Hey guys this is my first post here.

I am a few days away from purchasing a F250 camper special with a 400 (m) with an auto tranny. the truck is 100% stock. a buddy of mine told me that edelbrock was the way to go for a carb since they are tuned right out of the box.

I was looking into the thunder series and was wondering what would be best. i plan on making making the engine run nice right now and eventually when the project is "complete" building the motor. I have read that a 650 would be the best way to go. please could you guys include the part number aswell that would be great! thanks!

 

600-650 cfm for a stock motor. I've had a few edelbrock carbs and prefer holleys. I have a very lightly used Holley if you'd be interested for $100 off new, PM me. I sold out and went EFI

 

Im new to carbed engines. How do i make sure the one will fit to my engine? and i first have to do alittle more research before i commit to buying anything but ill let you know. Why do you prefer holley?

 

Holleys are more tune able and offer better performance. Look under the hood of any race car and you'll see some type of Holley variant if carbed. I've never had much luck dialing in an edelbrock and in several instances noticed a seat of the pants difference in acceleration after moving from an edelbrock to a Holley.

On an edelbrock you can change idle speed, idle mix, jet size, mixture needle on spring. With th right parts there isn't anything on a Holley that can't be tuned or changed.

If you have an aftermarket 4 barrel aluminum intake any square bore carb will fit. Holley, edelbrock, demon, quick fuel etc.

No carb is tuned for your engine out of the box. However if you get the proper carb in the range I suggested only minimal idle tuning and a possible jet change for altitude would be needed. If getting a Holley you will need one with Ford C6 kickdown linkage

 

I recently purchased a Edelbrock 1405 carburetor (600 cfm, manual choke) and a Edelbrock intake (2171) to go with it. I got both used. $120 for the carb and $75 for the intake. I still need bolts for the intake and studs for the carb, a gasket for mounting the carb to the intake (maybe a spacer? Opinions vary). I will be replacing the valley pan & gasket also. (Underneath the intake). Oh I almost forgot to mention, I also purchased a fuel pressure regulator(Holley) from summit racing. I've been told that Edelbrock carbs don't like fuel pressure over 6 psi (5.5 is preferable) and that the factory output of the fuel pump on a 400 is 7+psi. I'm going to have to put some time into mounting that and configuring the fuel lines.

It sounds like you and I are in a similar situation. I haven't installed any of it yet. I'm waiting on a new gas tank that is supposed to be hear soon and I need some more $ to invest in the misc pieces. It's drive able with the stock setup so the new stuff is going to wait until I have 100% of the parts to do the job. Do your research. There are many options.

 

I run a '78 F250 with stock 400 and love the truck. I plan to build the engine at some point and have been following builds.

A 650 or so CFM 4 bbl + matching 4 bbl AL intake helps... higher priority I think is a "straight up" timing chain set and dual exhaust or headers + dual exhaust. The original timing set had a retard built into it and the stock exhaust system limits improved breathing.

As far as carbs, Edelbrock is supposed to be better out of the box and Holly more tunable. Pick your poison. I would also consider the Summit carb also which is similar to Holly.

 

I vote for Holley.. I used to use Edelbrocks but went with a Holley on my 77's 460.. the carb was pretty much perfect right out of the box.. I bolted it on, primed it and the engine fired right up.. even the idle speed was near perfect right out of the box.. plus the linkages for throttle and trans kickdown lined up perfectly..i'm sold on Holley carbs..the edelbrock carbs were always troublesome..

 

I looked up the performer package on edelbrock and i am going to start their. thanks guys i get the truck tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow flys by!

i always type in edelBROKE by accident, seems like a reasonable mistake though.

 

Congrats on the truck. I hope the Edelbrock setup works well for you. Let us know how it goes. I'd like pictures if you have the means. It's going to be a little while before I get to install mine. I'm trying to spend minimal $$ right now. My carb is sitting on the intake on my work bench.....taunting me.
Still need.....
-valley pan & gasket ($100+??)
-bolts for the intake
-studs for the carb
-gasket/spacer for the carb
-misc. fittings & fuel line stuff to pipe in the pressure regulator (I'm still trying to envision where I'm going to mount this without runnin fuel lines across the engine bay)
-a pressure guage so I have some clue exactly what is being regulated