@Dean Lowe Hello, It was nice to have a fast car in high school. A little modification here and there made the fast stock car, much faster, although it looked as if it rolled off of the showroom floor. No racy looks, mag wheels or even chrome wheels… a very simple 58 Chevy Impala for the times. More horsepower than stock, add in a new C&O Stick Hydro and leaving the starting line was now a leading proposition every time without the worry of missing a shift, loss of traction, or worrying about everything necessary to get a good start in any encounter. It was watch the starter and go at the elbow movement, not just the downward motion of the flag. As fast and comfortable as my 58 Impala was, my friend had a 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop Sedan that had the most work done on any of our teenage friends’ modifications. It looked stock, a little on the lowered rake style, but, stock wheels, and a bland white paint. Shiny as the wax products of the day could do with two teenagers abilities. But, not as shiny as a nicely finished black 58 Impala. My friend and I had already experienced riding around in a 1953 first gen. Corvette. We liked it as it was small and different than what we owned. Our experience with a 1960 Corvette was during our high school days. My friend with the 57 Chevy Bel Air and I were responsible for exchanging a dual quad set up with his single four barrel carb on a 60 Corvette. The owner did not like the dual quads and wanted an easier driving Corvette. Since we had the Corvette for a couple of days, the trips all over the local cruising grounds were a must prior to making the exchange. The Cherry Avenue Drags location got a full use activity and it was exhilarating. The small body, the powerful sound of the dual quads while we were plastered to the tight bucket seats was outstanding. The one thing we noticed was that the fiberglass skin was relatively sturdy, but from the inside, a little thin and shaky upon full acceleration. It was not from just the passenger seat, but while driving it, too. It felt like a go cart with lots of power, not a nice sedan like a 57 or 58 Chevy on full acceleration. But, it was a sporty car, after all. Jnaki old artwork NOTE: Who got the best of the exchange? Well, the 57 Chevy was the only one in Long Beach to have dual quads and a 4 speed we installed. With my 4:11 Positraction gears in his car, Hedman Headers and Traction Masters, my friend’s 57 was nearly “unbeatable” on the Bixby Knolls streets. (“nearly”) As for the Corvette? The owner did not feel as though he was second in happiness. The easier driving Corvette was just what he wanted and it paid off in dividends for both parties. YRMV When not used for cruising and those late night full acceleration runs, it was a daily driver to high school and an afterschool job. There were even a couple of winter years of a temporary job that helped with expenses and a lot of fun. Modified 283, dual quads, 4 speed, Positraction... etc. and a green tree or white flocked tree delivered to your living room... for free. Ha!
The term "old days" in the title of this thread is somewhat incorrect. The following had been in use for 19 years with no issues, prior to the truck setting for 18 months while a restoration shop added factory air conditioning. And before you guys with engines you could use for plates at a Sunday dinner start giving me grief for the underhood condition, this is a work truck, not a show truck! 625 CFM genuine Carters running solid linkage on a Ford 390. One huge difference between the Carters and the Holleys is that the Carters do not have the fickle romantic disposition of the Holleys. The Holleys fall in love with every new filling station they meet. The Carters simply pass on by! Jon
My 302 has a fairly rare Shelby dual quad intake, I run two Holley 390cfm with progressive linkage and vacuum secondary’s. Single four is too boring. The air cleaners are older Helling Stelling.
Wantabe?? It’s real, four bolt mains, screw in freeze plugs, nodular crank, etc. Original aluminum covers for that engine. I have owned the engine since 1972.
Performance is great, but I've often preferred appearance at the sacrifice of some performance. I wont use something that's going to give me nightmares, or constant battles to tune. But if I lose a little HP I don't care if it makes the engine look better to me.
Yea I know, 2 Eddy's on a vintage W adapter and 471 blower. But, properly tuned and some mods, they work great. Much better then the monster QF set up I had on.
Statements like " I could have something run better with a single four" just promotes the negative stereotype image / wives tale . Yes , it takes a bit more effort to setup multiple carbs. IMO it's pure BS that they can't run as well if not better than a boring single 4 , plus , multiple carbs look sooo much better & sound better too !
Yea, I agree and when I build a blown small block for my car it will have two fours. But, my car already runs pretty hard with a single four so no reason to complicate things on it right now. I have run two 450 Holleys before and they ran good so I get it. Sorry for promoting a negative stereotype. But, think of it this way, the fewer folks that run two fours, the cooler the ones are that do.
Boost referenced, Lightened the secondary's weights, and of course tuning, jets, springs, rods, squitter's etc.
The above statement is much to generalized to take seriously. Yes, from experience most modern single 4-bbl high-rise intakes make way more power than old-school low-rise 2x4-bbl intakes. Ya wanna look better or go faster? Yes, a modern tunnel ram 2x4 will make more power than a high-rise single 4-bbl. Ya want a big hole in the hood and a blocked sight line? Go for it. Then, for some engines, there's the medium riser 2x4 compromise. jack vines
I bought the chrome version of the manifold I already owned today. It came with the desirable Carter 400’s, also in chrome! Another bonus is the carb mounting flange(s) is not the hybrid version, but set up for square bore carbs. Did I mention it was super cheap?
Multiple carbs visually awesome, are pure 50s,60s, I don't think any American Cars had them after 1970.
Is the manifold on the right set up for two Quadrajets? That would be a very interesting carburetor pair.
I call it a hybrid because of what I’ve seen Edelbrock say in some of their advertisements. I don’t know if I’m correct and of course they make adapters to convert from square to spread bore, or the other way around. I was planning to run the Eddy 500’s directly, without any adapters (until I scored the chrome one). Dual quadrajets would be interesting, with the massive difference between the primaries and secondaries. I measured the 400 Carter vs. the 500 Eddy and the primaries are the same. The secondaries are smaller on the Carters.
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