Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

The only unique linkage piece is the link between the two carburetors and would be quite easy to make. The link from that link to the accelerator pedal link is same as with the single 4bbl Rochester. Fuel lines are also relatively easy to make, as is the choke stove pipe. I know of several occasions when Daytona Parts has modified standard 4GCs to Caribbean specifications, you might give them a call to see if they can still do this. The throttle shaft on the 2nd carburetor is unique and IIRC so is the fast idle setup. So the manifold and batwing remain the crucial items to locate.

As to ewrecks recollection of fully restored 55 and 56 Caribbean full 2 x 4 bbl assemblies at Hershey, yes - they were made up and offered by a good friend and they were good deals at $4500. He currently has no more.

Owen- Thanks for confirming my recollection about the units at Hershey. I was not questioning that they were good buys.....supply and demand sets the prices. I saw a batwing aircleaner for a Chrysler on EBay a few years ago with a price over $4000.
I bought a 65 Corvette that no one wanted in August 1967 for $2400. It was a black/ black coupe without the standard disc brakes( heavy duty drums); fuel injection ; 4 speed transmission and 4:56 rear gears and worst of all a 36 gallon fuel tank. It had loud off road exhaust and a suspension that was so stiff that it made every tar strip feel like a kidney punch . I loved the car although the payments consumed over half,of my monthly take home pay. I used the car as my daily transportation for 3 1/2 years and considered myself a genius when I sold it for the same $2400. Today the injection unit alone would command at least 5-6 times what I paid for the car........and a recent Mecum Auction offered a 64 with similar equipment that hammered at $450,000. Another seller refused to sell a 63 with the same options for $550,0000.
I am sure there are people,out there with complete setups for the Caribbean that they purchased 30-40'years ago for a lark. If they sold them for $2000 they also considered themselves geniuses but today could kick themselves for letting them go.

Owen- Thanks for confirming my recollection about the units at Hershey. I was not questioning that they were good buys.....supply and demand sets the prices. I saw a batwing aircleaner for a Chrysler on EBay a few years ago with a price over $4000.
I bought a 65 Corvette that no one wanted in August 1967 for $2400. It was a black/ black coupe without the standard disc brakes( heavy duty drums); fuel injection ; 4 speed transmission and 4:56 rear gears and worst of all a 36 gallon fuel tank. It had loud off road exhaust and a suspension that was so stiff that it made every tar strip feel like a kidney punch . I loved the car although the payments consumed over half,of my monthly take home pay. I used the car as my daily transportation for 3 1/2 years and considered myself a genius when I sold it for the same $2400. Today the injection unit alone would command at least 5-6 times what I paid for the car........and a recent Mecum Auction offered a 64 with similar equipment that hammered at $450,000. Another seller refused to sell a 63 with the same options for $550,0000.
I am sure there are people,out there with complete setups for the Caribbean that they purchased 30-40'years ago for a lark. If they sold them for $2000 they also considered themselves geniuses but today could kick themselves for letting them go.

I'm sure this has probably been discussed before, but if you put the 56 2x4 setup on a 55 352, what will be the outcome? Or if you put the 55 2x4 setup on the 56 374, what would be the outcome?

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What the seller is not stating here is that the drawer pulls on top of this unit shown are Cadillac only. All others used wing nuts.

Also not stated (and probably not known) is that Cadillac oil bath pots and Packard (and other) pots were a different size (diameter and depth) AND different offset (top hole is not in dead center). Cadillac pots were bigger and deeper.

And the Packard unit mounts in reverse of the GM units.

Finally, Chrysler also used this air cleaner-only with heavy ribs in the main body and also painted gold (Cadillac wasn't the only one in gold).

As venturi size (air flow and velocity) and jet size (fuel flow) are established within a carburetor for specific engine size and performance parameters, I'd expect that even though the difference is only 22 cubic inches you'd get less than ideal performance by swapping units in either direction. I'll let the carburetor experts (I'm certainly not one) elaborate.

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From 352" to 374" is only a 6% increase in demand and well within the physics of carb flow to handle. i doubt the two engines would notice any performance difference. The changes to '56 were mainly for fuel economy and daily driving.

In 1956, for example, the Packard Carribean used two 450 CFM Rochester 4Jet carbs versus the other seniors using one rated at 486 CFM. The 2x4 front venturi were slightly smaller and the jets are also smaller.

However, from experience, using two well-sorted single 4-bbl carbs works OK. On my current installation, the air/fuel ratio at cruise is dead on stoichiometric, at 14.7.

In fact, the major difference between the single carb and the 2x4 has to do with fuel economy on idle and decel. The single 4-bbl has idle circuits front and rear. Using two of them means having eight idle circuits. This makes the air/fuel ratio at idle difficult to tune and worse, goes dead rich on decel. The real 2x4 carbs eliminate the secondary idle circuits to lessen the giant sucking sound.

While the Packard throttle linkage opens both carbs, some 2x4 carb setups use a progressive linkage where most driving is done on the primary barrels of the rear carb. At about half throttle, the front two of the front carb open. If held full throttle long enough to a high enough RPM, the secondaries of both carbs open.

jack vines

Never seen a chrome plated 2x4 manifold.
But, I have now.
Sold for 610.00 on eBay

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FWIW--Motor City Packards will be re-popping the dual quad linkage set up for Caribbeans this year.