# 1965 GTO Tri power



## joelwestgaard (Jan 3, 2022)

I have a 1968 GTO that someone put Tri power on off a 1965 GTO. I am putting on the original carburetor and manifold. I want to sell my Tri power setup but have no idea how much I should be asking for it. Any ideas?


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## GTOTIGR (May 3, 2020)

Hi joelwestgaard,

If you’ve not done so already you may want to start by verifying it’s authenticity. 

Pictured are the 65 part numbers from Eric White’s book:








The Tripower’s seem to range from $1,500. - $3,500. The more complete and OEM correct the more money they bring.

If you would like to share photos of the system along with the part numbers we can assist you with determining what you have.

Cheers


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## joelwestgaard (Jan 3, 2022)

Thanks. The manifold is a number 9778818. I will send a picture of the number and of the setup.


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## An0maly_76 (Dec 25, 2021)

The tri-power is a neat setup, not to hijack the thread, but I hear a lot about them being temperamental and hard to keep in tune... Is this true?


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## michaelfind (Dec 14, 2018)

Yes, they are horrible and should all be sent to me. I'll take those burdens off your hands for you. 

No, they can run really well after you learn the basics.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

An0maly_76 said:


> The tri-power is a neat setup, not to hijack the thread, but I hear a lot about them being temperamental and hard to keep in tune... Is this true?


NO, they are not like the foreign sports cars or motorcycle multi carb set-ups.


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## 66COUPE (Jul 23, 2021)

michaelfind said:


> Yes, they are horrible and should all be sent to me. I'll take those burdens off your hands for you.
> 
> No, they can run really well after you learn the basics.


I agree, send it to the old guys that have the time to tweak those old temperamental piles of undesirable iron into something useable, send pre paid and no charge. 😎


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## Rlamarche1 (Nov 22, 2016)

I have had my 64 for 5 years and have never had to touch the carbs...


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## An0maly_76 (Dec 25, 2021)

michaelfind said:


> Yes, they are horrible and should all be sent to me. I'll take those burdens off your hands for you.





66COUPE said:


> I agree, send it to the old guys that have the time to tweak those old temperamental piles of undesirable iron into something useable, send pre paid and no charge. 😎


I've created a monster... Sorry OP... 🤣


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## JesseLyon (Sep 13, 2020)

I bought a ‘66 tripower intake and carbs off Craigslist for $300. Spent $500 having the carbs rebuilt plus another $500 at AmesPerf for fuel lines, throttle linkage, vacuum parts/etc plus paint and other odds and ends so I’m into it for @ $1500. Oh, plus I almost blew up my garage trying to get it setup and then paid a mechanic a few grand to fix all my f ups . Car runs great now though and I love it! (See other threads here for full story). In other words, it’s great if you know what you are doing, otherwise leave it to a professional.


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## Scott06 (May 6, 2020)

Tripower is no more temperamental than any other carb set up. Yes more carbs linkages need to work correctly. Biggest snag I hit was fuel pressure, new pump i put on was high on pressure, otherwise fairly straightforward. I bought an ebay manifold and set , spent some bucks restoring them myself, in the end really works well now. Set me back $2500 plus my time. my 65 is PHS documented as factory tripower so worth it to me, but if it was a 4 bbl car originally would not have bothered. there is ks a reason Pontiac dropped it for 67 a good four bbl will put out as much hp.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

5 years ago, I paid $850 for a complete 1966 tri power setup, another $1350 to have the carbs restored, $450 to chrome the factory lids( don't ask) plus some more $$$ for linkages, filters, spacers etc... It was expensive, but turned out nice. If the carbs are correct on your 65 unit, I'd expect it to bring at least $1500 to the right guy.


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## 64since65 (Dec 11, 2019)

Holy cow, $1350 to rebuild the carbs seems like an awful lot unless the chromate plating was also restored. I'm not sure what chromate plating costs but I'm guessing it's not cheap.

If you are willing to take the time to do it yourself, I rebuilt mine for about $225 plus days of labor. Many of those days were taken up by curing time running paint tests. My carbs were really dirty and it took about one day (OK, not full 8 hour days though) to thoroughly clean each one, a couple days to paint each one due to curing time, and only an hour or so to put each one back together with the rebuild kit. It's not hard - just follow the instructions carefully. I haven't run the engine on this particular rebuild but these carbs have at least 150,000 hard miles on them and I've rebuilt them twice in the past so I'm confident they will be just fine. I think a lot of people are just scared that there's some magic in rebuilding carbs. These are pretty simple.

Cleaning was a bitch but if I was set up to rebuild carbs then I'd have a better, faster way to clean them. And I wouldn't have needed to spend all that time experimenting with paints.

Expenses:
$124 - rebuild kits.
$42 - soda for soda blasting
$59 - paint (includes numerous cans to test paint I ended up not using)

I also screwed up a section of my lawn big time. I soda blasted the carbs outside in the snow and didn't realize how much soda was building up. Two years later there's still no grass growing there so I'll have to dig it out, add some good dirt, and reseed it. Luckily I have a front loader and a 10 acre field to get new dirt from.

If you're interested in additional photos and the full story, most of it is on this web page. Once you get there, more info is on the "previous" and "next" pages.

Here the carbs are temporarily installed on the intake manifold just so I could see how they'd look. The number tags are a bit bent but the are the originals.








And I considered chroming my factory lids, too. The repros I've seen (and purchased) are definitely not the same as factory. On the other hand, I've decided - at least for now - that it's not worth having them rechromed. But I will keep them in case I change my mind or the next owner wants them.


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## Droach6498 (Nov 1, 2020)

64since65 said:


> Holy cow, $1350 to rebuild the carbs seems like an awful lot unless the chromate plating was also restored. I'm not sure what chromate plating costs but I'm guessing it's not cheap.
> 
> If you are willing to take the time to do it yourself, I rebuilt mine for about $225 plus days of labor. Many of those days were taken up by curing time running paint tests. My carbs were really dirty and it took about one day (OK, not full 8 hour days though) to thoroughly clean each one, a couple days to paint each one due to curing time, and only an hour or so to put each one back together with the rebuild kit. It's not hard - just follow the instructions carefully. I haven't run the engine on this particular rebuild but these carbs have at least 150,000 hard miles on them and I've rebuilt them twice in the past so I'm confident they will be just fine. I think a lot of people are just scared that there's some magic in rebuilding carbs. These are pretty simple.
> 
> ...


Heres my 3/2 setupI just pur hased I had them rebuilt and calibrated for $950 Comp Carbs Nevada my question is what paint did you use? I want to paint mine but have been told to have them chrome called around I would have to take them apart to do it, so thats out. I ended up using acorn nuts looks much better and the mettalic paint on my 65.


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## GTOTIGR (May 3, 2020)

Hi Droach6498,

The carb plating should be done prior to rebuilding and setting up the carburetors, since they need to be disassembled when plated.

If you desire an OEM carb look and don’t want pull everything back apart, Eastwood used to sell an aerosol carb paint that you may to consider. I’ve never used it but I assume if applied lightly and correctly it may resemble the original plating appearance.






New Carb Renew II. Ultimate paint for your ugly Carb | Eastwood Blog


What do you do when you have the best? You try and "one-up" yourself. For years Eastwood Carb Renew was the standard in fuel resistant carb paint, but we




garage.eastwood.com


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## Droach6498 (Nov 1, 2020)

Theres aguy on utube who paints them wirh a wheel paint and it looks good but there again you have to dissasemble them


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## 64since65 (Dec 11, 2019)

Droach6498, it's interesting to see your comment about somebody on utube using wheel paint because that's exactly what I used - VHT Wheel Paint. And this is the first I've heard of it being on utube.

The down side to using that paint is that, based on my tests, it needs to be cured at a high temperature to really hold up. If you decide to use that paint, go to my web page aimsdc.net/gto/mar_2020.a5w to read the full story of what it took for me to get it right. Hopefully it will save you some trouble.

And I still don't know how durable it will be.


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## Droach6498 (Nov 1, 2020)

64since65 said:


> Droach6498, it's interesting to see your comment about somebody on utube using wheel paint because that's exactly what I used - VHT Wheel Paint. And this is the first I've heard of it being on utube.
> 
> The down side to using that paint is that, based on my tests, it needs to be cured at a high temperature to really hold up. If you decide to use that paint, go to my web page aimsdc.net/gto/mar_2020.a5w to read the full story of what it took for me to get it right. Hopefully it will save you some trouble.
> 
> And I still don't know how durable it will be.


So heres my setup when I first got them theyve since been cleaned & rebuilt, the manifold is painted mettalic blue and I installed stainless acorn nuts. I dont think its that big a deal they arent painted maybe I will later right now I have alo going on having the engine rebuilt. But Im thinking if I do I will brush them. Ive brushed engines and parts before and if you use a good quality artists brush you cant tell on metal. Doesnt leave brush marks. 
I didnt see what paint you ended up with. Roy Marko uses Dupli Color gold wheel paint. If you want to see his youtube its Reconditioning Tri Power for small block (SBC) Chevy. He takes them apart and primes rebuilds & paints I beleive for a freind. Hes obviously a mechanic. Good job on your description here!


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## 64since65 (Dec 11, 2019)

Looks good! And you may be the smart one for not painting them. As I said, I have no idea how well my paint job will hold up. When I painted them I expected someone else to be doing the sheet metal but I'm now doing it myself so I'm figuring at least another year on that - not that there's much rust on my car - so a _minimum _of 3 years between engine rebuild and running it.


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## Droach6498 (Nov 1, 2020)

64since65 said:


> Looks good! And you may be the smart one for not painting them. As I said, I have no idea how well my paint job will hold up. When I painted them I expected someone else to be doing the sheet metal but I'm now doing it myself so I'm figuring at least another year on that - not that there's much rust on my car - so a _minimum _of 3 years between engine rebuild and running it.


You might try going to the you tube vid I ststed and ask him how well his held up


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## oldgoat64 (Jun 26, 2014)

An0maly_76 said:


> The tri-power is a neat setup, not to hijack the thread, but I hear a lot about them being temperamental and hard to keep in tune... Is this true?


No


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