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George Zinger

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Does anybody remember the sound a SBC made when the four barrel opened the back two, kind of a CH...WHA. Ford guys couldn’t get that sound. I was running a 327 with Carter AFB but most Chevy V8 made that sound. Today with a 350 and a Holley Street Avenger 650 carburetor I cannot reproduce the sound. Does anybody know why? Is it the difference in compression ratio? Are we more efficient about fuel today? Nobody cared about gas at 4 or 5 gallons for a buck!


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#3 ·
Here's one take on this, you may not like it.

When it goes CH...WHA, either your engine was not making the power it should prior to the 4 barrel opening - or it was bogging after it opened. Either indicates a problem. And if you don't hear that, you might be well tuned.

Just a thought.

Another thought is that the air cleaner may be silencing the sound.

There's no distinction to a Chevy or a Ford here IMO.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
No problem here, back in the day we were kinda low tech, junkyard parts, parts guys that knew their stuff and a steep learning curve by trial and error cuz much of it hadn’t been done before (at least not by many). And no instant information via the web!


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#6 ·
IMO a 327 with a Rochester Quadrajet was the most loud and noticeable Booo-Wah sounding carburetor.
 
#7 ·
My Dad had a '73 Cutlass with the Olds Rocket 350 equipped with a Quadrajet...made that same sound - but only if the top of the air cleaner was flipped upside down. Whenever I got to take it out for the evening I had to remember to flip it back before I got home...
JR
 
#8 ·
Growls ...
 
#10 ·
My old pickup has a 350 with a Quadrajet and with an open element breather I always enjoyed hearing the back barrels open. You can hear them, but it's smooth and dosent bog like others I've seen. Action type movies used to amuse me when you'd see the cops chasing somebody in a front wheel drive crab, but hear a 4 barrel dubbed in when they stepped on it.
 
#11 ·
Rick_L said:
Here's one take on this, you may not like it.

When it goes CH...WHA, either your engine was not making the power it should prior to the 4 barrel opening - or it was bogging after it opened. Either indicates a problem. And if you don't hear that, you might be well tuned.

Just a thought.

Another thought is that the air cleaner may be silencing the sound.

There's no distinction to a Chevy or a Ford here IMO.
Click to expand...
I agree with what Rick L states. I also liked that old sound, but I don't think you hear it much anymore, because maybe it's a smoother transition of more modern and perhaps better parts, working together?? I also thought that sound was created somewhat by a bog, Carmine.
 
#12 ·
Ah, I remember the sound well, my grandparent,s 56 Bel Air 283 PP dual exhaust, 4 bbl carb was a running son of a gun in it's showroom condition.
Removing the top of the air cleaner was the trick, and I never felt any bog, it was all 'balls to the walls" when the loud pedal was hard pushed.
Some of my early dual quad set ups I had had a similar sound.
 
#13 ·
For me it was the sound of the late 60’s-early 70’s Mopar 440’s, specifically our Dodge Polara and Plymouth Belvedere police cars. They had the best sound when the secondaries kicked in. You could hear them for blocks. It was the sound of the cavalry coming. We flipped the top of the air cleaner over to pull more air and increase that sound.


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#15 ·
That is super easy to duplicate today: Q-jet and open element air cleaner or early 2x4 WCFBs (even with a Batwing).
OR---------------an early Rochester FI with an open element air filter.
I have all three, and there is no question when the throttles are wide open on any of those!
Thew 389SB in the 51 used to have a Q-jet on an early Z28 intake, but when I pulled it out for a rebuild, I pulled the 2x4s off the shelf that had been there for 35+yrs and put them back on. Both the Q-jet and 2x4s sound just a good.
 

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#16 ·
I remember that sound very well. I had a BB Chevelle with a 800 Holley Spread Bore carb with a stock open element.
Stomp on that thing hard, and it would let you know in a hurry that those huge secondaries were wide open and sucking
in the universe. I've never had a carb or car that sounded like that since.

The two things that did bug me most about that carb though was the un-protected power valve and that stupid fuel connect tube
between the fuel bowls. Both of those could be a pain in the neck sometimes.

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