How could the 460s be reliable and tough when the only carbs they came with were the 4300 and the Holley 4180? I would agree that the 4300 was trash, A Quadra-jet wannabe, but the 4180's only real problem was the restriction on adjustment because it is an emissions carb.

I swapped out the 4180 for the "old" Holley 1850 600 CFM (same size as the 4180) off my modded 390 in my '68 F250, but basicly it's the same carb. Gave me more adjustment and the "tuned" carb gave me 1 1/2 mpg with the distributor recurve. My 460 still has the retarded timing chain in it. Since it is just a play truck now, quad to trails, boat to the ramp and camper to the campground and not a daily driver I'm not all the hot to change it.

 

460s came with a bunch of carburetors to including the Q-Jet, Thermoquad, Holley, and Motocraft's #4300 & 4350. With a week accelerator pump and mediocre float system, the Motocraft 4300 was junk, however it wasn't a Q-jet wannabe -that was the 4350 series and they were a good carb. It still suffered from an over sized fuel bowl, but it corrected the 4300s shortcomings. Today, neither are worth reworking as the Edelbrock is the better, and factory supported choice.
I've replaced scads of Hollies, on both Ford and GM products with the Carter/Edelbrock carburetor, and gone are the hard starting/backfiring problems of the past.

 

You really are showing me something replacing Holleys with Carters/ Edelbrock. Since the Holley was designed to solve the carburator problems of the Carter generation of carbs. Things like stuck floats and carb fires (I hated my damned '66 Belvedere with 426 and dual Carters). I figure if a guy can't tune a Holley he's not much of a .........................forget it you will never understand.

 

Given that you said 460s only came with Autolite 4300s and Holley 4180s, and that you claimed to have owned a Mopar, you really showed the forum something Your 426 and dual flamin' Carters are a testiment to your tuning skills.

 

We're talkin' 460 trucks here; not 460 Merc Marquis (had one), 460 T-Birds, 460 LTD's, 460 Lincolns or any of the other vehicles that Ford stuffed the BIG block into.

I owned three Mopars and the biggest loser was a '70 Barracuda convertible ...
$$$ wise I wish I still had it ... so I could sell it, POS that it was! (IMHO) ... to some "nostalgia blind" person who thinks it was a great car.

My "Carb Guy", whom I have great respect for, talked me out of replacing my 4180 saying that anything else was going to give me worse mileage for my applications and if I really HAD to replace it he recommended the Street Avenger.

We all have different backgrounds and experiences ... and opinions.

Let's play nice.

 

the 70 cuda convertible was pretty... the 727 torqueflite was about the only part besides the body that was decent. its no c-6, but it was still a decent tranny. throw a 460/c6 9" combo under there and youd have a heck of a car

 

Clyde,
I do work over Holley carbs, just not the ones with the built in "O" ringed cross tube and non-adjustable metering blocks. Trucks I understand -I've driven F700s for years, even before I had my drivers license! I cut my teeth on a KB-5 International -how many here can say that?
As for the 4180 carb, it isn't a favorite. I've rebuilt literally dozens of them in F250s/350s and E350s, and have yet to see one that couldn't be bested by the Edelbrock carburetor. I remember one E350 ambulance where the old Holley was so worn out the throttle shaft was shot. A simple carb replacement replacement took it from a 8MPG machine to 12. Same thing happened on a 1975 390 powered F-150. Coincidence? I think not.
It was only four years ago I replaced the original Holley on a Chevy C65. Gone were the hard starting and cold-bloodiness, and gone too was the backfiring problem when one geared down. Now I know this is a Ford forum, but I gotta give credit where credit is due -and that 366 Chevrolet deserves respect! To give you an idea of the difference in power I can now leave my buddy Jerry behind and he's driving an IHC 345 with a 5&2, whereas the Chevy only has a 4&2. In over 25 years that has never happened before! MPGs have also gone up from about 4.5 to almost 6. Not bad for a grain truck, eh? I once replaced a Holley with the venerable Q-Jet, but after two weeks of harvest I could no longer stand the noise and changed it back ...so much for youth!

 

i had a similar edelbrock experience. i had a 1978 dodge full time 4x4 with a 400 in it. carb was a stock holley 2 barrel that leaked a little. got 8mpg. swapped to a performer intake and edelbrock 600 cfm carb and went from 8 to 18 mpg... didnt know 18 mpg was possible with a 400 ci full time 4x4

 

Gotta call this one

 

What forum was this again ....

Gas prices are down a little again so the other day I refilled the fuel tanks on Clyde and dumped in a shot of Stabil since my new job has really put the brakes on our traveling.

Before with the stock timing set, 3.54 gears and the single stage power valve Clyde seldom turned more than 10 mpg. This last refill, mostly solo running but still some towing on it, calculated out to a little less than 12! I'm stunned ... and I'll admit quite happy. Hope this trend continues.

The following is

Re: the Barracuda.

Lime green with a black top and interior. Bought it with ~30,000 miles on it. The tranny puked at 37,000 miles (7 yr/70,000 mile wtty) and true to form Chrysler found a way to get out of fixing it so I had to pay the whole bill myself. The radio didn't work when I got it and after ~6 trips through my local electronics shop the guy said, "Roger, I appreciate your business, but I don't care to ever see that radio again."

Living in Minnesota and only having one vehicle this was my only transportation ... summer and WINTER. Rear wheel drive and with a posi rear end this thing was a full blown NIGHTMARE on my 100+ mile daily round trip commute when the roads were covered with snow and ice. Like trying to control a creeper going down a steep hill

Earlier I had a dark turquoise 64 Catalina white top convert, 303hp 389, full leather and this car was BIG! 14.5 mpg ... uphill, down hill, headwind, tailwind, city, highway ... rode like a dream and it would MOVE! This little 318 Barracuda rode like crap, hardly got out of it's own way and never did better than 14.5 A 460/C6 could hardly do worse in that little lightweight body!

Here's the good news ... traded it near even-up for the sweetest little '70 Ford 1/2 ton 302 stick/OD. I improved the ride, upped the mileage by 50% and never lacked for power. LOVED that truck.

Re: Medium duty trucks

Started driving dumps/snowplows for a county highway department when I was 17. Can't say much about the 366's but I did have a love affair with a 427 5x4 C70 13yd dump I piloted one year for a contractor. I'd been given a new SuperDuty 850 477 5x3 and they thought they were punishing me when they "demoted me" to the older Chevy. Helluva drivers truck but sure glad I didn't have to buy the fuel.

Had an 1800 IH 345 5/2 tractor when driving motor freight that whipped more than one Mack at stop lights, both of us pulling 28' pups. Great old truck! They retired it and it's tan over brown sisters and gave me a newer white & gold tractor with a 304 which I promptly named "The Yorkshire". One day the fleet manager asked me why I referred to my truck as "The Yorkshire" and not by it's number when requesting repairs or such. I told him, "Well, it's nothing but a BIG WHITE PIG." Ever after we had a strained relationship ... but I had only told the truth ...

 

a dodge half ton with 2.73 gears, stock size tires, and an edelbrock tuned for mileage. np203 transfer case, d44 front, 8 3/4 rear... it was a light duty half ton. the 400 (or may have been a 383 never checked, same intake though... was swapped in by the previous owner, was originally a 360) did 18 mpg after the edelbrock carb and intake, all new axel bearings except the pinion (the one that went out and why i dont have it anymore),tranny flush, transfer case flush, synthetic lube, and a light foot. also all new brakes all around, not that it mattered after the front axel housing got tempered, boiled the gear lube, blew out the oil seals, glowing red, and had 4" flames shooting off it- that was interesting.

 

My buddy Matt had a bone stock 1976 460 powered 1/2T 2WD Supercab that averaged 14MPG. Looking back that's great considering he had a heavy foot. Altho his brother could beat him to about50 MPH (his brother had a '76 high boy with a transplanted 428!) there weren't too many other pick-ups on the road at that time that could pass him. At about 70,000 miles he had to do a valve job on her. I thought it ran like a raped ape before, you should have seen it after the custom dual exhaust, head porting and straight up timing was fixed. That old truck sure had legs under it...