Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Chevy 230 build intake/exhaust questions

I am rethinking my approach to the carb/intake setup. I am on the fence using the stock intake and a weber 32/36 with Langdon's adapter plate vs a 4bbl carb and offy intake. Any pros/cons to 2bbl vs 4bbl? I have manual choke now, should I stay that way or go electric?

I have the heat plate to run water to the intake already to go.

The only modifications I really planned to do were HEI (Already installed) and Langdon's ceramic coated headers. Not really ready to rebuild the engine and swap heads/cam/etc.

Brings me to my next questions... which mufflers are you all running for both performance and sound improvements?

Any advice/wisdom is appreciated.

WITH A 230 DONT OVER CARB IT JMO EASY TO DO

The 32/36 is probably a good choice if you don't intend to do any head work and stick with a stock cam.The progressive linkage is a good feature on the street. I run an autolite 2100 (non progressive) with a clifford adaptor w/heat plate and tube headers but the mileage suffers a bit. The tubes are going away to be replaced with Toms cast headers as soon as finances allow.I find the cab noise objectionable on long trips and the cast iron headers reduces the resonance some. On a 230 don't go too big on exhaust pipe diameter either...fats

Thanks Fats.

I plan to follow Tom's header/exhaust advice and use perforated mufflers up front with 2.25" to them and 2" out all the way to the bumper.

I just can't decide on which muffler to use in the saturated market.

Looking forward to actually hearing the exhaust vs the noisy lifters. I think the 32/36 DVG with the adapter plate from Tom is my path of choice. Later on when/if I tear into the engine, I'll purchase a offy and a larger carb or another 32/36.

I am not too worried about the drone sound as I do not take long trips and limit the freeway drives. However if I can avoid it with proven muffler advice, I'm all for it.

Joey

Mufflers are somewhat a personal choice; I have 32" cherry bombs mounted aft of the cab under the bed of an 80 shortbed. At cruise speed they are quiet but give you the 6 cyl rap when accelerating. The header collectors are right underneath the floorboards and that is where I'm getting the resonance.Porters, Smitties and Cherry bombs are all glass packs that have a traditional sound; a balance tube between the pipes ahead of the mufflers will also help quiet things a bit.I personally don't care for the sound of Flowmasters on a six cylinder but that is again a matter of personal choice.....fats

MAKEE SURE YOU USE A PIPE THAT KEEPS SOME BACK PRESSURE. PERSONALLY WITH A SINGLE I RUN A 2 1/2" FROM MANIFOLD TO REAR WITH DUALS PERSONALLY WITH A STOCK COMPRESSION ENGINE 2 PIPES 2" DIA ALL THE WAY BACK. IF YOU DONT KEEP SOME BACK PRESSURE IT WILL HURT YOUR POWER AND FUEL MILAGE DRASTICLY. JMO

Placed another order with Tom Langdon. The Chevelle is in garage jail for a month since I redid my driveway. Adding a 36/32 DGEV 2bbl carb and fancy air cleaner to the project. Next I really need to find funds for a new offy or find a quality used one.

In 1964 I used a small 2 GC Rochester (1-3/32" venturi) on a dual exhausted 194 Chevy ll with std shift and had no problems, used a homemade carb adapter on the very small cross sectioned 194 intake (later tried a 194 single bbl/intake on a 230-it did provide more low speed performance but naturally at the expense of top end-would only do 95 with 3.55 gears, would do over 100 with stock intake/carb and same fears, er, gears)

For exhaust on another Chevy ll I played with having a smaller than dime sized hole torched in the split manifold block off plate (under the heat riser area-I never split the exhaust into two separate manifolds always just separated the manifold internally-easier to manage during manifold installation) anyway by providing that small of a "balance" passage (rather than a full size "crossover pipe") the six still had the familiar rap, only it wasn't so sharp-more like a Porsche flat six "growl" even with short '53 Chevy (16" long) glasspaks in the stock locations under the back seat. Holes larger than the smaller than dime size would start to approach the single stock manifold/glasspak pitiful "wooosh" sound-so why bother?

From monkeying on MGBs and other old two outlet exhaust manifolded (old Datsun 510) four banger furrin stuff, it seems that if you can keep the two outlets separated 'till the pipes clear the engine bay and turn towards the rear (say maybe 2-1/2 to 3 feet from manifold) that even with a single pipe you will still hear the rumble/growl rather than the single exhaust "wooosh".

On some bodies running the dual side pipe can be a real hassle, but do strive to make both side as close (within a foot or so) in length or your "raaaap" sound will come out the two pipes at two different rpms rather than at one time in unison- can be "in stereo". My first Chevy ll had upwards to three foot or so difference in pipe length due to clearance problems with tight engine/crossmember/transmission (also had dual side outlet on front of manifold instead of more traditionally seen rear outlet) it all contributed to the sizable pipe length difference.

I have always used 2' dia. pipes on all my 194/230 stuff, did have a 2-1/2" system on a '67 half ton 250 with Hedmans/Flowmasters- Fats is right, the flowmasters do not sound so traditional-but I enjoyed mine settin' off car alarms with just a blip of the throttle-an' inna a parking garage a good "goose" would light 'em all up!.

dont forget that 750 cfm Q-Jets came on Pontiac's sohc 230 motors-big cfm but did have pretty small primaries, the front butterflies were 1-3/8 dia (35mm in Hank talk). That motor was a smooth idler with a little extra compression and with near header-like cast iron dual outlet exhaust manifold, and I think with two 2" dia pipes that joined into a single 2-1/2 pipe. Just the other side of the coin.

Anyone have any tips on what orientation to mount the 32/36 carb and linkage adapters to make this thing work? I am a visual person and a search yields nada.

Done for the night and will tinker with it tomorrow.

Got the cast iron header mounted, heated water plumbed for the stock intake and new radiator in. Will add pictures tomorrow.

I got the linkage for the 32/36 carb all dialed in after a bit of modifying the stock setup. I flattened out the carb arm on the pivot device, drilled a hole lower than stock and built a custom rigid link. I had to straighten the throttle push rod to clear the headers and all is well.

The 32/36 Weber from Langdon's was perfect straight out of the box. Just needed to set the idler screw.







The inline 230 sounds like a beast with open headers. The Chevelle heads to the exhaust shop this fri.

Pretty happy with the setup now that it is all smoothed out.

Here is a quick youtube video with the headers open. Headed to the exhaust shop in the morning. Feels good to have all the work done and get her back on the road.

http://youtu.be/6rmf2lsZYJ4

Cool! But around 1:20 mins do I see some sparks toward the flywheel or just exhaust debris?

Drew, that is just some exhaust debris!:)

After getting the exhaust all done I was having drive-ability issues. Idle was too high and needed to be high to keep from stalling. Found out the the gasket I used from the carb to manifold was creating a huge vacuum leak. Spoke with Tom Langdon and Larry from Florida and found that the Weber 32/36 gasket fixed the vacuum leak. Found another small leak at the intake to block contact points and resurfaced the intake.

Seems to have fixed the problem of air/fuel ratio. I really don't like the water/heat plate Tom sold me for the bottom of the intake and am rethinking welding a snaked tube to the bottom of the intake to heat it and keep the coolant in a closed system.

I also picked up an offy 5416 for future upgrades. If I choose to use it, I will contemplate running a 4bbl carb. First things first... get this car back on the road!

Research here has really paid off.

BTW went with true dual 2" pipes all the way back paired together exiting side by side just past the rear DS tire in the stock location. Added a pair of 22" glass packs. The 230 sounds like a beast! I have yet to see what the highway drone sounds like. Up to 55mph it sounds great.

Worked through re-jetting the 32/36 carb for actual performance. Had a huge flat spot in the power-band at 35-45 mph. I set up the primaries at 140 and 150 secondary. Still have a slight bog if I floor it at 35-45 mph. Talking with Tom, I am first going to disengage the secondary and try to isolate which needs a bigger jet.

Will end up with 145/150 or 140/155.

It has been a real headache working through this as I am not a carb guru. But I do notice the car is more responsive and A LOT more fun to drive.