An acquaintence of mine has what I believe is the most powerful 261 in the country. He has done some pretty crazy things with his motor, things I would never attempt myself. Runs the Cliffor 4 bbl and a 650 double pumper (at least the last time I saw the car). Runs low 13s and he may have cracked the 12s. In my view, if you are trying to drag out every single bit of power out of a 235 or 261, a four bbl carb is what is going to do it. Not 5 strombergs, or three rodchesters, not even two holley 2 bbls or two holley four bbls.
Those pontiac carbs were pretty trick and someone speant some time at GM figuring out the calibration to make them work right.
For a street set up, if you are inclined to multiple carbs, for whatever reason, I think a progressive carb is where its at. A holley 2305 would be my choice but they are unavavialbe and unobtanium anywhere. They were rare when they were still sold by Holley. Tom Lowe over at inliners and the owner of 12bolt.com is pretty clever and a very good machinest. He actually sorted out a way to take a stock 2300 and make it into a progressive 2300. Unfortunately I understand from Tom it was a lot of work and not inexpensive to reproduce. Otherwise, I still like the dual 5200 Ford Pinto carbs. Not quite as big as the Weber 38 mm DGEV units, and the Pinto units are progressive. My car ran terrific on those carbs.
Now all of the above being said, a couple of years ago I was salavating over an unrestored 55 station wagon. 235, powerglide so hydraulic lifters. It belinged to the man's grandmother. That motor ran so whisper quiet that I was taken back a bit. I had forgotten just how quiet they were. Stock single carb. I am going to restore one of my core motors and it will have a single carb on it. Jon and I have had a couple of conversations and I am fan of the Carter products. Never knew until he posted his list of replacement carbs that Carter sold an direct replacement for a 57 235 motor. That is what I will use for a stock rebuild. If I was going to install a pair of 1 bbls on a motor, I would go with the W1. Jon actually explained to me why the YF is a good but not the best choice in that regard (W1 has a mechanical power system as opposed to the YFs partial vacuum power system). Duals on a 2x1 conversion would be the 5200 Holley weber. Duals on a really warmed up motor, a pair of 2300 holley 350 cfm carbs. Are there others, you bet, 390, 450 holley, others. Its all about tinkering and playing and having a little fun investigating. In the end, does it really matter whether your 235 makes 120, 140 or 160 horse power if you are enjoying the experience modifying the motor. I dont think so. Does it matter that you like a single 1 bbl because its reliable and works without much fuss or muss on a nice stock motor, certainly not. Life is way too short to be worrying abuot that kind of stuff.
Last edited by Dragsix; 03/10/2022 7:16 PM.
