That gnarly carburetor sound.

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Ron E
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by Ron E »

I wonder if you can get intake honk and exhaust chirp at the same time...
6sally6
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by 6sally6 »

Maybe some of you drag-race "pros" can tell me this. What is that chirping sound some of those big block Chevy dragsters make. The rear engine rail jobs as they idle(sorta) into the water box....they make that chirp......chirp...sound out of the headers. When they nail it...well naturally it goes away. Then when they back up and engine at idle speed, its starts the chirping again?!! :o
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Troy Patterson
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by Troy Patterson »

6sally6 wrote:Maybe some of you drag-race "pros" can tell me this. What is that chirping sound some of those big block Chevy dragsters make. The rear engine rail jobs as they idle(sorta) into the water box....they make that chirp......chirp...sound out of the headers. When they nail it...well naturally it goes away. Then when they back up and engine at idle speed, its starts the chirping again?!! :o
6sally6
I can't say I know for sure, but I've had the very experience when pulling vacuum in the crankcase and there is a gasket somewhere allowing a little air in from time to time.

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enigma57
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by enigma57 »

Its a combination of factors at play from the air cleaner right on out to the tip of the tailpipe, ARN. Each engine has its own unique sound. Yes, a Holley 4bbl and a Rochester Q-jet have their own sound when you drop the hammer. After my GTO was totalled in the '70s, I built up my 400 Pontiac engine and swapped it into a '56 Chevy......

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...... Along with a Sig Erson cam similar to the specs you quoted for your friend's small block Chevy, reworked 428 cop car heads and 2-1/2" exhaust with low restriction hemi mufflers. Initially, I ran the '68 428 cop car intake and Q-jet......

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The following year though, I built up a tri-power setup utilizing MOPAR over the counter performance replacement carbs which had mechanical secondaries (accelerator pumps and full metering blocks on progressive linkage) for the end carbs rather than the vacuum actuated end carb setup most of the MOPAR 6-Pak cars utilized......

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This consisted of a port matched '66 Pontiac cast iron tri-power intake with a 1" thick aluminum plate drilled to adapt the Holley carbs and a pair of water heated Ford 2bbl base plates beneath each carb along with a handmade air cleaner utilizing the oval filter element from a Datsun 240-Z. Before installing the intake, I drilled each throttle bore down through the plates and the iron manifold so that there was no mismatch. With the plates beneath the carbs, I reckon they were similar to a 2-1/4" 2-hole spacer in height.

One thing I can tell you for sure...... When I kicked in those 500cfm Holley end carbs, that car moved. And the sound was nothing like anything you ever heard. Even though the induction system was the only engine change, the sound was nothing like the Q-jet even with an open air cleaner I installed after the California smog check. The big Poncho would scream like a banshee and pin you back in your seat so you had to really work at reaching forward over the bench seat to shift the Muncie when she was wound out tight in the lower gears. The speedo wound up nearly as fast as a tach and the really neat thing was when you reached a high enough speed in 4th gear out in the desert at night, you would outrun the sound of your exhaust after I swapped out the 3.73 gears for a set of 3.07 highway gears. I never took her past 135 because I didn't want to break anything (this was my only transportation at the time). But once you reached 125 or so, she was very quiet and all you could hear was the rushing of the wind and a few muffled mechanical noises from the drive train and speedo cable at speed. Very relaxing therapy after a long week patching up fast attack boats at the sub pier.

Happy Motoring,

Harry
A Atwood
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by A Atwood »

That sounds like a really cool set up. I have never had the oportunity to hear a six pack from inside a car.

The interesting thing about all these builds, there seems to be no common denominator to them. And the other thing I notice, in many of these stories, you change ONE part of the engine and that "sound" may totally dissapear or at least nearly.

Maybe I'll try a 350 build with some old cast irom dual four intake manifold with as much compression as possible and a very low lift and lazy cam. Maybe that'll do it!

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Sandman
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by Sandman »

My sbc skiboat has a scoop on that the opening is only about a foot from my ear.
377ci, solid roller, 220 hds, 825DP BG carb
When the secondaries open, all you can hear is carb.
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by levisnteeshirt »

had a neighbor back in the day with a 435/427 vette with tri-power ,, he put a mechanical linkage kit on it instead of the vacume deal ,,, lemme tell ya ,, it was extremely loud when all that came in ,,,

had a 69 buick 455 my grand dad gave me in high school ,, 370 hp, 510 ft lbs of Q jet roaring fun ,,, gave a couple trans ams fits from a 35mph roll


a 500 Holley 2 barrel on a sbc 2 barrel intake with an adapter makes some noise too ,,,
A Atwood
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by A Atwood »

Sandman wrote:My sbc skiboat has a scoop on that the opening is only about a foot from my ear.
377ci, solid roller, 220 hds, 825DP BG carb
When the secondaries open, all you can hear is carb.
If you don't mind my asking.
What heads are these? Are they modified?
How much cam?
What intake manifold?

Usually an engine to this level of performance doesn't have that carb sound.

ARN
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mike walsh
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by mike walsh »

Ok, since we are on the subject of engine "sounds," I have alway thought the "Pinging," sound at idle for HP motors was cool.
Best carby sound I ever had was a 76 GP I put a 455 Ho or SD, came outa a smokey and the bandit car that was bad untill the semi ran it over. Dad said make your car fast, buy that drive train. The motor had been doctored, I know not as I was 16 years old, but on the highway you could smoulder the tires and hear the carb "Whhhhhoooooooooommmm," absolutely stupid gear ratios back then!!! Like the old movies, Bullet, Vanishing point, and gone in sixty seconds, lots of noise, walker mufflers...
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As I lay rubber down the street, I pray for traction I can keep, but if I spin and begin to slide, please dear God protect my ride." -Amen
MNracer61
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by MNracer61 »

Take the dog house and air cleaner of a mid 90's chevy can with throttle body injection........makes the same sound.

But doesn't move as fast.

I love the Quadrajet just as Troy said. I think it is one of the most under rated performance carbs going.

I have been fixing cars professionaly for over 25 years and miss the day of the carb!
Sometimes you sound smarter when you stop talking!!!!!!
6sally6
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by 6sally6 »

I can say..."you haven't really lived until you kick-in all six barrels on a 440/6pk(here's the cool part) and the AT down shifts to LOW gear at the same time. It roared so loud it would actually blur my vision! Oh yeah....hold on real tight to the steering wheel. I miss the 60's! :cry:
6sally6
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by SKeown »

All 60s & 70s performance cars made that sound at WOT with the air cleaners removed.

SKeown
A Atwood
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by A Atwood »

SKeown wrote:All 60s & 70s performance cars made that sound at WOT with the air cleaners removed.

SKeown
Some were much more pronounced than others. And some engine families almost always had it and some engine families(like small block ford) never had it. The ones I'm talking about are the ones that really howled! I'll bet those 440 sixpacks sounded great!

What intrigues me I guess, is you can build an engine that you would think would sound like that, but when its finished, it doesn't have it. Then you have no idea as to why.

Its also interesting that only v8's (to my knowledge) get this sound. I think this must have something to do with the perfect induction harmonics of the 90* V8.

This is all just fun talk. I truly love building real (big hp) engines. I just miss the sound (days) of thoses howlin V8's.

ARN
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mike walsh
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by mike walsh »

Up from the depths, 20 stories old....

Mentioned that I had to change out my old work truck motor, built a mild little late model 350. 280(adv.) X .490(i think) speed pro cam, roller rockers, did some short turn work, valve job, 9:1 compression, an Edlebrock Perfomer rpm intake, moroso 4 hole carb spacer an inch tall, a 670 Holley Avenger, oh and long tube headers(don't ask) 2.5 pipes to flows.
I got the old muscle car sound in droves!!!! It's called BAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWGGGGGGGGGG!
The secondaries come in at the least tip of the throttle blades, while sounding cool it's a pooch, I am currently tuning the bads away, just thought I'd share that muscle car feeling/sound. Sounds like a bad chase scene in a 70s movie.....

Image
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As I lay rubber down the street, I pray for traction I can keep, but if I spin and begin to slide, please dear God protect my ride." -Amen
JRH454
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Re: That gnarly carburetor sound.

Post by JRH454 »

Yep the Q jet definitely has a unique moan when the secondary opens at low RPM. A Q jet performs just as well as a Holley if you run a mild cam and it won’t lose its tune as easily. Single plenum intake manifolds also simulate the sound of the 180 degree firing order of flat plane cranks like the one used in the Ferrari V8. Put a radical cam on your Chevy V8 that can rev up to 8000 RPMs along with some quiet mufflers to reduce the V8 exhaust pop and rumble. You’ll get to hear that unique European V8 sound.
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