Newbie to the site with a few Q's

[72BARRON]

First off I love the site and finaly got the nerve to sign up. I just bought my first v drive a 72 Barron. It has a 468 BBC in it with the Weiand TR and 2 600 Edelbrock carbs. I am having trouble tuning the carbs in, hard starting cold and it wants to die when it idles. It also has a points dist. in it. I don't really like Edelbrock carbs and don't want to spend more money on them. I am considering swapping to the RPM Air Gap manifold and a single Holley carb and an HEI dist. The motor is a mind buildup and I do not intend to use it for racing just playing around on the weekends. Looking more towards lower maint. drivability and easier to tune it. Have thought about Holley carbs on the TR but not sure yet. What do you guys run on your weekend cruiser?
For those of you who run a single carb, what carb size, manifold, and dist. do you use? How do you like it? Thanks in advance, Seth.

[texas-19]

Sounds like you are on the right track.I'd do the air-gap with a 850 double pumper for reliablity either holley or demon carb.Hei would be ok but i would go with msd ignition,mine starts quick and runs great and has been reliable for many years so far.

[72BARRON]

Thanks for the advice. I figure i'd start with an HEI, I have one for it and it would be better than points. Do you run vac advance on yours or just mech advance? Would a mech sec carb work better than vac sec on a v drive?
Thanks

[FILUCKY]

Switching that intake and carb set up to the single would be a huge improvement, not only will it be easier to keep tuned, better MPG, it will most likely have more HP! The only way a tunnelram will out perform a single setup is with a (race)tunnel on a (race) engine. and thats only sometimes. Tunnelrams look cool but thats about it. As far as the dis. go with a MSD setup and it will last forever and work great. Good luck

[Moneypitt]

If I were you I would change the carb set up and run it before changing the dist. Chances are the dist is fine and the tunnel ram and twin carbs are the majority of your problems. There is nothing wrong with points. All they are is a switch for the coil, and will work just fine if everything else is in tune. Try trouble shooting a HEI or a MSD on the water. The old points deal is so simple and easy to fix......Anyway, change one thing at a time, and then move on to the next improvement.............MP

[steelcomp]

it will most likely have more HP! The only way a tunnelram will out perform a single setup is with a (race)tunnel on a (race) engine. and thats only sometimes.That's plain and simply not true!
When tested against all popular single four intakes, the Edelbrock Street TR with two fours on it was best across the board. Higher hp, more peak Q at a higher rpm and over a wider range. This was on a "mild" build up...450-500 hp range, 6000 rpm. Certainly not a race motor.
What are you calling a mild build up? What's the cam, heads and compression?
You could have all kinds of problems that don't relate to ahving a tr or two carbs. The Edelbrocks wouldn't be my first choice either, but I'm thinking it woulld be cheaper to go through them one time and make sure it's not something simple than to buy another intake and carb and do that swap. There's no reason a tr and a couple of 600's shouldn't run any worse that a sigle set up. I've run multiple carbs on the street with whimpy hydraulic cams and never had any issues. Starting, idling, drivability. Your tr set up correctly is worth more hp and q that any single plane. Now the pooints dist I'd ditch, just for ease of maintenance and peace of mind. Less moving parts to give you a problem.

[EXTREMEBOATS]

1st, You cant beat a MSD ignition system.Points? yes simple, fairly reliable but hooked to a 6AL MSD much better. They now only work as a breaker. Intake? well there are lots of things to think about. A street set up with small runner's works. But vacume secondaries seem to suffer a bit. Manifold vacume is not as strong so secondary responce may not be all that. I have a 468 im rebuilding with a oval port tunnel ram. I took off the 600 holleys a went to AFB's. Lots more throtle responce. And seemed to pick up some on top. Just remember to try and match componets to work in harmony. Or it will be hell to get drivablity and user friendly. Just my H2o
Mike

[FILUCKY]

REALLY?
On four differnt engines from mild to wild i've ran both setups, and in all four cases the single setup ran at least as good or better and always got better MPG and less tunning. One motor was in a '23 T-bucket with a well built SBC with a tunel and (2)650's and ran 12 flat. By pulling the tunnel and installing a victor and a 750 it ran a 11.3, thats 7 tenths of a second! So weres the extra HP in a tunnelram?

[EXTREMEBOATS]

Top end is what there ment for. Under 6000rpm they tend to hurt performance. Some just have to have that "ALL THAT" look. I try my best to talk them out of it but... :cry:

[steelcomp]

REALLY?
On four differnt engines from mild to wild i've ran both setups, and in all four cases the single setup ran at least as good or better and always got better MPG and less tunning. One motor was in a '23 T-bucket with a well built SBC with a tunel and (2)650's and ran 12 flat. By pulling the tunnel and installing a victor and a 750 it ran a 11.3, thats 7 tenths of a second! So weres the extra HP in a tunnelram?
Too little information to say, but you lost it somewhere. Poor combinations, poor tuning, poor driving, who knows? You have your results, I have mine...and it's from a lot more that four motors. TR's on the street are a whole different animal that on a boat, but then again, you must know that. Even then, I never had a problem with TR's on the street, and MPG is just a function of throttle pressure. :D

[EXTREMEBOATS]

:argue: How very true... I still say the over all combintion dictates the out come. But mileage??? Never should be the issue.... Two carbs is two carbs.... Consumption is based on how hard you push the "GO" pedal!!!! :crossx: Mike

[texas-19]

As far as advance goes i'd go mechanical,don't like vacumn.When i bought my first boat it had points in it and it start cutting out at 5000 rpm's.I changed points,rotor,condensor,cap,wires plugs and plugs and still did not run like it should on top end.Changed to msd and problem solved.No problems for 6 years straight.That's my experience anyway.I agree on changing things one at a time so you know what helped and how much.

[72BARRON]

The only thing I don't like about the TR is the Edelbrock carbs. I have gone through them both and they seem to run fine off idle. It is hard starting cold and they don't like to idle. I am sure I can tune them in a little better but I would rather have Holleys on it. I just don't want to spend $300 - $400 on new carbs. Was thinking I could sell my setup and buy a new manifold and carb. Does anyone run Edelbrock TR know any tricks to sync the carbs in?
I have been using a vacume gauge so far. I am just not familiar with these carbs. I'll try to find a book on them. Thanks for all your guys help.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

A Vac gauge is my only synch idea, but that's from a guy used to vac-synching 4 carbs on a motorcycle, to within 2cm Hg (that's 3/4").
I gotta support the contention though that you may never be happy with a 2-carb Tunnell Ram unless you are running a LOT of rpm. I'm spinning almost 5500 in my 454 Jet on Nitrous but only about 4700 w/o the N2O. Am really happy with the idle, tunability, and responsiveness of the RPM Air Gap Performer single carb manifold I have. 'Course, I am sporting a Holley atop it.

[72BARRON]

That is exactly what I am looking for. What are the inside specs of Holley you run? Is it Vac or Mech sec? Thanks, Seth

[BK]

Im running an RPM Airgap and worked Holley 750 VS carb on my 468 and like it alot. Id run a bigger carb but my boat is a barge and im more concerned with econimy than speed.
I was also running a Victor Jr. and 850 holley on this same motor in a differant boat and switched to a TR and two 600 VS Holleys and gained 200 rpm. Guess its just a matter of setting it up properly? Also because they were VS carbs so long as I stayed out of it the gas milage was as good as with the single 850.