Great discussion guys, I really appreciate it all.

I'll start with the fact that when I first started with this whole deal, I had mistakenly routed my advance to full manifold vacuum and caught that one before I posted my problem. Kind of a "duh" move on my part...

Anyway, after an extensive bout of drinking, smoking, and staring at my engine thinking of what could be wrong, I decided to throw on a different carb...went out to my pal's farm and robbed a 600 (or 650?) Edelbrock off a Chevy that's been sitting in the trees for the last 5+ years...wiped the gunk off of it, bolted it on and what do ya know? My engine runs with no major problems other than the fact that its a fuel hog now hahaha!

Its got a few little problems that I need to hunt down, I think its got a small vacuum leak here and there as it only holds about 16" at an idle and the timing is still a shade off but I can play with that some more, I might just replace that distributor anyway as its still the original that came from the factory with that truck. I would be surprised if the springs inside of that thing weren't weak after nearly 30 years of abuse.

I just thought it funny (and slightly offensive) that a brand new Holley couldn't do what a greased up abandoned and neglected used Edelbrock could! You guys where right, I'm not impressed with their tech advise at all, it was amateur at best and I usually knew more than what the guy kept telling me anyway. Like I said in my last email to them, it was the first time I'd ever done business with them and it was certainly going to be the last. What a joke!

The next question is what should I put on my 300 for a carb now? I'm thinking of a re-manufactured Edelbrock 500 and jetting it down if i need to...any thoughts on that?

Thanks again guys!

 

The edelbrock 500 is a popular choice for this application.
You think a 600 edelbrock is big on a 300? Check this out, I have a 600 edelbrock on a 1.3L (80 CID), and it works great....

 

holy cow!! how do you make that work?! haha

I would like to add about my truck that the other day I took it to work and on the way home, the rear differential ate it...

oh well, I was planning on re-gearing it anyway, the stock 3.00:1 in that 9" was pretty doggy...gotta decide what to do with the front end of it now, the twin I-beam's bushings are all worn out pretty good so is it better to spend the money fixing up my stock axle or should a guy invest in an solid front end to swap out? Think I'll cruise on over to the driveline forum......

 

Lots of small V-6 boat engines run Qjets. The "too big" part comes from people trying to force feed an engine more than it can handle with a maladjusted carb especially at slow speeds. Think of a 4v carb as a 2v carb with the two auxiliary barrels for high speed, *****-to-the-wall running...and frequent stops at gas stations.

 

Marine applications are totally different than automotive, a 4v carb can do quite well on a 231 buick or chev 4.3 v6 as rpm ranges are held for longer periods of time, and there is not the constant accelerate-decelerate cycle going on.
A holley 390 is a good choice on a Ford 300-6.

 

The 500 and 600 cfm Edelbrock carbs are exactly the same except for the jets and metering rods.

 

Actually, it works quite well. It's a rotary, and they can be very hungry critters, happily gobbling up vast amounts of air/fuel compared to a similar displacement piston engine. The air never slows down or stalls out inside the engine, so it can flow a rather surprising amount for such a small displacement.
As most racers say, the rotary runs on VOODOO. As such, they are typically forced to compete with engines 2-3 times their displacement, just so they aren't at a major advantage.
100HP/L is pretty common these days, but the rotary could do that, in stock form, more than 20 years ago. Today, they are making ~200HP/L in stock form, and still meeting the EPA guidlines....... Without boost. RX8 is rated @ about 250HP, from a 1.3L NA rotary. Granted, the MPG isn't very good for a 1.3L......

And now back to your regularly schedualed programming......

 

hhmmm...I didn't know that, I would assume that Edelbrock or someone sells a kit to jet a 600 down to a 500? I'll have to check out their website tonight...

 

OOOOoooooooo that does alot of explaining haha, then ya that is about right for that little guy!

 

LOL. I guess I shoulda 'splained the pic. I've been around too many folks that can tell a rotary right away......
2 port header and no valve cover are typically enough to tip a person off that *something* is a bit odd......

 

ya, I probably shoulda picked up on that too, but haven't really seen many of them haha spend most of my days dealing with huge diesels in tractors and semi's and such lol

 

YEP,, was most happiest with the 390cfm on my mild 300,, 16-17mpg and had a nice idle and torque for days,,, I put a 600 edlebrock,,, lost the mileage for a tad more upper end,,, not worth it.

 

Yea, I can definitely see that my fuel mileage sucked (no pun intended) with the 600 Edelbrock, but Holley kinda royally ticked me off with this whole "brand new defective" carb they sold me...is it worth giving them a second chance or should a guy just go with an Edelbrock 500 and be done with it? How do I know they won't sell me another junk carb?

 

Well, the Edelbrocks are good,, maybe you can jet it down a bit,,,, it still ran great with the 600 cfm,,, just dropped to about 10-11.

 

Try another 390 Holley, I know they can be finicky, but when you hit the sweet spot........They cannot be beat.
Any of you guys ever find a 350cfm Holley 2bbl, PM me.........I want one for my 2.8 V6