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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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I now own both an Edelbrock 573 TriPower intake manifold and an Edelbrock 257 dual quad intake manifold. I wish to install one or the other on the 292 in my 1955 Tbird with O/D. I am at a crossroads and need to decide which option is better for me. What I want is a good looking multi carb setup that is trouble free, drivable and impressive looking. A nostalgia look is somewhat important. Here are the options I am considering.Option #1 - 257 Manifold with two Edelbrock Performer Series Carburetors 500 CFM with Manual Choke, adapters, linkage and flat top air cleaners.
Cost - $850.00
Option #2 - 573 Manifold with one new Holley 94 Primary and two new Holley 94 Secondary carbs (Vintage Speed), linkage and Bug Screen air cleaners
Cost - $985.00
There is a third option, but I decided the linkage would be too complex and may cause problems. That option is to use two Holley 1848 4Vs mounted sideways. I currently own one, so the cost would be comparable to the other two options.
The costs shown do not include fuel lines or a fuel log. Gas mileage is not an issue. Both costs are nearly the same. Which option do you like better?
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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To me (IMO), the FYB TRI-POWER SETUP looks out-of-date/archaic, especially on a BIRD..
The intro of the BIRD was intended (again IMO) to usher in a new age of performance. GM's CORVETTE had it all over the BIRD on the street as badly as I have to admit it. But running a FORD on the street has always been a game of catch-up to me..
Dual WCFB's (with progressive linkage and dedicated end carbs) with an early FORD dual four ACL to me is the ultimate for a street BIRD.
I am now hunkering down for expected incoming ... 
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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Option #1 - 257 Manifold with two Edelbrock Performer Series Carburetors 500 CFM with Manual Choke, adapters,
Does the EDEL 257 have the small or large 4V mounting pattern? If an adaptor(s) is required, I doubt the hood will close.
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By 62bigwindow - 5 Years Ago
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Run the dual quad and sell me the 3x2. 😊
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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The 257 and all 2x4 intakes that fit the Ford Y Block use the small pattern so adapters are required for modern carburetors.
THANX! for that, mild brain-f@rt.
I was thinking maybe EDEL got ahead of the game and issued theirs with a H4150 pattern.
Anywho, the EDEL FM257 isn't going to take the EDEL 1405 with a 1 1/2" H carb adapter under a BIRD hood.
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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I agree dual WCFBs would be cool. Two problems. One is the age of the carbs and the lack of TBird hood clearance. Old carbs are just well...Old. I have had my share of side-of-the-road breakdowns. The price of a decent set of WCFBs is through the roof and they would still need some throttle fabrication.
I think two new Edelbrocks would be the easiest and probably run the best. To me they don't look vintage enough for my taste, especially with the red labels and shiny finish.
Right now I'm leaning toward the triple 94s. This is not an easy choice to make.
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By miker - 5 Years Ago
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Phil, those are tough choices. Just some random thoughts.
If someone on here has an offy manifold off the car, and is willing to lay it on the bench with a straight edge across the fore/aft axis, they can give you a height measurement at the front and back. You can compare your Edelbrock. As I mentioned earlier I had to take about a 1/4” inch out of the rear filter element for clearance.
Drylakesracer has some post about his dual quads, WCFB’s if I recall right. He might be able to give some additional info. I’d be contacting Sal Sciala on the Ford Barn (he’s occasionally here) or carbking on the HAMB. I think those guys (I’m sure there’s more) would be able to fully restore the carbs and give you a good starting point.
Here’s the air cleaner Doane Spencer had on his dual quad 55.
Here what I did on my stock motor, since changed
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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Thanks for the input. I hope you guys don't mind all my posts. Y Blocks are addictive. I've done some measuring using the Edelbrock 573 and the three Holley 94s I have. There is no question, the 573 with three Holley 94s will fit under my hood without air cleaners. They may even fit with the small filters in the photo above. The rear carb is the only possible issue as the hood has a seam running in the back of the scoop. Charlie told me some people mill the rear carb pad to get extra clearance. I don't believe that will be necessary in my case.
I like the look of the naked carbs and low screens like they used to run on the VW Bug Spray 94s. I've pretty much discounted the WCFBs as they are too expensive and would require so much work. I found out there are a number of companies manufacturing new repro Holley 94s. Edlebrock is one of them. The nicest setup I have seen so far is from Vintage Speed. I'm going to drive down next week and check them out.
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By Rusty_S85 - 5 Years Ago
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Florida_Phil (2/16/2019)
I agree dual WCFBs would be cool. Two problems. One is the age of the carbs and the lack of TBird hood clearance. Old carbs are just well...Old. I have had my share of side-of-the-road breakdowns. The price of a decent set of WCFBs is through the roof and they would still need some throttle fabrication. I think two new Edelbrocks would be the easiest and probably run the best. To me they don't look vintage enough for my taste, especially with the red labels and shiny finish. Right now I'm leaning toward the triple 94s. This is not an easy choice to make.
Few years back I saw Inglese was making side draft carbs, they even had adapters to bolt two side draft carbs to a single 4V intake manifold. The hotrod I wanted to build I seriously thought of running a dual quad intake with two of these adapters and having four webber side draft carbs for a older look.
Looks like now all they got are the EZ-EFI 1.0 and 2.0 side draft carb setups. Sucks though as the carb setup was like $1,000 for the adapter and two side draft 2V carbs. This set now in efi is $3,000 now.
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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I thought of that myself. Vintage Speed makes an adapter to fit 2 Holley 94s on a modern Holley 4 intake. You could use two of these adapters with 2 94s each on a dual quad intake to make an 8V setup. You would have to cobble up some linkage, but it would look very cool. It might even fit under my hood. Crazy thoughts are my specialty. 
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By DryLakesRacer - 5 Years Ago
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Florida, There is a guy out there I found him on either the HAMB or somewhere else who has put the adapters on a y-block and is using 4 94's or 97's. I made a comment if he was going to run all 4 or figure out a progressive set up 2 and 2. It was going in a 51-52 Ford pick-up with a chopped top and was all together on an engine stand in his photo.
As for putting dual quads on a 55-56 T-Birds the kit that was available for the 56 law enforcement cars was also available for the Birds with the tea-pots mounted backwards like the 57; so they will fit under the hood of a 56.
Yes, matched number WCFB's are getting expensive. I bought mine for under $400 each and one looked near new in a box from 1953. I'll bet it was a replacement take off. I started out with one 53 Cadillac and one Oldsmobile and then found the second Olds. I made my own linkage and linkage adapters to the carb stock linkage. It wasn't hard for a gear head.
I've really never had any problems with either carb in the 5 years they have been on. I made an adapter to a Uni-Syn and have only checked them once. I do use 1 oz of Stabil in every tank of gas religiously.
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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miker Posted
Here’s the air cleaner Doane Spencer had on his dual quad 55.
The application shown has a H-D-4 (H4150) which requires carb adapters. It also has a TRANS-AM style RAM-AIR ACL. He must have punched the hood or put on a fiberglass hood for clearance.
I bet it looks nice being a SHAKER ...
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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OK ...
Someone please enlighten me. Did he lower the engine?
Just when you thought you saw it all ...
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By miker - 5 Years Ago
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It wasn’t lowered much if at all. The article points out a hand made intake manifold. The old article by Kirk White said Spencer built the air cleaner in a morning, hand formed aluminum. His skills were very high.
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By DryLakesRacer - 5 Years Ago
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Doans manifold could been a 56 Ford or one of the 255's from Edelbrock and then milled at least 1/2" off it. This would have helped with the low profile. Since the air cleaner resembled a stock 55-6 and mounted to the carbs it could have been higher that the hood with hole cut giving the illusion of being stock height.
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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Attached the post to the wrong thread ... 
The man has talent, no question about that.
I just don't understand the ACL. If he went to all that trouble, why not fab a real shaker? Guess he is trying to immolate a theme I never came across.
Anyone pay attention to the dueling SINGLE RESERVOIR MC's? He must be into road racing?
The radiator, could it be related to the 57 BIRD D/F Code?
EDIT - 
... immolate ...?
Where did I get that one from? I guess I need an update for my FUNK & WAGNAL
The word is emulate dumba$$...
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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Maybe someone will find this info helpful regarding 3X2-
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Aftermarkettripowersetups.htm
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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This is an interesting article. The author recommends using three primary carbs and linking them with direct linkage. He says if you use one primary carb, the center carb may not be big enough and the throttle transition from one carb to three is difficult to tune. I ran three 94s on a 312 years ago and I used three primaries. It was somewhat difficult to get to idle properly, but I don't remember any issues when stomping on the throttle. I did not use a Uni-Syn. I will now. This question has come up before. Should I run one primary and two secondaries or three primaries? I would be interested in what linkage other tripower users are running.
The articles I have read said most tripower bad idle issues are caused by leaky throttle blades. With new 94s now available, that could be avoided.
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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The author recommends using three primary carbs and linking them with direct linkage. He says if you use one primary carb, the center carb may not be big enough and the throttle transition from one carb to three is difficult to tune. I ran three 94s on a 312 years ago and I used three primaries. It was somewhat difficult to get to idle properly, but I don't remember any issues when stomping on the throttle. I did not use a Uni-Syn. I will now. This question has come up before. Should I run one primary and two secondaries or three primaries? I would be interested in what linkage other tripower users are running.
The articles I have read said most tripower bad idle issues are caused by leaky throttle blades. With new 94s now available, that could be avoided.
I think what the author is trying to get across is that setting up a set with modified end carbs and progressive linkage is more difficult and needs to be tuned on the particular engine as it would be almost impossible to build/calibrate it on the bench, box and send and hope the installer can work through it.. While he will build a three carb active system, he will not build a center w/ modified end carbs and progressive linkage due to the buyer not being able to tune properly and resultant headaches for him.
Think about it. You want to drive a car with three active accelerator pumps and chokes, hopefully trying to get then all to idle properly? You only need the center carb (larger CFM) to drive on the street. The two outer carb are dumpers (gas and air) that only come in at whatever RPM you set the linkage at. You eliminate the two outer power valves and upping the jetting until you have the correct operating mixture(s). No Choke, no idle circuits.
They would work in the same manner as a 4V, where the secondaries are only used for additional power.
This is one area scrub had it over a FORD of the period, both with their VETTE 8V and later VETTE 3X2. FORD had all (8V) come in together (w/ vacuum secondaries no less). This is fine for full race or hot street but not for regular street duty. I couldn't afford to keep gas in a setup like that, much less keep the plugs clean.
The articles I have read said most tripower bad idle issues are caused by leaky throttle blades.
Correct. The outer carbs need a thicker throttle plate (to seal the throttle opening to prevent a vacuum leak), a throttle shaft to fit them and a cast (not ALUM) throttle body so the throttle shaft will not wallow out the throttle bore shaft bushings on the base..
These carbs are available modified to save you the aggravation and worries.
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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I was able to speak with Charlie of Vintage Speed on the phone today. I asked him his opinion on running three primaries vs. one primary and two secondary carbs. He said all factory tri-power setups used one primary and two secondary carbs as dumpers. He said each tri-power needs to be modified and tuned for a specific combination and purpose. He asked me to send him my carbs and he would provide me with his recommendations. He asked a lot of specific questions about my car, my engine, my driving and my expectations. I packaged them up today and sent them to his shop in Ft. Pierce. I'll post what he has to say.
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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Funny! Charlie called me yesterday and we talked for a while. Charlie is disassembling the three 94s I sent him and will be getting back to me with a cost to make them right. The center carb will be a primary and the end carbs will be secondaries. The power valves and chokes will be removed from the end carbs and the holes plugged. The idle circuits will remain in the end carbs, but the screws will be turned in all the way. With the cam I have, he said I may have to open them a bit to get a perfect idle. All new throttle shafts and butterflies. He is also powder coating the bodies. He has a number of other options.
I am also going to use his progressive linkage. It's trick. You can see this linkage on Youtube. He will also build my fuel lines. I am anxious to see how this setup runs on my car. If it runs nearly as good as my current Holley, I'll be happy.
It looks like I will have an Edelbrock 257 dual quad intake manifold for sale soon.
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By NoShortcuts - 5 Years Ago
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Florida_Phil (2/21/2019)
It looks like I will have an Edelbrock 257 dual quad intake manifold for sale soon.
Phil. Email correspondence sent to you via Y-Blocks Forever Forum email system. I've found this system to work for correspondence with some Forum members and not for others.
IF you don't receive my correspondence, consider contacting me at my email Internet address, cncbrown2@gmail.com. After receiving your email address, I'll resend my correspondence directly to you.
Thanks! 
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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The idle circuits will remain in the end carbs, but the screws will be turned in all the way. With the cam I have, he said I may have to open them a bit to get a perfect idle.
... hmmph ...
Now that is a good idea to fine tune for a larger cam.
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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Get a load of this cast FYB ACL - http://www.rexhp.com/airfilters.html
I don't know if it will fit under a BIRD hood but it emulates the later BIRD M-CODE (390 3X2) ACL.
Being a one piece, it will flow better than the three smaller ACL's that are more popular.
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By charliemccraney - 5 Years Ago
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The 257 and all 2x4 intakes that fit the Ford Y Block use the small pattern so adapters are required for modern carburetors.
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By charliemccraney - 5 Years Ago
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Here's a thread from a while ago about it. No shaker. Probably just ingenuity and $$$.
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic103501.aspx
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