What timing! Thanks Moparhound! (Sorry, long story) *UPDATE*

[bull]

On August 25th I posted a message in General Q&A (http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,17624.0.html) asking about the search for an original carb for my very rare 383/2bbl/4spd '68. Since the carb is one of the three items that make my car most rare I thought I would make some attempt at finding the correct carb. I may not run it on the car but I at least want to own one and say I have it. Moparhound was the only guy who responded to the thread and he provided this link: http://www.blake.com/oemcarbs/dodgetrucks.htm which shows the 1968 383/2bbl/4spd trucks came stock with the same carb as my car. I did not know that the pickups used the same carbs until he posted that info. This particular 2bbl Carter BBD-4422S carb was found only on 1968 Dodge, Chrysler and Plymouth cars and trucks that had a 383 and a four speed (and how many Chryslers do you think had 4spds?). There were 74 Chargers that had that combo in '68 so I was guessing there were a grand total of maybe 200 of these carbs floating around the entire planet. Since Moparhound told me about the pickups it opened up a whole new area of search I hadn't considered and I have been casually looking for this carb for the past four years.

Fast-forward to today. I had tried three other times to sell my late father's '95 Dodge pickup tailgate and I finally lowered the price down to $100 firm and posted the last-chance ad last night on craigslist. Today a guy comes to my house to buy the tail gate, sees my Charger in the garage and we strike up a conversation about Mopars. Turns out he's a big fan of the '65-'69 Dodge trucks and owns two or three of them. He then mentions that he has a '68 Dodge pickup with a 383/2bbl/4spd and he wants to get rid of the original 2bbl carb and go with a 4bbl. So I'm standing there trying not to soil myself because this weird series of events has led me to a guy who most likely has the carb I've been looking for for the past 4 years and then I coyly mentioned that I might be willing to take the carb off his hands when he gets his 4bbl. But he's smart and asks me why I would want it so I kind of tipped my hand and told him that it's probably the one I need to make my car original. Then he tells me he has two of them and I just about followed him home right then. Anyway, it's not a done deal and I know better than to get my hopes up but it might be the break I've been looking for. Stay tuned.

What a small world and what timing. Had I not posted that thread when I did, had Moparhound not responded with that info when he did, had the tail gate sold earlier or to someone other than a 1968 Dodge pickup owner, I would still be at square one. There is a God!

[472 R/T SE]

Right-on Curtis!  I hope you have his phone # at least?

[Charger_Fan]

Wow, that's pretty cool! I hope you get one.

[bull]

Right-on Curtis!  I hope you have his phone # at least?

Yea, I was sure to get that. Now I have to figure out how to do this without him picking up on my desperation. The higher the want the higher the price.

[REDNECK]

he may be on this forum

[bull]

After buying some Charger parts from another guy in Vancouver I went by this guy's house and saw the carbs he has. There were two sitting on the inner fender of his '68 pickup and one on the 383 itself. I looked the two over that were on the fender real well and they were nothing special but then when I looked at the one on the truck I saw the magical, Holy Grail of numbers on the triangular tag: 4422S. Moparhound was right, the pickups did come with them. However, I knew my chances of getting the one on the pickup were pretty weak since it was the one he he had just poured gas in to get it running. I eventually told him that the one I need is on the pickup and that I'd pay him $25 for the tag itself until he has the time to swap out to the 4bbl he wants. Of course he starts with all the excuses such as the city says all of his vehicles have to run so removing the carb would make it inoperable (even though it never did run more than 15 seconds at a time after pouring gas down it) and that he's been putting off replacing the carb because he's lazy, etc. He never did come up with a reason why the tag itself couldn't be removed but whatever. He said I can buy the carb for $25 as soon as he musters enough energy to get out there and replace the intake and carb. Sure, dude, take your time. I'll call him and stay on him about it but I'm definitely not holding my breath because unless you get the part the first time you see it (IMO) it's more than likely you'll never see it again. Too many things can happen and minds can change. If he thinks he's getting more than $25 he's sorely mistaken. I'm just glad to know the pickups have the same carb. That means there's a lot more of them out there than I thought.

[Charger_Fan]

Well, that sorta sucks.
You could always offer to swap the intake for him once he gets it, since he's so lacking in motivation. Did he buy the tailgate from you? If not, maybe you could use that as some leverage.

I still hope it works out for you in the end.

[MOPARHOUND!]

Glad to have helped out bull.    While you may not have the carb yet, at least you have a chance at it versus no chance at all.

I came across some of that info while researching 2 Carter 4 barrel carbs purchased 20 years ago, that had been part of a dual 4 setup.  Maybe Hemi? Chebby?  I didn't know.  Turns out they were off of 66-67 Cadillac engines, and someone had paired them up in a dual 4 setup. 

The guy in Arkansas never called me back.  He may have not had time to check yet.  Will try to follow up.

[bull]

I called the guy today and it seems he's ready to deal now. We originally agreed to $25 for the carb but now he wants to follow up on one of the offers I made him before, which was to take my Edelbrock carb and intake in trade. That's good because I wasn't going to use them anyway so I'd just have to try selling them and they really are nothing special. The intake is aluminum but it's a clone of the original cast steel so other than weight savings there's no advantage, and the carb is a 600 cfm and if I go with a 4bbl I'd want a 750 cfm and a better intake so it's no biggie to me. He's going to give me the 4422 carb, his intake and two other 2bbl carbs in trade so it's a fair deal IMO. I guess now I'll have a six pack. We'll find out tomorrow if the deal goes through.

[Mean 318]

GOOD LUCK!

[Silver R/T]

Good luck

[Johnny SixPack]

Good luck, Curtis!

[bull]

I got it! I half expected the guy to be gone when I showed up but he was there and actually had the carb and intake removed when I showed up. He gave me it and two other 2bbl carbs in trade but the one on the intake has the 4422S tag I need. I have never seen one of these or heard from anyone who has one during the past 2-3 years I've been looking so it's amazing I found one the way I did so close to home. The big guy upstairs was looking out for me.

[Charger_Fan]

Good for you! Congrats, Man!

[MorePwr]