The one bbl is a really good set up for a stock motor. Keep in mind that it has to cover a lot of ground. Small enough to be efficient at idle, large enough to provide sufficient power when necessary, and work effectively in between. So for what it was designed for, its a real workhorse, some designes better then others of course. But is the one bbl the be all and end all for a 235 chevy? Is it the ultimate carb? I dont know that you could ever actually answer that question.
I have run so many intakes and carb combinations over the years that I am not sure I remember them all myself. But I can provide some thoughts. In 77 I took my drivers test in a bone stock 1957 chevy three speed (I still have the car). The car belonged to my father, it was his used car. I snuck off to maple grove dragstrip on Friday night and ran the car. Yea, 26 second quarter mile. A year later I obtained a decades old Weiand 2X1 intake with two YF carter carbs. Dirty, grungy, beat up. I rebuilt the carbs, cleaned and polished the intake, fixed the linkage and installed it, along with a set of Clifford long tube headers and went back to show everyone how fast I could go.
Yea, 22 seconds, lol. But the addition of the extra carb and tube headers did assist in the performance of the motor, or maybe was just a more efficient set up. At any rate, it ran faster. I still have that intake and carb set up. Soooo, then came a 3X1 offy with three rodchesters. Oh my god, was that set up a pig pig pig. That and it did not run all that well unless the motor was really opened up. I tried Holley glass bowl carbs, 1902, 1904, 1920, ran a little better but I did not know much about carbs then and you still needed pretty close to wot before the motor cleaned up. I still have the off with teh three holley glass bowls.
Then came a 57 pick up, later a 56, both with 235, and the Weiand ended up on both. Got my hands on the Clifford 1x4 and ran a 390 Holley on that. I was lucky, I had kept up a pretty extensive amout of written communications with jack Clifford when He was alive, and spoke to him on the phone quite often. He got a kick out of a young guy (then, lol) being inerested in these motors. So I took his advice and it was always pretty spot on. He told me that I was never going to make any kind of HP out of my 235 or a 261, but I would have fun playing with the motor. He was right.
I rebuilt the motor, installed a chet Herbert $39.99 reground cam ( I still have that motor in the back of my garage). The 390 needed to be dialed in. Power valve had to be changed to meet the vacuum requirements of the motor, main jets adjusted, a few other tweaks and then, it ran good on the street in particular. And when I took it to the track, I was in the 19s. Efficiency I suppose, the cam and the increased indicution. Changed the gears in the rear and I was in the 16s. But I loved the look of multiple carbs so I went back to the Weiand, then on to a tattersfield (I wish I still had that one), one of Tommy Thickson's dog bone intakes (I really really wish I still had that one), Fenton, some others but they all ran about the same, and ran a little rich at idle. Slower then the 4 bbl 390.
One year, Pat Smith (all around good guy, former Inliners International President, Dyson Racing Team head IMSA crew chief, automotive educator, and unbelievable mechanic) and I were at a nostalgia race at the now closed Englishtown, New Jersey E-Town dragstrip at one of their famous old time drag days. He had I want to say a 38 chevy with a 302 GMC and a pair of Holley 2300 2 bbls. Street car. That car ran terrific. I think he was runing in the 13s or so. Man did I want to try that. By the way, Pat wrote what I believe is the finest two articles on dialing in a multi carb rodchester 1 bbl set up. Its complicated and time consuming but its the only real way to get them to run right. I think it is still on the inliners site if anyone is interested. I did it once on a friends 2x1 set up and it works but you need the patience of a saint. In the end though, you are still stuck with the warping castings, sticking power piston. Not really for me, lol.
But then I ran into Tom Langdon at the Carlile fall swap meet. He and I were gabbing and he was of the opinion that the one bbls were starting to become difficult to find in decent shape, reiterated that the 235 would never be all that powerful, and thought I should give a pair of Pinto Holley/Weber 5200 carbs a try. I did. I picked up another Weiand intake and installed a parir of 74 Pinto carbs (74 models because they have a threaded inlet) and truth be told, those litlle progressive two bbls were terrific. One of my favorite set ups. Ran great out of the box, small enough to work efficiently, small primary, larger secondary, mechanical linkage for the secondary). Car and the one truck I still had ran great on those carbs. Much much better then any single one bbl set up and truth be told, I think they are the better if not the best choice for a two carb street set up for a 235 (I ran it on a Weiand manifold with spacers and it ran just great). I stil have that manifold and carb set up.
A couple of years ago I changed over to the Clifford 2x2 intake and ran a pair of Weber 38 mm DGEV carbs. I did not necessarily like them. Ran fine on the street but not so great at WOT on the track. I also was not grasping Weber tuning all that quickly and never really got the hang of it and never got those carbs really dialed in.
Last year, swaped a pair of 2300 Holley 350 carbs onto the Clifford intake (on the 57 car, which is the only one of my old vehicles that is not currently apart, lol) and took it to the trifive nationals in Bowling Green, KY. Had a ball. The holly 2300s were way easier to get dialed in. Had to change the power valves to acomodate the engine vacuum, left the jetting alone, adjusted the fuel levels in the bowls, and away I went. Car ran great, really great.
That being said, at one time Holley made a really really neat 2 bbl, a 2305. It was a 2300 but Progressive just like the Holley/Webers. Primary opened first, then the secondary came in mechanically. I wanted a pair of those like no tomorrow but by the time I got back into the car/truck thing after raising the kids, weddings, college, they were long out of production and now profoundly rare.
If I was to opine on what carb I think would be the best alternative to a single 1 bbl, I would say the 2305 for both single carb operation and dual carb operation primarily because I do think the 235 could use a little more carb at certain points in the acceleration curve. But you cant get one, too rare. So what is the answer, I dont know, but my gut tells me a nice progresssive two bbl would be about right. The holley Webers are in my opinion a little twwo small for a single carb operation. The Weber 38 DGEVs are not progressive, and The 2300s are are not progressive. I am not sold on a 1 bbl being all that efficeint at lower rpm and I know they are not the best at WOT. I actually think a smaller carb would be more efficient at idle but then you run headlong into the needs after idle, hense we are back to the the 1 bbl having to cover a lot of ground, sort of a jack of all trades but master of none. So where does that leave us, well I am not sure, lol. The 1 bbl is a good compromise and absolutly nothing wrong with running one. Can you keep up with one of my motors running a dual carb set up verses a single 1 bbl, I dont think so. So its all about use, need, perspective.
Man, did I write all that, lol.
Last edited by Dragsix; 03/30/2022 2:54 PM.
