Perfect!  Thanks for the info and the picture. Looks great.

Checked with my friend at breakfast this morning on his 55 T-Bird with 3-2's. He had 97's on an Offy manifold with little chrome air cleaners and they cleared the stock hood. He had the air scoop open and he said you could see the chrome bonnets inside. It was in 57-58 and he still had the 6 volts. It was a 3-speed OD car.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

I ran 3 94's on an Edlebrock 573 in my 57 Bird. Used Speedway bell shaped air cleaners and had enough hood clearance. The only interference is the screws that mount the chrome trim piece on the hood scoop. I had to grind the screws down where they come through the hood so they would not hit the front air cleaner.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Nice!!  Thanks for the information.  I have never seen an early TBird with triple deuces.  Looks very period hot rod.  I had a similar set up on a '57 Ford hardtop about 30 years ago.  As I remember getting the linkage set up right was the hard part.

I have a few questions.  I believe my old tri power used three Carter or Ford 2 barrels. I don't remember where I got them, but a local carb shop rebuilt them for me and I never had any issues.  Is there any advantage in the carbs I use?  Why were Strombergs preferred?  Can I use other carbs?  What are the differences between these carbs?  Thanks.

What ever you choose, purchase a Uni-Syn. They are available from Summit. The photos shows mine attached to a top for my 4 barrels but you wil never be dissatisfied if you idle off all three carbs. If keep the butterflies closed on the outers this may not be necessary; that's for others to answer here.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

I just got into this, so take this with a grain of salt.  From what I've been able to gather it seems that original Ford / Holley or Stromberg will perform generally the same.  It does seem that the Holley can have an advantage over the Stromberg because they may be slightly more modern and there are Holley variants that flow quite a bit more but this all depends on which Holley you are comparing to which Stromberg.  Both of these carbs are quite popular and it really is a case of having too much info and opinion out there to sift through, complicating research but it seems that in general, more recent is better.

Carb options that will mount directly to the intake are Holley 94 (AA-1, 2100), 2110, Stromberg 97, which is produced new and in a Big97 (250cfm) version, Edelbrock 94 (a kind of reproduction of the Holley 94) and a Speedway 9 Super 7 (a reproduction Stromberg).  If you can find them, there were also Demon carbs made for a while, modern looking but made to mount in place of a 94 or 97.  There were also throttle bodies made by Retrotech EFI a while ago.  Lot's of options from easy to practically impossible to find.

NOS manuals for the specific carburetors can be found on eBay.  An early Y-block shop manual for vehicles so equipped should have info about 94s.  Good for factory info and drawings, at least.


Lawrenceville, GA

X2 on the uni-syn, I’ve still got a workimg ome from the 60’s I bought to set up my uncle’s SU’s on an XKE. Did a lot of multiple carbs, including the 94’s when they were on my bird.

Here’s the link to Vintage Speed. He’s got mixed reviews of late, but was great when I dealt with him 18 years ago.

For some reason the catalog wound open on my iPad tonight (always has before), but he’s got quite selection of carbs, parts, aircleaners etc. Its worth looking thru just to see the options you have in one place.

Good luck with the project.

http://vintagespeed.com

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Great information as usual.  Lots to think about.  Thanks!

The CFM , cubic feet per minute flow from a 2BBL carb is calculated differently than that of a 4BBL carb
so be aware of and be careful of that. Different amount of vacuum for each. Pete 

The Strombergs were favoured by many Tri carb fans years ago probably because they were original equipment on some models in the 1930s. There were 3 models made at one time & one was a  bigger unit but they are rare now. (the model #s escape me at the moment. But I believe the smaller one was a model #81)  As for variants on the Holley 94's, the biggest & only one with an auto choke was the 1956 unit used mostly on Ford 272s. I believe the venturie size is 1-1/16"...
N.B.- Don't  want to step on anyones fun, but if anyone here is looking to buy a  Tri-Power intake & expecting good perfomance from it, avoid the Y-Block Offenhauser intake. Tested by our moderator Ted's shop, it performed badly, finishing dead last of 7 tested..  


Paul