Would a Holley 4412 2 brl. be a good carb for a stock 360/390? My current carb is a 2150 2brl and on it's last leg. TIA

 

Those are a little big. You usually have to put the smaller accelerator pump in them and fiddle a bit, and my guess is they might still be prone to bogging if you whack open the throttle. There are 350 CFM versions as well.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...nce_2_barrels/

That said, adjusted properly, people are happy with them.

What Is wrong with your 2150? Body and shafts worn, creating a vacuum leak? Other damage? If not, rebuild it.

Serving suggestion.

 

I actually drove with one of these on my 390 in my 65 from sophomore high thru college for 5 years.
The 50cc pump is big but it was ok. Maybe not perfect but I got by fine.

 

I've heard that the FE needs between 500-600 CFM for best performance. My 2150 is the 1.23 venturi for roughly 356 CFM. Mine is getting hard to start if it sits for more than a day. I think the gas is bleeding out of the fuel bowl. I also have a chance to buy the 4412 at a great price which is like new for $165.

 

The good thing is it's a Holley so jets, acc cams,squirters are all selectable to make performance and mix proper.

The other thing is power valve selection. A500 is not too big for an fe imo

 

I think it's because of evaporation. Modern fuel isn't quite the same as it was 40 or 50 years ago. It won't all evaporate, but the "light ends" do. That's what it seems like. After a few days, try pouring about a tablespoon of fresh fuel down the carb throat, put the air cleaner back on, and try it. Betcha it starts right up.

The next consideration is what is your intended use. Grocery getter, rock crawling, camping, heading out to the DQ for a Sundae? If performance is your goal then big carburetors work excellent, but these go hand in hand with better intake manifolds, larger valves, and better exhaust (less restrictive.) Selecting the right carburetor is the most important "adjustment", lots of people buy the wrong carb and then try to make it work. Why torture yourself?

A large carburetor on a stock engine, particularly restrictive stock exhaust, it will usually perform a little worse down low, hauling loads, off-idle acceleration, and may not idle as crisp. Big carbs actually run lean on smaller engines. How often do you make extended runs above 5000 RPM? Be realistic. Ford had smart engineers, they used tiny carburetors on trucks because they were designed to be used hauling heavy loads. In the absence of other changes, a big carburetor is kind of a mistake, in my opinion. If anything, take the time to learn how to setup and tune the one you have now, and really understand the different carb circuits, and how they interact, before replacing it. It's like voodoo to most people. The new one will need setup and adjustment too.

 

Will give it a try tonight. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

https://speedmaster79.com/tools/carburetor-size-needed

360/2 = 180. 180 cubic inches of air for each revolution, at 100% volumetric efficiency, which never happens.

180 cubic inches time 4500 RPM = 810,000 cubic inches, divide by 1728 for cubic feet, = 468.75. At 80 percent VE that's 375.

You will get a little more out of the bigger carb as it will reduce pumping losses a little. That will be at WOT in the higher RPM range.

If your 2150 is sound, it's all you need. A new needle and seat and proper adjustment may be the answer there.

That is a killer price on the 500 though. For that price you can afford to try it.

The best bang for the buck on any FE is a good set of headers. Serving suggestion.

 

Not to big at all. The first one I had. I put it on the stock 302 in a 69 Club Wagon. The 50cc pump uses a bit more fuel than a 30 but not by much. I've run this carb on that 302, two 390's and a 400M. It's exactly half of a 750 DP 4 bbl

 

500 cfm 2 bbl is perfect on either a 360 or 390.

 

For some definitions of "perfect"? Ford engineers didn't use that big of a carburetor for their trucks did they? It looks to me like they used carburetors that were smaller than the engine size, in many cases.

The Autolite/Motorcraft 2bbl carb sizes:

0.098 - 190 cfm, 1.01 - 240 cfm, 1.02 - 245 cfm, 1.08 - 287 cfm, 1.14 - 300 cfm, 1.21 - 351 cfm, 1.23 - 356 cfm, 1.33 - 424 cfm

 

This again ? As I said before, I've ACTUALLY run 3 of these carbs on three different engines (stock 302, two 390's and a 400) and ALL worked fine. The 4412 is exactly half of a 750 cfm DP. It's not too big for any of these engines. Why not, instead of questioning other's experience with combinations you've NEVER tried, actually try it before chiming in with your opinion ? You never know, you might learn something. Ford was hobbled with meeting emissions standards in engineering all the different sized carbs over a ten or so year time span. The OP is not. And he's been offered a practically new 4412 for a quarter of what they sell new.

 

Sure why not?

The OP might, I'm not going to argue with you, but let's point out the facts and he can decide.

Not in 1944 or 1954 or 1964 they weren't.

And - for example, the largest carburetor Ford ever offered on the F series in 1964 was a 245 CFM carb for the 292 cu. in. engine. Why do you suppose that is? They've always used small carburetors on big or small truck engines.

I understand people like performance, drag racing, all that stuff. Most people have no clue how to select a carburetor, because they get their information from hot rod magazines. It depends on the application, what is the intended use for the engine. Unless people plan on zooking around at 5,000+ RPM all day, those CFM calculators aren't really very applicable.

In most cases, most people are far better off with the OEM factory carburetor. They aren't really interested in learning how to properly setup and tune a carburetor or swapping intakes, improving the restricted factory exhaust, better flowing heads, or any of that. The old one needs a rebuild and they just figure dropping a big *** carb on the engine is all there is to it, and it doesn't work that way.

 

I refer you back to post #1 here. He didn't ask if the POS O.E carb he has now, and I quote: "is on it's last legs" (and rebuilding is pointless) He asked if the 4412 would work on a 360/390. The 4412 isn't a "big *** carb". It's half of a 750 cfm 4 bbl. Which is a perfect size for a 360/390. But I will agree with you on your statement on cfm ratings. They are simply a rating on paper. What a carb actually flows at WOT in actual operations is something else. The center carb on my 331 is rated at 250 cfm. What it flows at WOT on this engine at 4500 rpms is about 365 cfm. (too big ?) But all that aside the 4412 at anyother throttle position is only going to flow what his engine will draw through it. Makes no difference what it's rated at, it's going to flow what it's going to flow. As will any other carb he bolts onto it. The only time a carb is too big is when at WOT the pressure drop hits 0"hg and circuits stop functioning with the engine not turning enough rpms to have enough airflow through the venturis to supply enough fuel to prevent stalling. Or it stops making power at WOT, where a smaller carb would not due to the vacuum reaching 0"hg. The 4412 is far from that point. If it'll work on a completely stock 69 Club Wagon's 302 (empty weight 6000 lbs, C4 transmission, 3.73 rear, far more than the OP's truck weighs) , it'll work on a 360/390

 

Air mixing with fuel works more effectively with higher air speeds/turbulence i.e. smaller venturis when at low RPM. It does make a difference what a carb is rated at as this is directly related to venturi size, etc. and this is directly related to "is a carb too big?" Engine stalling at WOT aside, you will see low RPM response and driveability deteriorate as cfm ratings increase. This is why we don't try to put 850 cfm carbs on 302's and "just baby it."

Saying that the carb is "good" or "effective" or "working fine" in a given application is entirely different from saying that it is "perfect" which is open to a lot of interpretation/change upon different assumptions

The smaller 350 cfm 2 bbl may be better suited but it sounds like there is a price benefit to snatching up the 500 (I'm assuming it's in great shape/new?).