'66 Tri-Power - what missing parts in a swap meet/CL find make it a no-go?
 

I see them frequently in my online studies - "Tri-Power, ran when removed, needs to be restored, $1,000,000 no lowballers..."

Not having spent half a lifetime chasing and tuning them, what missing items are deal-breakers, and what items if missing is/are reasonable to replace?

My experience with other items suggests it's not the big things, it is the little bracket or the special fitting that usually got lost or buggered. Also, know there are some great techs and rebuilders out there, but like our beloved 8-lugs, they cost a lot of money.

If you spent half a lifetime chasing and tuning them then you obviously know. One thing I always found amusing is that 80% of them have the "original carbs", but all 3 have or had chokes.

Biggest problem with "complete original Tripowers" is wrong carbs. Most often, the center carb is not original. The end carbs are sometimes wrong also--often with choke provisions, which is easy to ID. Air cleaner tops (chrome) are never usable, but the air cleaner bases usually can be restored easily. The linkage, fuel lines, choke parts are all available repro identical to OEM or NOS pieces. Painted carb bodies are my pet peeve. Usually, however, the paint can be bead blasted off and the carb bodies dichromated to OEM color.

A Tripower in need of restoration should sell for between $750 and $1,000. A restored unit with air cleaners ususally sells for between $1,800 & $2,700.

Your numbers are pretty much spot on.

I asked because I have not spent as much time as the experts on the subject. Trying to learn, a few '66 units have popped up locally.

Easy question to ask; very difficult to answer.

For 1964~1966, much easier, because as Dick B. mentioned, lots of good repro fuel lines, linkages, etc.

For 1957~1963, different ball game. And the desired end result has bearing into the equation. Are you interested in a nice appearing "driver", or do you want concours d'elegance restoration? A lot of the available repro stuff is fine for the nice appearing driver, but unsuitable for the restoration.

Like Dick mentioned, incorrect carbs OR carbs with repro airhorns which are not "perfect" or aluminum throttle body repros, even "correct" carbs on wrong year manifold (eg. 1963 front on 1964 manifold). Again, as Dick mentioned, carb body paint. I tend to totally avoid setups with carbs with body paint. Anyone that would use that crap is apt to cobble everything else as well. In my opinion, a "restored" setup with body paint is worth maybe 40 percent of the setup BEFORE it was even touched!

1957 and 1958 air cleaners are virtually unobtainable. If "driver", then one can replace with GTO pie pans, but if restoration is your goal, good luck on acquiring a 1957 or 1958 air cleaner that is restorable for the figures given above on restored tripowers.

As as aside to that, Pontiac alone used 17 different large tripower air cleaners (that I know of) from 1957~1966. If one is present, is it the correct one for the rest of the set-up.

Several special fittings that were used one or two years only, same with brackets. We had a tool maker custom make us special tooling to enable us to machine the various special fittings.

And I don't know the answer to this, but has anyone reproduced the water switches? Believe me, machining new ones is not a lot of fun.

Jon.

I find it very easy for a novice to get screwed buying a Tri-Power and it is not always intentional. A lot of times the seller does not know what they have either and every one is off of a GTO, even ones dated 1957. :rolleyes:

Taking this a step further - even those from a J-2 are sometimes called GTO ;)

Jon.

OP - this link may help:

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Tripowerspecs.htm

Jon.

Hi Jon,

As always, I appreciate your vast knowledge on the carburetor family.

You mention on your site for 1966 that the Van Nuys plant used aluminum fuel lines. Possibly on the Big cars built there, but the Tempest Series cars (GTO) was built up north at the Fremont plant and used “Steel Fuel Lines” on the 66 Tri-Power.

I have cataloged numerous Original equipped 66 Tri-Power cars from this Fremont plant and all have Steel lines, with most having the large wrap around front line to filter.

Chris.

I have a question on the carb paint. If that is such a negative in the quality of a Tripower restoration, where would one get their carb bodies correctly re colored?
How long does a correctly re colored carb body last?
I had some done many years ago and the finish did not last well at all.
Just trying to expand my knowledge... Steve



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Chris - you found an error in my listing:o

It should state some of the fuel lines from both Van Nuys AND Fremont were steel. EDIT: it now does.

Steve - the original zinc alloy finish is chromate. This was a cold-dip (no electricity) in a mixture of sulphuric, nitric, and chromic acids. Chromic acid is on the EPA's NoNo list (you need an EPA permit to even buy it). Same stuff used for chroming bumpers. Remember 30 or so years ago when most of the chrome platers disappeared? That is when the regulations got nasty.

Because of the fed requirements, properly done zinc alloy chromate is EXPENSIVE! Seven years ago, when we we still building carbs, we figured our COST (wholesale) to have all of the castings done and all of the electroplating done on a Rochester 2-barrel at $250. average.

Because of this, a number of "correct" colorations have surfaced. Aladyne (spelling) seems to be one of the popular ones. And the paint is another. Other companies have found some kind of dye that approximates the color.

The last place I knew of that was doing the bodies ala carte was the Holley Custom Shop (if submitted to them through a Holley distributor). As I have been out of rebuilding for more than 7 years, do not know what is currently available.

A correctly chromated zinc alloy casting should retain its color for 15~20 years OR THE FIRST TIME IT IS DIPPED IN CARBURETOR CLEANER, whichever comes first! If you have this done, and need to clean the carb, an ultrasonic cleaner with Dawn dishwater soap will not hurt the finish.

As far as what is wrong with the paint: this is an opinion, and others will have differing opinions. To me, it looks CHEAP! But, with fuel available in Missouri, it will not last long. How do you like a carburetor with streaky paint runs? Our fuel in Missouri is pretty bad. The only good thing about our fuel is for testing purposes. If materials can survive our fuel, they can survive anything!

Jon.

Forgot this link when posting earlier, it may help:

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Tri...r_cleaners.htm

I probably have most of the Pontiac ones not yet pictured, and will eventually picture them, but seem to have more projects than hours.

Jon

Jon,

Now, that is real cool!

To see all these styles of air cleaners for a 3 carb unit.

I imagine some, if not all are very rare.

Thanks for posting this.

PS -Do you have the GTO 3 carb unit air cleaners posted somewhere?

Chris.

Chris - not as of yet.

Virtually everyone knows what the 1964~1965 look like and how they differ from the 1966.

Fewer know what the 1966 California look like, but still more than know about the large car air cleaners.

I probably have pictures around here somewhere (about 300 gigabyte of carburetor data), but not sure where. If someone would send me stand-alone top, bottom, and side pictures for:
1964-1965
1966 federal
1966 California

I will post them.

As for being rare, yes, several of them are rare, and a couple of the Pontiac ones are exceptionally rare. The two exceptionally rare Pontiac ones are the 1961 Super Duty (not pictured), and the 1966 large car air cleaner, and I cannot even find a part number for this one. I have only heard of two, and both were on 1966 California Highway Patrol 421's. In all by Master Parts Lists/Books, I do not have a 1966 Police listing.

Jon.

Could they have used 1965 pieces??
Like motorpool guy visits the parts counter?

Couple of scenarios:
1) complete 1965 tripower setup
2) Frankenstein 1966 with 1965 center carb
3) hacked center on 1965 air cleaner base

According to the individual that had two, they were factory pieces for three large carburetors, no hacking.

GM did have a large air cleaner on the 1966 Oldsmobile with three large carburetors, so possibly the base was used; don't know.

Jon.