At the ripe old age of 18 I bought my first car last month, a '66 Bonneville with a 389 2bbl. It'* an awesome weekend cruiser and am loving her so far.

It was originally equipped with the 389, but only 2bbl. I was wondering if to gain all that extra horsepower the economy carb was lacking it was as easy as ordering a remanufactured carb (from a reputable source). My dad seems to think if it was designed for the vehicle it should just be plug n' play with a proper installation, with no other necessary mods. True or false? I want more bite out of my classic but don't want to blow the motor, or anything else for that matter.

First post!

It will depend on the mounting plate. As long as the opening is correct for the larger carb. Hooking up the linkages should be easy. To be honest with you, it'* been over 25 years sense I worked on a carburetor.

you will need a 4 bbl intake to do the swap efficiently.

Edelbrock has decent manifolds from around $250 and almost any 4bbl Holley carb could be set on top with very little issue.

is that all I would need to set up, a 4bbl intake and carb? No additional lines/rewiring?

That'* about it. No wires on a carb, just a fuel line, and the throttle linkage

Ya I assume that a car that old would have a mechanical choke, if its an electric choke then there will be one or two wires that will need to go to that, If the distributor had vacuum advance that will need to be hooked up to a vacuum port somewhere.