I have a stock 1979 F250/351M and the carb is in need of being replaced. I have owned the truck for over 10 years and it has been very dependable and I plan on keeping it as stock as possible. For more reliability or slight performance increase, I wouldnt be opposed to upgrading the carb to an aftermarket brand (i.e. edelbrock,Holley,etc). Who here has done this swap and what brand/part did you decide on? Ive gone onto the various web sites to research this for myself, but doing so almost makes my head explode. It's all very confusing. So I figure to ask somebody that has done it themselves. Thanks for any help given.

 

Welcome to FTE!

I'm actually in the middle of gathering up everything to add a 4bbl Holley Truck Avenger to my 351m. Holley and Edelbrock are both good. From what I've heard, Holleys are easier to tune; but that may just be opinion.

Edelbrocks and Holleys both require the use of a fuel pressure regulator, as your mechanical pump puts out too much pressure. You'll also need a 4bbl to 2bbl adapter for a 4bbl carb to work on your 4bbl intake. Additional parts may be needed, depending on your particular carb and truck.

It'll take some fiddling with to get a new carb to run correctly on your engine. You'll likely have to rejet and adjust the accelerator pump.

 

THX for the welcome. I had one person suggest Edelbrock Performer Intake with Holley 470 Truck Avenger Carb. But they didnt get anymore specific than that. I would love to see/hear what your research comes up with. THX for the reply.

 

Good choices. I haven't decided on which pressure regulator. Maybe someone will chime in.

 

My personal opinion is you'll be better off rebuilding your existing carb.

 

I put a Holley on my 351M last summer. It's a good carb, but I got better mileage with my Motorcraft. I really can't tell any difference in power. My original carb had parts so worn that a mechanic friend of mine told me to replace it, not try to rebuild it again. If I had it to do over, I'd just buy a new Motorcraft 2 barrel and drop on it.

 

Elaboration would be greatly appreciated.


It was tuned correctly and you stayed out of the secondaries?

 

For a swap to a Holly or Edelbrock/Carter carb to be beneficial, switching to a 4 bbl manifold would be needed plus tuning the carb. The Edelbrock/Carter carb definatly requires a regulator - the Holly regualtor is supposed to be best and the others not so great. A new carb "out of the box" would likley run OK but not help in fuel consumption without tuning.

In your situation, I would consider a remanufactured stock spec carb. No tuning required and its a durable reliable setup. NAPA can order one with the numbers from your carb. That said, its been a while since I bought a reman carb so hopfully somebody will post with recent experience on how they work.

 

Holley 2 barrel carb, stock manifold, F-150 longbed. My wife says I drive like a 'grandpa'. I had a little trouble getting it set to suit me, so I took it to a friend in town who has a shop. He kept it two days tweaking on it until he was satisfied. Went from 15-17 mpg to 10-12 mpg. Runs fine, just uses a lot more gas than it used to.

I've got an Edelbrock 4 barrel on my Crew's 460 and I like it. Just wish my factory air filter housing fit it.

 

15-17? Highway, I assume? Best I've ever gotten was 12.6 highway, but I wasn't using my normal grandpa driving technique. Could maybe get it to 14 if I was real light on the pedal.

Either way, my 2150 carb shaft is worn and making the truck idle like crap when warm, and I got a free Holley from a member here.

 

I'm definitely leaning more towards replacing w/a remanufactured carb. I rebuilt the carb about 8 years ago and it isnt worth rebuilding again. Napa wants 490.00 for a remanufactured carb for my truck, which seems a little high. Ive looked on ebay, but most of the carbs on there, that are called "rebuilt" or "remanufactured" dont seem very quality.

 

I would recommend doing what I did to both of mine both 302 and 351M. For the 302 I bought a 80's SVO 4bbl intake and topped it with the Edelbrock Performer 600cfm electric choke carb. only thing I had to do was find the plug for the choke but it was very simple and easy to install and tune. IMO Edelbrocks are better for street/stock swaps as they are much easier to tune and have far less places to leak and there is no power valve to blow out like the Holley. For the 351M I already had a Edelbrock Performer 400 intake and topped it with the Edelbrock Thunder AVS 650cfm electric choke, its much the same design as the Performer but has adjustable air bleed for the secondaries and the floats are better for angles associated with off roading. Both carbs came with the ball stud needed for the throttle cable and all install gaskets and needed parts, screws, studs, gaskets, etc.

 

I have a 351M in a 79 F350, previous owner had a Holly 500 2bbl on it. Ran OK, but not quite right. I bought a reman Motorcraft 2150 from National Carb and it runs great now. Best part is the price, only $149, plus $40 core & shipping.
Carburetor Lookup

 

Just now noticed you were using a 2bbl. Might have something to do with it, especially if the Holley was bigger.

 

this helped me so much...my truck is a 1977 ford f150 and i decided to replace the engine & tranny due to the tranny being junk and the engine not running no matter what i did.....anyway, id like to thank you for pointing us in the right direction...GO WITH THIS ONE!... Carburetor]Carburetor Lookup Lookup