaded hole for the air cleaner bolt. Some various other setups with add on progressive linkages last pic from straight ahead, shows a bone stock vacuum secondary setup. These have a mechanical vac switch on the driver side of the center carb, as well as a large round vac can on the driver side of front carb. Note these all have fuel inlets coming in from the front. On a 59-up chevy 348 trip, they would be coming in from the side, but with the large nut that is a cover for the inner gas filter. Carbking says the 58 Chevy was front inlet like these Olds carbs. I do not know which inlet variation was used on Caddy Eldorado trips.
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