I am knew here, but am looking for a little help. I have inherited a '69 or '70 Camper Special with a 390 in it. I am trying to find the best carburetor for that engine. The truck will be driven, but not necessarily a daily driver. I am not looking for the highest performance possible. Mainly looking for the most effective and efficient for the longevity of the engine. Thanks for reading.

 

Welcome to FTE

Carb selection can be pretty contentious, but if you're not so interested on wringing all the top end highspeed performance out of it, a stock size carburetor will offer crisp throttle response and good low end torque. That's why Ford chose the carburetors they did. Smaller venturis means greater velocity through the carb and better fuel atomization.

If you dig around the Ford service manuals the stock venturi size carb will be listed, likely an Autolite. Probably 1.08" or 1.12" depending on gearing and transmission. These are excellent carburetors, manual will also list the correct jetting, power valve and other settings.

It's usually better to err on the side of too small versus too large when it comes to a carb, even if tuning for max power. Holley makes a 350 CFM that would work well if you want a little more zing than factory. Whatever carb you choose keep in mind nothing is "bolt and go" it will still have to be setup and adjusted for your particular engine if you want easy starts hot and cold, good driveability, and optimum power as well as economy. A lot of carbs are pig rich right out of the box, this is "safer" tho plugs will foul badly and fuel economy and emissions will be terrible.

 

I think the autolite 2100 or 2150 carbs are what came stock.

 

2X Ted. Also I'll add that the Ford Autolite 2V carb is one of the best out there for drivability and low to midrange power. One that came on a 390 would have about 350CFM. My 1st choice for your situation would be to keep the stock carb and just rebuild and soak the parts once it's apart. Get the best quality carb kit out there for it. Still available from Ford. Part number D4AZ9A586A. Note, if it is a 1970 carb, it will have a choke pull off diaphragm in the top of it. This doesn't come in the kit. It's part number was D0AZ9J549C. Discontinued but the are NOS companies and Ford Dealers out there that still have it. Prolly available aftermarket also.
My second choice for your situation would be a Holley 350CFM 2V list #7448. This comes with a manual choke. And so will your truck if it's a 1969.

 

Why is it your looking for a carb, is the one on your truck now missing.
Or needs rebuilding.

Many people stop driving these trucks due to using unleaded gas that burns out the exh seats.

Most people think it is the carb cause the engine pops back out the carb.

The fix is rebuilding the heads with harden exh. seats.

Orich

 

Lots of good people here to help. Share what is going on. You never know what some will find to help.

 

If you decide to buy the replacement Holly carb that JEFFFAFA spoke about, it's on sale this month from Holley.

 

A truck 360/390 should have had a 1.21/23 2100 Autolite

1.08's were used on 289 and 302's 1.12/4's would have been used on 351's and the 1.33's on the 429's

If it is a 2 BBL then the best option is the original 1.21/3" venturi Autolite 2100 carb.

The Autolite 2100 is dead nuts simple, reliable as dirt, and stupid easy to tune and rebuild.

Personally I would not even look at the Holley for a Ford 2BBL application. If you want more performance find a 1.33 venturi Autolite 2100

The 1.21 is 351 CFM the 1.23 id 356 CFM and the 1.33 is 425 CFM

Really to spend the extra money on a Holley 2BBL that offers no advantage what so ever over the Autolite 2100 is kind of pointless in my opinion.

 

Generally speaking, the Holleys have a stronger power circuit than the Autolite 2100. And there are more choices of power valves for the Holley. Don't get me wrong Matt, I am a fan of the 2100. Awesome carb. Especially considering Ford came out with it way back in the late 50's. But the Holley 2300 is even more simple to rebuild and tune.

 

Holley power valves work in the Autolites they are interchangeable so there is a just a broad selection for the 2100.
And when it comes to the power circuit that is only a consideration in high performance applications. And the Autolites will flow as much as stock Holley on the PV circuit more than the early style Holley PV's. The large window PV's are an Autolite thing originally.

Modifying the Autoilite PV circuit is more complicated than the Holley but can be done and really this is only a necessity in race applications.

The Autolites have a more sensitive and better fuel circuit signal due to the annular discharge boosters and thus are more efficient..

Both carbs were designed by the same engineering team the Autolite being a later design fixed some of the problems inherent in the earlier Holley design.

The only advantage the 2300 has over the 2100 is you don't have to pull the carb to change the PV. But you have to disassemble most of the carb and replace all the fuel bowl gaskets to change the Holley PV where as the Autolite is just 4 screws and you can reuse the gasket 99% of the time..

In a Ford application there are zero modifications needed to drop a 2100 on and you get to use the shop manual for tuning and set up no guessing required.

Given the choice between a 2100 or buying a new 2300 Holley this really is no contest in terms of reliability, service, tuning (the Autolite is actually easier and more accurate) and cost the 2100 is far and away a better choice.

 

And haul/tow applications. 2X on the annular discharge booster venturis. That one was brilliant on Ford's behalf. More sensitive and also the fuel is atomized in to the air flow better because the fuel droplets are smaller. Easier to blend with the air. I didn't know about the same engineering team. I've often wondered about the Autolite 4100 and the Holley 4160 being rather similar. Also the original 1967 Autolite 4300 and the Rochester Q-jet.
BTW, good info on the carbs Matt. Tried to REP ya for it. I can't until I "spread it around more first".

 

No 2150's until 1975.