"This information leaves me confused as to why are all the repop intakes made for the 235 carbs?"
Curt - very simple, the repops are repops of what was available 50 years ago WITH NO EXTRA EXPENSE IN TOOLING OR MACHINING!
Jerry is absolutely correct about air velocity. The reason the Carter 400 worked so well on the small engines is that is it is an on-demand secondary. The primaries are smaller than most 2 barrels.
Now, back to your question. The early multiple carb manifolds were bought by RACERS (both track and street). These guys ALL had big cams, more compression, headers, etc. Hot rodding with a dogmatic transmission was unheard of, until Jim Hall proved it could work with the Chaparrel in the early 1960's. In other words, no one used multiple carbs for looks. Performance was the reason. A high idle was perfectly acceptable if the engine made lots of power.
Today, lots of guys want looks, but care little or nothing about power; so they are trying to use racing parts and then don't like the results on a stock engine.
And please, no one take offense at my next statement, as I don't mean any, but a statement of my opinion.
Hotrodders 50 years ago were much more experienced than those of today. These guys grew up in wrecking yards and garages. They could weld, they could modify chassis to make a certain shock or bigger brakes on a heavier differential fit. They could rebuild carburetors and parts were readily available at the local parts house. If they messed something up, a trip to the local wrecking yard and a few bucks, and they were back in business.
These guys had no where near the sophisticated tools of today, but they could make due pretty well with what they had. Example: I was taught to synchronize multiple carburetors by using a small hose, and listening to the volume and pitch of the airflow. Two carbs were (and still are) easy. Three carbs were not bad. Running 6 simultaneously was a handfull. Stethascopes (sp) were the realm of the "big boys" with big bucks; and I had worked on multiple carbs for 10 years before I could afford a Uni-Syn.
Summing up, these guys were glad to get a manifold they didn't have to fab from scratch, and relocating holes was not a problem.
I would like for the repops to come with no drilling, but I have suggested it to no avail. Perhaps if enough buyers were to do so, it might happen, but I doubt it.
Jon.
Last edited by carbking; 05/17/2008 8:52 PM.
