I have a lot of experience with both and I would recommend the Edelbrock for your build. I can go into details if you like but I suggest the Edelbrock, I like Holleys also but a little more work to fine tune them.

 

Ive been running an Edelbrock 600 with the performer intake ,cam, roller timing chain and recently added performer heads.I have never had any problems with it on my 68 302. the carb has been on there for about 14 years without a hic up. They are very easy to richen or lean, if needed. Some folks think the 600 is to much carb for a stock 302, but Edelbrock does have a chart to guide you to the best carb for your particular set up.

 

Way back in the '80s, I had a '70 Javelin with 304, 2 barrel automatic. This thing was a beast, ran bad and got lousy mileage which was a critical element since it was my company car that I used to make sales calls. I bought a Holley Economaster (I think that was the name) and not only did the car perform 100% better, it got much better mileage which was strange since I was now lead footing it since it was so-o much peppier. Many years later I had a similar situation but Holley had discontinued the model.

Go figure.

Later!
Mr. Ed

 

IIRC the Economaster was a Holley Model 4360 mech secondary carb replacement for the Q-jet. I believe it came in 450CFM and 600CFM.

Smaller displacement V8's with the 450CFM would accelrate like a ***** rabbit to about 5000 RPM and get fantastic mileage to boot.

As I recall it was a dead nuts simple carb on par with the 4100 in terms of parts count (maybe even less). I have not seen one of these carbs in at least 30 years.

 

I have a Holley on my 69 Mustang and love it. It took a bit of tuning to get it to run properly but it was worth it. The Edelbrocks are a bit more user friendly in regards to dropping it on the engine and running without tuning (which I don't recommend)


Seems that the people who swear by Edlebrock and hate Holley are the ones who don't like to tune the carbs. The Holley guys seem to hate Edlebrock because they aren't as user friendly to fine-tune.

 

I see your point, Mike, but in reality Edelbrocks are also very tunable. They sell a tuning kit that includes all kinds of metering rods and jets, with different tapers and diameters, and even within a set of rods you can raise and lower them in increments to fine-tune. They provide a real nice tuning book with it.

What I "hate" about Holleys is that they eventually leak, because they have vertical gasket surfaces continuously wetted by gas. Rochesters and Edelbrock/Carters can go years without cleaning varnish off them.

 

Somebody with Fuel Injection once said that a Carburetor is nothing more than a fancy name for a “Controlled Leak”

New Carburetors are pricey these days. Wise to ask this group of Knucklehea… err I mean, distinguished, Sage Enthusiasts for suggestions. As with most of the others, I like ‘em both also depending on the application.

To me, since you have E-Street Heads, a Performer Cam, and Intake, an Edelbrock Carb is a slam dunk. They have a boat-load of engineering hours invested in those part combos. Call Edelbrock Tech Support with:

Intake, Cam and Cylinder Head Part Numbers
The Rockers installed
Engine Displacement (302)
How you will use your Truck (Daily Driver)

They can provide the Carb Part Number that best suits your assembly.

Hopefully, your Performer Camshaft is the Performer “Plus” unit rather than the Performer “RPM”. The “Plus” grind is very tame. My guess is a 500 CFM Carburetor would be recommended.

 

I have used many of the Edelbrock and Holley carburetors over the years. I tried the Summit M2008 on my 289 and it worked so good I put one on my 383 in my 1966 Plymouth Sport Fury. They run great out of the box and priced very good.

 

I just responded to your pm.

 

I guess I'll throw my penny and a half in here too. When I sold the "49" and got the Ranchero, it had an Edelbrock on it. It's a built 302, (cam, headers, Edelbrock intake, etc). The car lot I bought it from couldn't get the car to idle right, but I bought it anyway.
Now, after buying a good vacuum gauge and spending a few hours on just the Edelbrock carb, I know I will never waste my money on anything with one of these in it. I have downloaded and printed everything I can find, about tuning this carb. I have bought kits, rebuild included. I have come to the conclusion, Edelbrocks and high lift, long duration cams do not work well together.
I never had problems with any Holley or Ford carb I ever worked on. But this thing has given me fits. I spoke with the previous owner and he says the car ran fine for him. I have spoken with the builder. He too says the engine ran like a champ.
I know the lot owner had randomly adjusted the throttle idle screw, (I saw him do it), so that is where I started. That was before the calibration kit and rebuild kit. Now, with new gaskets, hoses, clamps and needles and jets, it is better, but still not right.
Not that I want to, but I'll be spending the money to buy a Holley. After dancing with this thing, I remember why I always disliked the Carter AFB and would not recommend it to backyard mechanic

 

Back when I used to build several carbs each day the scale ran like this, bottom to top:
Worst: Any Autolite/Ford - Ran o.k., for a while. Worst economy, not particularly strong.
Quadrajet - Junk from go. Duo-Jet - not so bad, fairly reliable.
Holley - PITA, no matter what model. You could spend time on them and make them run right but they were like old Harleys, you had to screw with them every time you wanted to go somewhere. Fuel leaks/vacuum leaks, crappy gaskets, screws come loose, weak diaphragms, etc.
Carter/Edelbrock - solid carburetors. Set them up and they ran forever.
Weber - most adjustable carb out there. Sometimes too adjustable... ;-) Reliable forever.

 

I would have enjoyed having your experiences on just one or two of them. Alas, In my experience, Carters and now Edelbrocks and I just don't get along.

 

From back in the seventies it was always Holley. Until. I bought a Edelbrock. Edelbrock for me from now on.