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I remember reading about one of these online magazines did a side by side comparison of 4bb, quad, tri power and something else on hp and torque ratings and I can't find it. But I also can't find any build up articles at all. Does anyone know where I might go to find one?
I own a 1964 1/2 tri power set up, its complete, with early 1970's replacement holly carbs on it. Was used in racing from the 70's to mid 80's and then it was mothballed, and I picked it up a few years ago.
I've been thinking about putting it on the 289, but I wonder what things I might need to do so that it won't over carb the engine. (my neighbors across the street have the mechanical skillset to tune and tinker with it to get it to run nicely).
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MustangSteve "played" with the idea of tri-power I believe.
I would guess you would need very steep gears in the rear(min. 4:11-4:30's) and engine internals to spin up that high. Naturally I would suggest a "big-boy"/snotty camshaft and minimum CR of 10/11:1 . AFR heads...good 4-tube headers...and an ignition system (with modified advance curve) to fire this semi-street engine.
Gonna take a lot of breathing to use 3 carbs in a small displacement engine(289).
Block of the two end carbs and just run the center one.....and don't tell nobody!
6sally6
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Heh, tri power. They sure do look cool. Here's the thing, they won't give you any more power; that was a marketing gimmick from the '60s. An engine can only use so much fuel. Giving it more fuel doesn't make more power, in fact it does the opposite, because if the mixture gets too rich power falls off. The old racer's adage is lean is mean.
My neighbor was a very influential Pontiac racer in the '60s and '70s. He also ran a garage and obviously had a reputation for working on Pontiacs, so everyone in the area brought him their GTOs to tune and modify. The ones who would listen he ripped those old tri power setups off and replaced them with a single 4 barrel. The car ran better, maintained a tune better, and actually made more power. He has those tri power setups stacked in his barn like cord wood. Now he sells them off to the resto guys who just have to have them because they keep hearing "three dueces and a four speed and a 389" blaring in their heads.
So my advice would be simple: don't. Its a quick way to spend $1,500 on something that looks cool, but that you'll ultimately come to hate.
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There was an engine masters video on youtube where they did a dyno test with multiple carbs -vs- one 4-barrel and the single 4-barrel made the most power on the engine dyno.
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Your car so do it if you like. I like to see those. I have an Enderle mechanical injector setup I would love to put on a 289 after converting it to electronics. Those eight stacks just look vintage and awesome. Impractical, expensive, yet awesome.
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