Best Two Barrel Carb?

[Justin36]

My truck is has the original 283, and it also has the original 45 year old carburetor.. Now it runs like a champ but is pretty heavy with the fuems.. My exhaust runs over the axle all the way out the back. What are my better carb options? Or rebuilding? Any suggestions? Thanks!
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[ole dollor]

well the cheapest would be put a kit in it and see if you can get rid of the fumes, if its running good that's what i would try, the float may be just a little high or soaking up a little fuel and getting heavy. rebuild it and tune it out and go have fun with it....

[Wrenchbender Ret]

That roch. 2 barrel is a good carb. Put a kit in it & make sure the float does not have gas in it & set the float level. They are easy to work on.

[Longhorn 70]

Wrenchbender is right!!
Good little carbs.

I used to say just replace the float while you're in there...not any more. The last few that I have replaced have been leaky.

Put it in a bath of gas overnight. Weight it down so it doesn't float up. Shake it well when you pull it out.

If it is one of the phenolic ones, yuck, replace it.

Then put the kit in. I usually set the float a 32nd - 1/16th higher than spec becuase I run them hard. Also pay attention to the little aluminum pore plugs... Look for signs of leakiness around them.

[GRX]

Full agreement on Wrenchbender and Longhorn's posts. I have built plenty of Rochester 2bbl over the years. Great stuff when tuned right. If you discover yours has the black composite (phenolic) float, replace it with a brass one which won't get soaked. Check float as mentioned to make sure there are no leaks. Brass floats can be had easily for $8 - $12 online. All this applies to the Quadrajets as well.

[68Gold/white]

I agree on the Rochester 2 Bbl, also.
Repair what you have Do NOT EVER get rid of that original carb, even if you experiment w/ another 2 Bbl Rochester. DO NOT EVER buy a "Reman" carb, most are thrown together, with a hodge podge of parts, that may or may not even allow your engine to run!!!

There's a guy in Eldon, Missouri, John Hardgrove, his business is call "The Carburetor Shop". Look for him, on line, it is best to call him, instead of emails, I'm sure he can help w/ any parts, kit, etc, needed.

I built a 283 in the early 80's for my 67 Chevy Bel Air, spent some money on it, had it dyno'd (yeah, believe it or not...). One combo that I wanted to try on it (but, never did), for an intake/carb combo, was the larger 2G carb (your 283 has the smaller 2G) with the matching stock iron 2 Bbl intake. I'd think it would work great, no worries about the transition from part to full throttle, like a 4 Bbl. Maybe a little tuning, not much, and the added air flow would allow the 283 much better pasing/full throttle power.

My 283 built had a Holley Economaster 4 bbl carb, with a dual plane Holley (economy type) 4 bbl intake. I even later experimented with the original 2 bbl intake/carb (like your pickup has). Man it sure cut the power back, it was like having a govenor on the engine. I tried it for better MPG, it didn't show any improvement.