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Has anyone run 3 two barrels on a side draft clifford manifold? I undrstand that if I run this setup I will be running all three 2 barrels at the same time! Yowser! I can hear the gas flushing! Mucho,mucho, power! I think 3 downdraft carbs would be more economical.?
Any info, pro or con will be appreciated.
Mike

6T2Burb,

Not so easy, fellow!! If You take your time and set it properly, the 3 sidedraft 2 barrels will be easier on gas than any other performance carb set up. Of course tunning it properly is not an easy job, but for sure is worthwhile. I have already dealed with this things, and they work pretty well. Also, that nasty cam with the single 4 barrel now is just a rumpty rumpty.

howziit guys!

JMO,if we're talking side-draft OR downdraft Webers or Dellortos, then you'll have WAYYY more power and fuel economy, than the American carbs can offer.

in the case of running which style, it would mainly depend on space available, but the side-drafts' manifold might have a better shot at the intake ports.

I think the '53-54 Vette 235s had 3 webers on a side-draft intake with a custom split manifold. Coupled with the high-lift cam, the motor made about 150 HP. Of course, those cars had the horrible cast-iron case powerglide, so a better tranny would yield better results.
The Webers have more tuning parts available than running 3 rot-pots. The Webers also meter fuel much better, so drivability should be better with 3 Webbers than three rot-pots. The Webers are expensive though. A single small 4bbl is best all around for the street, IMHO.

chip

howziit guys!

Chip, i believe Corvettes had three Carter 1 bbls.

Myron is correct on the Carter's. Regarding the triple Webers, I feel they are a bit extreme for the street. I had a complete Clifford/Weber 40DCOE setup for my GMC, and ending up selling it after doing some measuring and trial fits. If you want to run air cleaners on these things you will have interference problems with the fender bracing, and inner fenders, and probably the firewall too. Also, my power steering pump was smack where the front carb would go. Add that to the setup and tuning effort, it was more than I wanted to undertake. I do have some history with Webers, and they are absolutely terrific performance carbs, but parts are expensive and you need a handful of them to do the trial & error routine to get them to run well. That said, nothing beats Webers on an inline six for the open-hood jaw-dropping factor!

I forgot to mention that the carbs I would be using are 40 DCOM Webers. Alexandre' could you please give me more detail on how to get performance as well as fuel economy? Are the carbs progressive? Do they function similiar to a four barrel. Will I be able to run on 3 one barrels and then progress to the 2nd? The carbs are being shipped to me I don't have them yet.

6T2Burb,

At first, one question: what engine are You plan installing/using them??
The deal around these carb systems is the fact that each throtle body feeds only one cylinder. All the bores go in the same time, no stages here. Also, You have no communication between the cylinders. Then, the pulsation down the carb is so strong that You just don't need a suplementary enrichment system to overcome the opening of the throttle as in a normal carb as to bring the main fuel system into life, except of course the pump injector.
Tuning them is another history. There are some guys like the people at inglese that can offer You some help in the tunning process. If You're using 40mm carbs, start using the 34 mm venturi, and play with the air bleeds, main jets and the emulsion tubes. It's hard, but worths the labor. Make sure the carbs are in good shape, and don't forget, You'll need a tool to tune the idle, like a synchronizer, that measures the air stream in each and every bore, or else it'll not work fine.
Don't forget to get a good set of air cleaners, and a good fuel filter, as they are sensitive to small particles and dirty.

6T2Burb, all...

The '53 - '54 235" Vette's used the Carter YH side drafts on an alum. manifold. Exhaust manifold was a cast iron split exhaust. If you are thinking about running this setup on your '48 - '54 pickup 6 the rear carb will hit the 3spd linkage box on top of the steering column. This carb setup was not "progressive". (Also, some of the Corvair's from the '60's used the Carter YH, but the gasket set is a little different.)

I remember working on a couple of Mopar slant sixes in Cortez motorhomes that had the carter side drafts. The only reason I remember this fact is that the rebuild kits for the cars listed 54 corvette as one of the applications and I remember talking to the service manager about it. Man, that is reaching way back in the memory banks - 20 years ago! I must be getting OLD

Since Mike (6T2 burb) and I have been chatting and he got the engine from me, I will chime in. He is using a Chevy 250 with non-integral head in a '62 suburban with a turbo 350 tranny (I think). He has plenty of room to work with under the hood. He is a busy guy and doesn't surf the web too often. I will probably help him tune the setup since I have experience- I have a 4 cylinder motorcycle with 4 sidedraft 28mm Keihin carbs- it's a joy. The throttle response from those things is amazing.

Sounds like the same setup I plan to run on my 250. My 2 reasons for doing it are fuel atomization improvements and the underhood coolness factor!

Maybe Im just dreamin, but a used Clifford manifold would be interesting........

As far as air cleaners go, I'll deal with that when the time comes..... thats why I want all this mounted on the engine BEFORE I mock-up the mounts from scratch

Oh yeah, if you run headers, maybe have an O2 sensor mounted in each runner, so you can set up carbs electronically at any RPM

Best regards,

Thanks for all the input. I'm using a 250 as 4onthefloor said. I also like the open the hood and jaw drops factor, as well as the thought of getting possibly as much horse power as I can from my 250. After all if it looks good, it should go good. A buddy of mine wants to know why I don't drop a 350 in the truck. My response is I like having something different from the average "joe".

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Johnnny:

Oh yeah, if you run headers, maybe have an O2 sensor mounted in each runner, so you can set up carbs electronically at any RPM

:)howziit guy!

JMO, one O2 sensor, along with an air/fuel ratio gauge, would be enough to "see" if you're running RICH or LEAN.

carbs are like shoes; you can't make any major adjustments, while you're running...no electronic adjustments, on the fly.