I have an old 69 Power wagon 4x4 short box with a small block 318 and 2 Barrel carb.
Recently I picked up a 71 parts truck for some needed odds and ends for its restoration, with it came a date code correct set of heads and a spread bore intake.
I have always wanted a 4 barrel on the truck although its not really correct for my rig it was a just want type of thing even though it will burn more fuel.
But hey I needed the heads any way. and I am gonna swap the heads after a valve job and the intake will be off any way so why not do the swap if I can find the correct carburetor and air cleaner for it.
The short block has been rebuilt with a Steel crank Forged full floating pistons and a Mild RV hyd. cam.

So I am curious as to what is the correct carburetor should be for a small block spread bore manifold?

Not after big HP so as much as good power and Torque and the Stock appearance of original equipment as this is a classic 4x4 used for light trail riding and is not a daily driver, after I repaint the Truck it will serve as a Tow rig for my Plymouth Sat. to car shows.

Thanks in advance for any and all comments and any help.

Depending on the specific year of the motor, a spread bore carb would have been the Carter Thermoquad, the late 70s and early 80s got a Rochester Quadrajet. Both were love/hate carbs. A guy could also use a spread bore Holley.

As long as I wasn't into listening the spread bore carbs howl, I usually got better gas mileage from the 4bbl then most 2bbl carbs delivered.

I also would not be4 too concerned about the guys that would complain about the 4bbl conversion, they will already have their nuts wound up tight because you have installed the )D 4 speed. What ever their opinion is doesn't really matter, they are not the owners of your truck.

Is the 71 a 360 or did they put a 4 barrel on a 318. I thought 360 heads have bigger chambers, which would drop your compression if used on a 318.
I had a thermoquad for a while, seemed like a decent carb

I figured it would be a Thermoquad But I wasn't sure about size or specific model without an electric choke? model number?

I want to avoid a Edlebrock knock off for it, I have a few old Carters laying on the shelf and a Bunch of the Edlrocks I have collected over the years.
I have never been happy with the Edlebrocks I have taken many off of cars over the years that should have had a Quadra jet and have always removed them.

I like the Quadrajets but I wouldn't put one on this truck it wouldn't be correct for a 69 pick up.

The engine in my Truck is the original 69 318 for the truck with the manual 4speed I rebuilt it years ago with good parts,
I will probably use one of the Carters/Edlebrocks I have laying on the shelf after a quick rebuild, Just not sure if I have one without the electric choke, the Truck uses a Heat stove type choke.

I am in agreement, Its my Truck which is why I want the 4 Barrel lol I will keep all the original 2 Barrel stuff If and when I decide to sell it will be included with the sale.
I have plans to fully restore and paint the truck, I have had it almost 30 years myself its a good rig but I don't have any plans to sell any time soon.

I did not install the 4 speed? it came from the factory with it.

If you have a spread bore carb with an electric choke, it will work fine. If you are running headers, that electric choke might work better, the old stove pipe set up didn't work as well if the heat crossover in the intake didn't function correctly. Just make sure there is a cover over where the stove pipe would have bolted on. By the time the spread bore carbs came around, I believe the stove location was already closed, but with the earlier 4 bbl intakes, they had an open hole into the exhaust crossover which needed to be closed. 20 years ago I could have told you which intakes had what, but that water has will left the area. If that intake has an EGR valve, make sure it and the gasket under it doesn't leak, the EGR does not have to function, but the hole in the intake has to be sealed..

The 340 and the 360 4bbl intakes do have larger intake port then a 318 has. For street use, the differences in the intake port size won't be noticeable, and the intakes seal just fine. Do not worry about the intake port sizes unless you are going drag racing. That 4bbl and opening up the exhaust from the restrictive single exhaust (just adding dual exhaust with the stock 318 exhaust manifolds) will make a noticeable difference in the seat of the pants. I ran a 340/360 intake on 318 heads with a huge cam on the streets without issue for 5 years. When we put that motor in our dirt track car, the 346/360 heads made a difference that was not noticed on the streets. Higher RPM makes the difference, if you plan on turning that 318 much past 4800 RPM, consider the 340/360 ( or late magnum) heads.

The spread bore intake first showed up on a 340 in late 71. It had the Thermoquad, and the open casting stove pipe choke. By 73, the 340/360 intakes had the closed stove pipe choke with an electric assist (that pulled the choke open pretty fast in cold climates). As far as I remember the Thermoquad never had a full on electric choke. When the Quadrajet replaced the Thermoquad in around 1983 the Quadrajet had the full on electric choke, but the intake also got the EGR valve.

There was an aftermarket tq for a while that had an electric choke. Id look for one of those. As unless you get a factory manifold meant for a tq specifically, customizing the rod from the factory style choke could be interesting. The Edelbrock performer series intakes had a factory style choke well cast in, never tried putting a tq on an Edelbrock intake.
That center heat crossover HAS to be clear and functional for the factory style electric choke to work right, they often clogged solid with carbon , when that happened they'd start easy and run good warmed up but the "in between" cold and warmed up they would be very temperamental especially in stop and start driving.

I've used Carter AFB and later Edelbrock clones of that carb in many small blocks over the years. If you go that route you're gonna want to put a plastic or even wooden (yes the speed shops used to sell wood ones) spacer between the intake and carb. Every time I didn't I had percolation problems when restarting a hot engine. Without the (insulating) spacer in there they'd boil the gas out of the bowl until either empty or the engine cooled down.

Thanks guys

I still need to dig through all my carbs and see if I have a spread bore? I want to say all the ones I have are square but its a big pile of carbs I have been collecting for years, I just have to get my fat ass on the Top shelf and start digging through them to see what I have up their.

Thermoquad with the electric choke was #9801 aftermarket. One was made for chevy's, 9806 (?) but with different linkage setup.
Choke rods are semi-simple, 1/8" steel rod. Drill a small hole in the end for a pin, or do a fine cut 360* close to the end for a clip.
Easy to bend, and cheap.