Solved the tripower carb problem

[Kid_Again]

I bought new ones

Called Holley and they sold the tooling for the old carbs. Called the guys in Alabama and I'll have the carbs next week. I'll post their info when I get home.

I have never been able to get these "Carlisle Special" carbs to work correctly. The essential problem is the carbs leak. When I first rebuilt them, the carbs had a slight exterior leak which caused the pigment from the base gasket to streak the manifold. That was on the 427 and I just put the tripower on the shelf until I had the zz440 dialed in. This time I carefully rebuilt the carbs and all I've done is exacerbate the leak which has now moved to an internal leak. A substantial leak.

I had it last week when I fired up the old carbs for the last time and felt EVERYTHING was going in the wrong direction. I pulled the front carb and saw 1/4" gas laying in the manifold valley. Time to stop farting around, I'm just building a high compression IED here. I don't risk my life.

I bought these carbs at Carlisle and I have no complaints because its caveat emptor. It does underscore a fact that I've noticed over the last few years. Whatever I've bought at swap meets has been gradually replaced with newly manufactured pieces and I'm usually (note the "ususally") much more satisfied.

I remember when I started this whole project a while ago. I could have sent the carbs to the Holley Custom Shop and spent $600 to get them rebuilt. As I suspected, I would have had to pay more because these carbs have some fundamental problems. Same thing with the carb rebuilders that the Oman recommended. I'd just rather buy new and take my chances.

Of course, I could buy a new Corvette and have less problems overall (except for orange peel paint and mysterious electrical problems that come and go) but anybody can do that.

Like I told VNV last night (who finally got his very :cool AC system working perfectly), in a few years, you'll see an Ebay item of #match tripower carbs, rebuilt, sold as-is, came off a running car.....$3,000 firm. In essence, "true, true and not related".

You folks won't buy them but somebody will. What the hell, I did.

This year at Carlisle, I'll keep my money in my pocket when I see the big stuff:eyerole.


UNLESS I see that '67 bb hood

 

[stepinwolf]

Kid,

The " correct " terminology that is used at the swap meets ( looking forward to seeing you next week ) to describe the condition of these parts is, and I quote,

" They were working when we removed them from the car " unquote.

You can bring them over to my vendor space on I Row from 101-103, and I will fence them for you.

Stepinwolf

 

[bossvette]

did you go the BG six-shooter route or just new stockers?

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

did you go the BG six-shooter route or just new stockers?

No ... He went New Correct Holley Carbs. He bought them from the company that purchased the tooling of the original's from Holley. So he's all set.

 

[Kid_Again]

Kid,

The " correct " terminology that is used at the swap meets ( looking forward to seeing you next week ) to describe the condition of these parts is, and I quote,

" They were working when we removed them from the car " unquote.

You can bring them over to my vendor space on I Row from 101-103, and I will fence them for you.

Stepinwolf

Hey Bob!

Thank you for the technical advice. My, but this is a complicated hobby. You're right, I need to walk the walk and talk the talk

 

[Kid_Again]

did you go the BG six-shooter route or just new stockers?

new stockers for three reasons...first, i was NOT going to pull that manifold off agan, second, i AIN'T paying $2.3 Large and third, i just really like the look of the original style holley's (the BG setup just doesn't do anything for me and as a side note, i fab'd a custom air cleaner top for the tripower setup - i traced the air cleaner top onto 1/8" ss plate, rounded the corners and cut out the top so that a 9" k&n sits RIGHT above the center carb....although i have a triangular k&n, i've never been convinced that was enough airflow for a big block...i sparkly powder coated the top and it looks pretty darn good)

....i'm not a real big BG fan but VNV has talked me into buying a BG for the small block with the vortech...i really need to dial in the idle feed circuit and i'll just ruin the holley if i start drilling out the darn thing...i read the instructions for the road demon and it looks like the ticket for me...it's only money........


....here's an interesting side note on aluminum radiators....it was a spectacular day at the shore here yesterday and the temperature only hit ~75*...drove the sb to VNV's to help him with his hood and when i was driving home, i noticed the temperature creeping slightly above 185* at a long light....it NEVER does that so i knew right away that there was a problem with the spal fan (its a be-cool blem radiator, spal 16" fan and their pulse width modulator controller which adjusts the fan speed based on the water temperature)....when I got it home, it was reading about 195* and when i popped the hood i saw that the wires from the temp sensor were cut becasue they got caught in the water pump pulley :eyerole....apparently, i didn't have them secured well enough with nylon ties - a problem which is now fixed


....i thought that was pretty good, about 15 miles, half with stop and go traffic avoiding the twinkies on the island, no cooling fan, just ambient air flow and it never got above 195*........NOT recommended but nice to know

 

[Kid_Again]

Vendor for Holley 2300 tripower repops

Specialty Parts Group
334.493.1240
Ask for David

It's $1225 delivered. I ordered the '68 carbs (they are NOT dated) since I have a '68 manifold (not that it matters since its going on a '66). The '67 center carb is different than the other years (different list #)

we'll see

it's odd to me that summitjegs offers mopar 2300's but not chevy...i ALMOST bought the mopars because they were available and i like the idea of the fuel line on the other side but i've had my fill of custom engineering for a while:W:W

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

You should have looked up before you took the SB off the island. Looks like it's still following you.

 

[Kid_Again]

Put the new carbs on and the car runs perfectly.

Whew!:eyerole

Ok, so you'll soon see a post on Ebay that says something like "#match '68 corvette tripower carbs, freshly rebuilt with Holley kits, powder coated to match original finish, came off of a running car, complete with linkage, wet flow tested, $2875.34, firm; correct original air cleaner top negotiable"

That's it

As you were.

BTW, does anybody have a picture of the correct orientation for the secondary linkage? Much appreciated.

 

[JohnZ]

BTW, does anybody have a picture of the correct orientation for the secondary linkage? Much appreciated.

Do you mean the vacuum hoses, or???

 

[Kid_Again]

Do you mean the vacuum hoses, or???

Sorry John, should have been more specific. I want a shot of the throttle linkage on the center carb at the point where the screw-in rods run to either secondary carb...i have a bit of binding on the primary carb because advancing the throttle for the primary causes the secondaries to tweak open...many thanks for your help


....you KNOW, if i send you a picture of the original carbs before i put them on ebay, i can add a tag line to my add which states convincingly "These carburetors have been certified to be the carburetors sent in a picture to John Hinkley, legendary automotive engineer known to have worked with Zora Arkus Duntov. A Notarized statement attesting to that fact will be inlcuded in the purchase price free of charge."

All this would be true, of course. I never lie.

Also John, just bit the bullet on a Carrier (Generac) 16kW standby generator. The 18kW "JohnZ Special" was only a few bucks more but this model fits my needs. So, the next time that I lose power, I'll have the lights blazing, open the garage door and have the lift at its maximum height. Gee, wonder why the neighbors NEVER go out of their way to stop by. Your advice on the generator was also very helpful.

Heck, you're just a helpful kinda' guy

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

I'll have the lights blazing, open the garage door and have the lift at its maximum height. Gee, wonder why the neighbors NEVER go out of their way to stop by.

To Bad you can't do like John Z does......Leave the dog run around at night in the back yard with the lights on during the power outage..

Maybe you should get a dog.....

 

[JohnZ]

Sorry John, should have been more specific. I want a shot of the throttle linkage on the center carb at the point where the screw-in rods run to either secondary carb...i have a bit of binding on the primary carb because advancing the throttle for the primary causes the secondaries to tweak open...many thanks for your help. Heck, you're just a helpful kinda' guy

Well, I try. Crap - I have umpteen photos of 3x2 setups, but every single one from the left side has the secondary linkage obscured by the fuel lines.

You're gonna love that Generac setup; last outage (last month), I had the garage doors open, lights and TV on, front yard floodlight and ten soffit lights across the front of the house on, and the public street light on the corner (powered from a transformer in my house) on. :cool

 

[Kid_Again]

Well, I try. Crap - I have umpteen photos of 3x2 setups, but every single one from the left side has the secondary linkage obscured by the fuel lines.

You're gonna love that Generac setup; last outage (last month), I had the garage doors open, lights and TV on, front yard floodlight and ten soffit lights across the front of the house on, and the public street light on the corner (powered from a transformer in my house) on. :cool

John..thanks for taking the time to go through your archives...if I have any problems, I'll post a picture and ask your advice...you're really attentive to these posts.....

OK, I can't top running a street lamp, for God's sake but I need to have a Kodak Moment for the power outage. I see that the generator has two outlets for outdoor usage.

Fine.

I don't care if it's 20 below, I'll go outside and plug in a blender so all the neighbors can see me making frozen Margarhita's while they're freezing their asses off. I WILL post those pictures here.

The only thing better would be to have VNV over and we could use 240v electric cigar lighters to put the finishing touches on a great day.

Now my wife's getting into the act. She wants me to power some pink flamingoes on the lawn.

This is GOOD stuff.