Farm Truck Retrobuild

[Oberon67]

Hi all.

I'm the proud owner of an '81 C10 with the 250 inline six and a 3-speed manual transmission. That means the motor's got the double-hump valve cover, the integrated intake manifold and head, a Rochester duo-jet carb, and a ton of anti-smog plumbing.

Fortunately in my state of residence this vehicle has aged out of the tailpipe sniffer test; we're safety inspection only for this truck. A mechanic friend has recommended that I pull the dumb integrated head and all the smog plumbing off that motor and replace it with the head and intake off of, say, a 292 inline six, and add the appropriate aftermarket progressive 2-barrel carb.

(Actually he recommended that I yank the whole engine and replace it with a 350, but that's a story for another time. Suffice to say it's not happening any time soon.)

So let's say I wanted to do the build with the 292 parts and a good aftermarket carb. What's the best way to go about this, and which carb would you choose?