I was wondering why all 6 cylinder mavericks had a 1 barrel carb and a 4 cylinder pinto had a 2 barrel.
Why would you need a 350 CFM 2 barrel carb on a I-6 that has a log manifold that will only flow 100 CFM? About the only thing you gain is throttle response. The pinto 2.3's were pretty good little engines. The head flows a LOT more than an I-6 head does, and the intake did too. Even the later model 2.3 EFI intakes and heads flow better than the best factory 200-250 head that came on the Mavericks. Apparently Ford was thinking the same thing. They knew that the I-6 intake and head didn't move much air, and in all honesty, it didn't need to. They were designed to move the car up to about 75-80 mph and that's it. That required more torque than HP where the 2.3's needed some top end power to make up for the lack of cubic inches and consequently torque. An inline 6 inherently has an advantage in design; they tend to make good torque but the 2.3's aren't known for torque unless they have a hair dryer hung on the side.
So if I decide to get a different head (CI has some good looking ones) with more flow, would the Pinto carburetor be a good trade up to a 2-bbl or should I stick with the little 1-bbl I have?
do the CI aluminum head even come with an adapter to use the 1bbl carb? go with a 2bbl there's ton of info at fordsix.com. And if i'm not mistaken the pinto used a progressive 2 bbl carb.
