hey I am going to be installing a edelbrock 1806 carb on my truck today

I have a 1975 F350
Completely stock 460 so far
2WD

I am a heavy duty mechanic but i have never screwed around with carbs before so its going to be a learning day.

Anyone know what jet sizes I should start with? I have a edelbrock 1840 Carb calibration kit with a few different things so if you have tried this combo at all let me know.

I am going for mostly economy right now (as much economy as a 460 will give) as I will be driving the truck to work and back everyday and thats pretty much it.

 

There are too many variables for jet size recommendations. Just bolt the carb on, set the idle mixture, and take it out for a spin. Get 'er up to operating temperature and cruise around for a while, then pull your plugs and check them.

 

Edelbrocks tend to run on the rich side, Run it and see what it does, get the linkages, kickdown, cruise, (if it has it) and choke all set right and then start going leaner. Plugs are a good general rule, but really hard to tell for me since you can't adjust the transition circuit at all, so I lean it down till I am happy, I am at 6000' so with edelbrocks on a 460, I ran the absolute leanest setting they gave me in the kit, and it was pretty close. I had a local shop owner tell me that he had a blazer that had the off road edelbrock and up at high elevations, like jeep trails in the mountains, 10000'< his off road edelbrock ran terrible, so he called edelbrock thinking that he had a defective unit, and edelbrock said that there was no setting in the kit to go that lean for those elevations, and sent him a different bunch of jets, rods, springs, and he started all over and it runs good now, so I always go lean until it gets hot, starts hunting, or backfires, then go richer. Good luck.

 

Oh, I forgot! You'll need a fuel pressure regulator if you plan on running that carb off the stock mechanical fuel pump.

 

I have never needed that on two different trucks. I have an elcheapo plastic guage and it reads about 6-7psi.

 

Hmmm, don't have one on my Crew and never had a problem. I thought you just needed the regulator if you were running a higher pressure pump or electric pump.

 

hope not
I made sure I asked a few times that I had everything I needed to install on my truck and nobody said anything about a regulator.
I asked the parts guy at the local store here and the guy from summit racing.

 

did you guys ever have problems with the kickdown not fitting real good even with the adaptor kit?

 

It's because the carb is wider than the stock carb and that kickdown bracket moves it out even further. It may take some tweeking.

 

I am running a 1405 E-brock(600 cfm) on my 460..stock motor..

It provides plenty of power,performance and decent fuel mileage(14 empty,driving conservative,,10 loaded heavy,driving fast,hills,etc.)

I put it on out of the box,set idle speed,etc...That was over 2years ago..haven't had to touch a screw since..

Like was mentioned before, the kickdown rod will require a little bit of tweaking..

I adjusted the kickdown to activate at the same time as WOT..

Also, I installed a fuel pressure regulator set at 5 psi..It would try to flood over without it...

I am throwing this out there to give you some comparison...My setup works extremely well for me...Good luck....Trav.

 

devino246-Thanks for that plug picture post. My little brothers 347 had plugs that looked like the second oil fouled plug.

 

This is turning out to be quite the slow process. I keep getting pulled away every time I start getting something done.

Anyway I installed the carb sorta. I still need to screw with the kick down linkage and get the throttle all hooked up properly. Also need to find a good switched 12v source to tap into with the electric choke.

I did get impatient though and fired it up which was probably a mistake but I couldnt wait. It did start but it was backfiring so I gave up and had to go out.

So I am planning on really hooking it all up properly tomorrow afterwork and starting it up again. Will I still have backfiring issues or would the choke not being hooked up cause that?

I am learning that I am incredibly stupid with carburetors so be easy on me

 

I don't think the choke would cause the backfiring. You haven't messed with timing at all yet have you? What else has been done with the motor recently?

 

Just use an "add-a-fuse" to your fusebox.


Doubt it's a choke issue. Too much would probably just case it to not get past idle, or die once it's running.

Two things:
1. Is your vacuum advance hooked up? Should be connected to ported vacuum on the carburetor. That's the small port on the right side of the front of your carb. If your timing was backed off because the advanced wasn't hooked up, then that could have caused the engine to run badly and possibly backfire.

2. Make sure that all vacuum lines are connected, and all empty vacuum ports are capped off. Any vacuum leaks will screw with the carb, especially one with vacuum secondaries (like yours, it's the best type for fuel efficiency).


That carb should be good for your application. I've run a 600 CFM Edelbrock 1406 with electric choke and vacuum secondaries (very similar to your 1806) on my fairly stock 1973 460 that's .030 over, with an RV camshaft, Weiand Stealth intake, and long tube headers. Have had it in a 1988 F-350 with a C6, 4.56 gears and 37s (truck in sig), and it's been great on power and will make 12 MPG at 55-60 MPH empty. The engine's now off for a rebuild that'll make slightly more power, but I still plan on running this carb. It's been good overall. I've had to open it once to clean out the bowls and the fuel screens, but that was due to nothing but one of my fuel tanks that had some junk in it. Very easy to set it up and leave it pretty much for good.

Good luck when you work on it!

 

Take the truck out on a run....stop....and do a "plug chop" per Devino's chart...

Your plugs are the best diagnostic tool you have...you just have to know how to read them.