I recently acquired a Offenhauser T 2726 intake with three carbs, each different from the others.  One is a Holley 2100 with 94 circled and no other markings.  The second is a Ford USA, 15/16, 94 circled, mdl. 8BA, and script letter F.  The third one is a Ford 1 1/16, ECG 5, and block letter F.  It has relatively new looking "remanufactured" stickers and a illegible red stamp and it appears to be unused (visual inspection).  The base is stamped 8BA 9515 (I think).  The other two carbs obviously need rebuilt.

This is intended to go on my 256 cid Merc but I have limited knowledge of these various carbs.  Many years ago I rebuilt a pair of Stromberg 97s for a pre-51 flathead but, of this group, I don't know which way to proceed.  Logic says to use the remanufactured one in the center and rebuild or replace the other two.  Should all three match or is it OK for a mis-match of models?  Which of the three is the "best" and how would the other two be ranked for preference?

I am not building for maximum performance or racing, mostly for nostalgic show.

Run the ECG 5 in the middle.  The other two at the ends. Carbs on the ends should match (in my opinion) but the Holley carb and the Ford carb should be almost the same.  Check jet sizes and bore sizes.  I ran a similar set up on my 312 powered 54.  Progressive linkage is the best setup..  Make sure the intake matches the ports  on the  54 heads  (assuming the engine is not a later 256).  A mismatch will cause all kinds of problems

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54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Don’t let Phil discourage you, I’ve been running 3 2’s for 18 years without a problem. Mine’s a 239 bored out to a 256. I think I’m running .51 jets in all three carbs. You’ll need to change to a 57 and up style distributor and pull the 14 tooth gear off and use your 13 tooth gear.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Before you get into this project, go out in your garage and find the biggest hammer you have in your tool box.  Hit yourself on the head for about ten minutes as hard as you can.  This will get you used to the pain you will have with this setup.  Seriously, I have had multiple bouts with those old Ford carbs on tri-power manifolds.  Those carbs are older than dirt. If your experience goes anything like mine, you will have a world of trouble getting them to run right.  I even went to Charlie Price at Vintage Speed, the expert on those things, and he couldn't  make them work consistently.  Any good four barrel will out perform them. I realize what I say is not going to deter you, so here's my advice.  Take the ECG 5 carb and run it in the center.  Block off the outer two carbs and run the single carb alone leaving the outer carbs for looks.  With some luck you will get it to idle and run on the center carb alone.  No one will know the other two carbs are blocked off except you and you will be happy.  Or, you can do like I did twice and dump a ton of money into trying to get all three to run right, then sell the whole thing at a loss to some other poor guy.  If you decide to go the whole route, post us back in a few months and tell us how it went.  Please don't take what I say here personally. I'm trying to save you a lot of pain.

Thanks for the replies.  I suspected that the ECG5 should be in the center, as it is larger, but of the other  2 which one might be the better choice?  With that info I could find a matching one to use and peddle the remaining one.  Phil, I appreciate the humor and I believe that I will initially block off the front and back, get the bugs worked out, and then initialize the other 2 later after a period of performance testing.  Then I will know which size of hammer to get!  Pintoplumber, I don't understand why I would need to update to the newer dizzy.  Paul, can you steer me towards a good-to-better progress linkage set-up?

The only 3-2 sets I’ve every had run perfectly were stock Rochesters in the past.  With that said there are hundreds of guys running early Ford style carbs as 3-2’s on flatheads, Y’s, and SBC’s. The one thing in common is all the same carbs and absolutely no vacuum leaks. My son currently runs 3 Holleys 2300’s from a 60 Merc on a 311” GMC 6 using a Howard log manifold and we fought the system for 1 year until the shafts and bases were rebuilt with bushings and Teflon seals which now will repeat idle.
If your going to do it I would do as Florida Phil says with one exception. Each carb gets tested and run on the center alone with the outers blocked. This way you know it will run when together if you want them all connected. Most use progressive but I’ve seen all three used all the time. I’ve seen idle on 3 or idle on one. Idling on one is really hard if you have any butterfly or shaft vacuum leakage. Shafts leak and must to move so the center controls all the idling fuel. 

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

I know absolutely zero re: ‘tri-power’ setups, but I do recall a ‘55/‘’56 ‘Highway Patrol’ tv episode where a wrecked ‘55 T-Bird was being examined in a junkyard. A 3-deuce  rig was then already under the hood, so it maybe worked better with 3 brand new carbs (?).
BTW: Didnt I read something once in Y-Block Mag about the poor flow characteristics of Offy manifolds?
  Seems like if performance isn’t the real goal, why not just find a rebuilt 50s 2-barrel that was originally designed to run with the Loadomatic dist?  Running THAT in the center and blocking the ends should likely solve some problems (?).



6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Charlie Price at Vintage Speed has the best 3/2 linkage.  His website is https://vintagespeed.com.  Charlie is the man when it comes to those setups.  All the problems I had were dealing with sixty plus year old carbs. If I had it to do over again, I would buy three new Strombergs. A good friend of mine has a hot flathead with those carbs and he likes them.   As far as the Offy manifold, you should check out Ted's intake manifold test at https://www.eatonbalancing.com.  If you manage to get everything working with those old carbs, you will have a cool looking induction setup that idles like crap and that you will work on for the rest of your ownership.  You say you don't care about performance?  That's a good thing because someone with a single four barrel will blow your doors off.  Sorry if I seem so negative.  Experience does that to you.  Here's a photo of the 3/2 setup on my TBird before I ripped it off and sold it.

Your distributor is set up for vacuum only advance. You need one with centrifugal advance also. When you step on it and open the outer carbs, your vacuum drops and the timing changes back to close to what you had at idle. With centrifugal advance your timing stays where it needs to be and your motor keeps pulling.



  Dennis in Lititz PA

By all means use a 57 and up distributor.  You have to change the gear to yours and the oil pump to a 55 and later pump if you have an early (54) 256 (assuming the later 55 256 is like all the rest 55 engines).  The end carbs must be modified - take out the power valve on the ends and screw in the idle screws if you go with a progressive set up.  Also block off the vacuum fitting on the side (all three carbs).  The block off for the end power valves is available from Holley.  You don't need to run vacuum advance with the later distributor.  Just run centrifugal advance. 

Charlie Price should have the best progressive linkage around.  You might try Speedway to see what they have.  Looking at progressive linkages, I got my own parts and made mine, which worked ok.

There is carb rebuilder named Charlie NY on Fordbarn who is supposed to be one of the best rebuilders around if you want to go that route..
Some time ago  Ted Eaton had  step by step instructions on modifying the early carb for a later distributor.  Might be on his web site.  If not, I have the article if you want a copy.

In addition, I have an article describing how to use a three carb set up using the load-o-matic distributor




54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ