Talking to an old dude at lunch yesterday. He seemed to be sharp on a lot of subjects. Naturally the subject of hot rods came up. He mentioned a J2 engine with two four barrel carbs. and one two barrel. I had never heard of such a thing but didn't want to say he was full of ****. After thinking about it for a while it made some sense to run around on a two barrel and then when you wanted real power to kick in two four barrels. Just wondering if anybody had heard of such a thing or if he was just full of B.S.
Pontiac used a 2x4 intake with a 2 barrel in the center that was there for idle only. It was not hooked up to the linkages and the ****erflys didnt move. Yes they are rare. However,, enterprising young men were known to hook it up to the other 2.
I think he was probably just suffering confusion.That sounds like too much carburetion for a J2 even if you could get it mounted and connected. Just my 2¢
The Olds J-2 had 3 two barrel carbs..all the same sized Rochesters. The mid-60s-70s Pontiacs had a small rochester 2 barrel in the middlw with 2 larger rochester 2 barrels on either end...never ever heard of dual quads with a 2 barrel.
J-2 Olds had 3 -2's they may have looked like small fours to some people who weren't paying attention. Dad had a black J=2 Four door hardtop when I was in my teens.
The J-2 is the engine or MFG code for 3 2 barrel carbs. So I would think it's improbable that they would use the same code for a different setup.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3407739&postcount=20 Shows an aftermarket copy of it,,, I think. Also mentions factory block off plate for center carb. Does mention that were less than 30 originals. That would make them rare.
Glad I kept my mouth shut THIS TIME he might have gotten the J2 part wrong but their is such an animal out there. Would still like to see a factory one though if anybody has a picture of one.
From another HAMB'er, Didn't have time to find a picture with the actual carb in the center. Joe <TABLE cl***=tborder id=post1915186 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD cl***=alt1 id=td_post_1915186 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid"><HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and ***le --><!-- message -->My Pontiac 'bathtub' tunnel ram intake. When was the last time you saw a factory tunnel ram intake? Plenty of factory cross-rams were made, but this is the only tunnel ram that I know of. This is a repro of the factory intakes that were used on the '63 421 Super Duty drag race engines back during the factory stocker wars. There probably isn't a better factory designed and produced performance intake than this one. There's room for a 2-barrel idling carb with a 3-bolt base in between the two 750 Carter AFBs, this feature was eliminated on later factory versions of this intake. <!-- / message --></TD></TR><TR><TD cl***=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid"> </TD><TD cl***=alt1 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid" align=right><!-- controls --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Good luck with the pic,, I been looking for an hour and those pic in that link are the closest I have come. I have however seen one in real life, with all 3 carbs, but I didnt know what it was or that it was rare until explained to me by Larry Quinn many years later.
----------------------------- Re "However,, enterprising young men were known to hook it up to the other 2." Damn hot rodders.......they just can't leave anything alone, can they!!! Mart3406 ===========================
I' kinda with Groucho on this. Looks like the carb he used as a pattern was a 94, something GM wouldn't have done. I've also learned the hard way (with a Weiand 4 deuce manifold) that just because there's room for one 94 to bolt on, you're far from all the way home. If they did make a 4-2-4 version of this, it would have had to have a far different middle carb. The fact that there are no cast on bosses for the carb base and/or bolts also causes me to wonder.
Somebody made an adaptor that allowed a 4bbl to go on a 2bbl intake, not that it was a GOOD thing.... I mean guys tried most EVERYTHING to get folks's money one time or another...lol.
I know what he's talking about. If I dig through my pile of old High Performance Pontiac magazines, I can find a picture of it.
Though unrelated to the original topic, this does relate to J2s. Back in the early sixties, a friend's father had a 58 Olds four door with a tri-power manifold with block-off plates on the two end carbs. I don't remember if they bought the car new, but I do know his father was not a car guy and would not have bought anything with multiple carbs. I always figured Olds was just using up surplus manifolds. Anyone else ever come across this?
No, I would guess that some automotive genius figured that he would get better fuel mileage by eliminating the two end carbs that didn't have idle circuts and never opened unless the factory vacuum linkage pulled them open anyway.
My dad was a traveling salesman (insert farmer's daughter joke here) in the fifties and sixties and bought a new Oldsmobile every two years. In '58, my brother who was 19, and myself who was 16, talked the old man into a metallic purple Super 88 four door with a J-2. After about 6 months, he took it back to the dealer (Town's Edge Olds), who disconnected the end carbs and removed the linkage and fuel lines.They left the carbs on, and the parts they removed hung on the workshop wall for years afterward. So, in this case at least, the dealer didn't do anything as sophisticated as adding block-off plates (I don't think anyone made block-off plates for 4 bolt carbs then). From what I remember, the old man said that the dealer told him it was a common procedures, because the end carbs would get gummed up because of non-use (trust me, even though it was a more door, our end carbs got regularly exercised every weekend). Also, I can't see GM doing something as off the wall as "using up" extra J2 manifolds that way.
Yep, or someone didn't want to pay to have the end carbs rebuilt at one time or another. In the 60's there was a 57 Olds four door hardtop wagon here in the valley with a J-2 in it that I sure would like to have now. I think it belonged to a state Patrolman at that time. That Pontiac tunnel ram is something else. I worked at a Pontiac dealer the early 70's and was a big fan of the early 60's Pontiacs when they were new and don't remember seeing anything on them. At that time it probably wasn't called a tunnel ram though.
The main problem with J-2 setups (as well as the early Pontiac tripowers) was that, sometimes, when you let off the gas after a full throttle burst, the stock vacuum pod linkage couldn't manage to close the end carbs and they'd just stay open until they felt like closing.....I wonder if the linkage was made by Toyota?
Although it sounds strange, I do know that the factories were doing some really wierd **** during the Stocker Wars. I haven't ever seen one and I doubt that it was super efficient otherwise they would have offered it as an option.
........... Here's the other Pontiac 2 x 4 intake for the 421..... I took these at the Woodward Ave. cruise last year.
There's a pic of that bathtub intake with the blockoff plate for the 3 bolt idling carb in the Pete McCarthey High performance Pontiac book, My copy isn't here or I'd scan it
Wow! I'd love to see that with all carbs/fuel lines/linkage/air cleaners. What a site. Some PLEASE photoshop that. Hey, Goatroper, start a new thread, inviting photoshoppers to dress that out. Lemme know if you do
====================== WOW!!! That must have been just about the ultimate Olds intake! The linkage to connect one forward facing and four sideways mounted 2-bbls must have have been a true "Rube Goldberg-like" work of art though!!! This is the first I've ever seen or heard of this intake. Any history on it???? Inquiring minds *NEED* to know!!! Mart3406 ===================
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