I guess Im realllllllllllllllllly lucky because out of the 200+ cars Ive owned in my life, Ill guess I put 20-30 AFB/Edelbrock carbs on my own cars. Never had one not run fine straight out of the box. The most I ever had to do was set idle speed. Even my SuperBee I put the 413 in a few years ago got a new Edelbrock and it could lite up the tires as long as I held the gas down...so Ill say it was 'good enough'. Ill take streetability and reliability over performance since none of my cars were ever lacking any power for me on the street. Ive checked some of them with a vacuum gage and playing a bit with mixture and never had one do better than the original settings that were on them. I never bothered to dyno an engine with both to see a comparison, so saying a Holley gives better performance doesnt prove a thing to me...its just an opinion. I see a LOT more cars at events with Edelbrocks...like 3-4 or more to 1.
have any of those ever had a wide band o2 sensor mapping, ??? what do you call working out of the box, the car starts,??
As for slosh in cornering, etc, I hear you can get "off road" built carbs, I'm sure others may know the details, but basically its said they dont even stall for rock crawling trucks.
John, this is what I used on mine except mine was wood or fibre because it dont transfer the heat like a metal one. Mine would percolate the fuel in the bowls in traffic from heat, and would miss in a hard turn. The spacer eliminated both problems immediately. The bowls kept full and even autocrossing, it did not cut out. Even if you doubt it, there cheap and you can always return it. I had a 383 stroker.
have any of those ever had a wide band o2 sensor mapping, ??? what do you call working out of the box, the car starts,??
Started and ran fine soon as the fuel bowls filled. Never had to touch them for years except to change air or fuel filters. All the cars were old school with no sensors except for temp and oil pressure. There was no such thing as an o2 sensor in any of them. Same with the boat. Ron told me what carb to get, I took it with the boat to his shop. I mounted it and he played with it and a few minutes on my way to Dayton for the Nats, and won 2nd place in class. I was happy with that as the one that beat me had 100 more hp. I have the video and I dogged on the line (jet drive cavitated) or I think I could have still beat him.
Started and ran fine soon as the fuel bowls filled. Never had to touch them for years except to change air or fuel filters. All the cars were old school with no sensors except for temp and oil pressure. There was no such thing as an o2 sensor in any of them. Same with the boat. Ron told me what carb to get, I took it with the boat to his shop. I mounted it and he played with it and a few minutes on my way to Dayton for the Nats, and won 2nd place in class. I was happy with that as the one that beat me had 100 more hp. I have the video and I dogged on the line (jet drive cavitated) or I think I could have still beat him.
in other words you don't know if they worked "out of the box" and why g.m. spent millions on the R&D of the q-jet and it's tune on different engines?? as one size doesn't fit all.. air bleeds and idle feeds, and tons of other things, come into play, that was a factor even before the retail availability of testing equipment, even as far back as the Mobil mpg challenge in the 20-30's this showed the difference of a carb that would allow an engine to run, and one that give the best mpg, the best power, and the longest engine life.. same things that racers use to get a carb tuned, The carter was retired for the reason of lack of doing anything very well, tuning is very limited,, The edel carb is well liked because it has limited tuning outside jets,, so it is hard to screw up.. and for those that just want a fuel meter that get a engine to run, it's fine, for those that want more than that, that want power,mpg,and being able to tune it for "that"engine and vehicle package, it's very limited.. holleys get a bad rep, because most that use them don't understand fuel metering, and get in trouble changing things without having a clue on what it does, and how it effects that circuit and the others in the carb.. for all out user tunability of a mass produced carb.. the Holley wins hands down, many that use them don't understand them, andwould not know what to do with air bleeds, fuel bleeds, etc.. and why holley offers carbs with fixed, and adjustable.. the fixed keeps many out of trouble.. I like the q-jet for most installs, as it was science out, to give the best fuel atomization at a wide rpm range and loads, it's down fall is the needles are not as easy to change as the carter or the holley.. but the small primaries keep the velocity up at low rpm.. light loads.. If, someone built a q-jet with a feature that king demons has, of changeable venture on the primary and secondary side, it would be the best carb ever made, as it be able to fit the needs of a low rpm big c.i.d. cruiser and a large c.i.d. wide rpm engine and when I say wide I mean 1000-9400rpm but The holley comes close,, and the efi era , can do it, without any hard parts R&D ..
Yes I do know it worked out of the box. They ALWAYS have on every car I ever put one on. I installed it and just hooked everything up and it started and ran fine. He fooled around with the mixture screws for just a few minutes and said it was fine as it was. The results proved it. Why is that so hard to comprehend. They make a good product that works as advertised which is the reason they sell so many. They work just like a TV...you expect it to work correctly out of the box, except to tune it to your local stations. I only want an engine to always start, always run and never have any problems while working to my expectations...and they do that very well thank you. I did get one once I returned right away because the casting was broken. The only people I ever see at shows or events that are happy with their Holley are the ones who just like to turn a screw every 15 mins at a racetrack or those that are concerned their weak car needs every 1/4 hp they can get. If I remember, all my carbs had smaller secondaries too...and they were mechanical, no vacuum crap to mess with. In the winter since I drive all my cars all year round, I usually slipped the linkage out so it would only run on 2 bbls to save gas even wide open. Holley should have stuck with 2 bbls which surprisingly did seem to usually work OK. You guys seem to love just tinkering with a carb when what you really should use is FI since you all love that. On my car I drive all the time, I dont want to ever have to open the hood except to change oil.
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-04-2015).]
You two (Furgal, Roger) argue like your sisters, take it to pm's. Just for the record I wouldn't let either one of you near any of my carbs. Holley or Edelbrock, you both have spoken enough to prove you know just enough to be DANGEROUS.
You two (Furgal, Roger) argue like your sisters, take it to pm's. Just for the record I wouldn't let either one of you near any of my carbs. Holley or Edelbrock, you both have spoken enough to prove you know just enough to be DANGEROUS.
Everyone wants to always argue about anything anymore and I have more time than anyone else to argue back. Ill argue to the last word if I believe im right. I can go back and forth 20 hours a day since I can use my laptop while I watch tv anyway. Everyone, including myself are giving opinions. There are NO facts anywhere to say what carbs are best for what. If there was, there would only be one manufacturer.
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-05-2015).]
John, this is what I used on mine except mine was wood or fibre because it dont transfer the heat like a metal one. Mine would percolate the fuel in the bowls in traffic from heat, and would miss in a hard turn. The spacer eliminated both problems immediately. The bowls kept full and even autocrossing, it did not cut out. Even if you doubt it, there cheap and you can always return it. I had a 383 stroker.
My intake is level so I didn't need a leveling shim, however I did build a 2" solid oak spacer. (down home phenolic) I could have built it to put the carb lengthwise with the car, but I didn't. The center hung float has given me no grief at all. The problems usually lie with the Holley 390 which has side hung floats. Same thing will hold true for off road. You need a center hung float bowl, and of course extensions on your vent tube. I hadn't thought of connecting the two though. That interests me.
Arn
[This message has been edited by Arns85GT (edited 02-05-2015).]
I ran the 600 Edelbrock on my 383 Fiero for 2 years. The carb was fine but on warm days if I stopped at a store and tried to restart after say 10 minutes it would crank for awhile. It was embarrassing as the fuel would percolate away. A spacer made it better. I have now run the FAST EZ EFI for 2 years. I love it. Self tuning and never misses a beat. As I have made changes the setup to restart a newe tune takes about 2 minutes or less. Great product.
I had a 383 stroker.
