I have a stock 302, with long tube headers and exhaust....I have been searching like crazy but can't seem to find a good answer....I am looking at possibly the 4160 600cfm

 

This is just my opinion but I wouldn't think you'd need anything bigger than a 550cfm carb. We run a hobby stock with a 350 chevy engine and we have a 550 cfm Rochester carb and it runs great with plenty of fuel/air delivery.

 

A 600 CFM Holley will work well, but you'll never use all of it.

Shoot for a 500 CFM Edelbrock or Carter, or a Holley with a CFM rating at 500 or lower.

 

I agree with what those guys said. My preference for street use is Edelbrock/Carter first and Holley dead last. Most of these guys have seen my rants on this subject too many times already, so I'll just leave you with that.

 

I put an Edelbrock on my truck to replace the stock Holley. I played with the holly for about 6 months before giving up and getting the Edelbrock. I should have done it within the first month. It was basically bolt on and go. A little tweaking and she was purring like a kitten. Holley's are great if you can understand how to tweak them and are willing to tweak them all the time but if you just want to set it and forget it get an Edelbrock. It's all what you understand and what you are comfortable with. My friend's dad swears by Holley because he understands them and doesn't want to learn about metering rods vs. jets because he doesn't feel he needs to. I, on the other hand, don't want to mess with my carburetor every winter and summer because of the changing temperatures and don't want to mess with the choke and needle valves etc. But that's just me.

 

And, because you don't like blown power valves or leaking accelerator pumps. Or leaking bowl gaskets or transfer tube o-rings. Oh, sorry. I said I wasn't going to go there.

 

Yes, many have learned to skip over the multi-paragraph rants espousing your support of Edelbrock carbs unless they're in need of a nighttime sleep aid.

I don't understand... well, maybe I can.

When these things were brand new, everything just worked and worked well. Even in Winter, pump the gas pedal once (or maybe twice if the temp was below 0°) turn the key and the things started within about 4 seconds. There were no seasonal twiddles & tweaks necessary, everything just worked.

But I guess many of these trucks on these forums are no longer set up like they originally were, so adjustments are necessary, I guess.

I guess this is partially a result of guys thinking they can "clean up the engine bay" and "make it run better by ripping all that stuff out" or whatever.

C'est la vie, I guess.

 

I understand where you guys are coming from...my father in law and brother in law are holley guys. This is my first car with a carb so this is all new to me, so essentially they are helping me with that part so what they know best seems to take the cake. As for the weather change I live in south Florida it is 75 degrees out right now and it's suppose to be a high of 84 Wednesday, so cold weather change is not a factor of mine. They tried a eldebrock on a 34 roadster they had and couldn't get it to run right after pulling it apart multiple times, well guess what it ended up on my truck because it was laying around in the garage and still doesn't feel right.

My next issue....took the truck for a test drive Friday and after about 3 miles the trans seems to be having a issue. It's a AOD and it had a lokar kickdown TV cable....adjusted like I was suppose to at 35 psi in neutral with it up to temp. It kicked into overdrive and it feels like it got stuck there. I try to put the car in reverse and have nothing, put it in neutral and try to push it backwards and it won't budge. It will drive in forward but feels like it is way off. Trans is a new rebuilt I got so looks like it is coming out and going to a well known shop by me to go through it and see what the hell is going on with it.....nothing like pulling out a new part you spent a grand on to have someone go through it and see what's wrong. Ok rant over on the trans lol

 

Doesn't sound good on the tranny. But, if you decide you need help on that issue you probably should start a different thread as I know nothing about AOD's. Don't know about Trav or Chris, but from my standpoint you'll need someone else to help.

 

BTW I'm not commenting on anyone's particular setup, I'm just talking more in general about what I see in this forum. No criticism of any one person intended or implied.

 

First step is going to be taking it back out of the truck and having it gone through by someone trusted and see if who ever did the rebuild did it right....I will start a new thread when it gets to that point

 

No worries CT.....most of the time it just comes down to what each person has had the best experience

 

Hmmm, how can I believe that? Wasn't it my rants you were "on" about?

 

You are a special exception, Gary, as I sometimes make all kinds of crude & belittling remarks generally aimed at you.

This was not one of those times, nor was it directed at lavatan or anybody else in particular.

I'm mostly thinking in my head how to respond to JD360's question of how and in what order to approach fixing his truck. JD is a high school kid (and so is Trav, redneck-something-or-other who is watching & learning, and both these guys write & communicate fairly well, something kinda unusual for kids these days it seems) and both those guys seem to have gotten hold of severely-abused-and-hacked engines, I'd guess they've been "improved" by other guys their age in the past.

I remember being a high school kid with my first car and being in a similar situation... young and full of ambition & energy & motivation & desire to learn, but no money or time or knowledge of what to do to do things correctly.

This carb discussion just happened to show up at the (not?) right time.



Go read JD's thread, it's about the length of a typical Gary Lewis Micro-Analysis thread. I see I've said stuff in it in the past but I never actually *read* it and internalized what's going on. Or, well, maybe I had and just told myself "Ugh!" and moved on, I don't remember....

 

I have a similar Holley carb (600cfm 4180) on a 302 and it really revs out well. The Holleys are very easy to tune for any application.