Well after fighting with a few different carbs on my 54 I am just going to bit the bullet and buy a new one. The one that was on it when I got the truck running leaked like a sive so it was rebuilt. It ran horable then. So I got a 4bbl intake and 4bbl 4300 autolight carb. It runs better but is way to rich and I can not get it to idle right. So I am going to Buy a new 4bbl carb. I want imput as I dont know alot about carbs.

The engine is a rebuilt 292 .30 over with the new style 4bbl intake and a carb spacer. It has duel exhuast, a new tune up with a pertronix points conversion, new pertronix coil, new motorcraft plug wires, new champion plugs, and a new dist cap and button. ( on a side note watch heat shelds as they make really nice deep cuts on your arm)
At some point the truck will either have headers or ram horn manfolds. The cam I think is about stock. From everything I have found the carb that is on it is 600 cfm so I want smaller. It also need a manual choke.

I want something that works well and is reliable. I am open to demon, holley, and edelbrock maybe others too? In the past I have heard bad things about each except the demon. I work in a parts store and have had about the same number of holleys come back messed up as edelbrocks.

So if you all could give me some oppions and reasons that would be great. I am hoping to buy one with in the next month or two. Also If you all could recomend a cfm size I would be grateful.

 

The biggest mistake people make when choosing a carb is to overdo it and get a carb that is way too big for the application. Then when they can't get the thing to run right they blame the carb. There are several methods for selecting a carb as well as a classic formular for figuring out the CFM you need, such as; (CFM = (RPM x CID) / 3456
here is some good information on it;
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Carbshop_carbs.htm

I would say no larger than a 600cfm for your engine. I have had good luck and bad luck with all the carbs mentioned (except Demon, I've never had one of those) Its my experience that Holleys look great. They work great for awhile but once you get a problem with one then you have the problem forever. Quadrajets are good carbs if they are set up properly. Less and less people seem to know how to do that nowadays. I've had alot of success with the Edelbrock carbs (and/or early Carter carbs) and am about to install a Edelbrock on my big Caddy engine.

With any carb you will have to spend a bit of time tuning it for your specific conditions. If you buy a carb new spend the extra bucks and buy the tuning kit that goes with it as you might have to change out jets, needles, etc. it can be kinda time consuming but once you get it set you are in good shape.

Good luck
Bobby

 

the autolite 4100 is a nice carb.you need the small one with 1 7/16 throttle bore.they are getting hard to come by.

 

I chose an Edelbrock 600 cfm for my 351C based on the recommendation of a builder friend who had experiences with every carb known. He recommended it because he had never had trouble with one after it was set up correctly.

Mine ran well except it was too rich at idle and had a flat spot in easy acceleration about half throttle with the settings that came stock. I bought the tuning kit, followed its instructions and dialed it in perfectly. The process took a little trial and error, but it wasn't very difficult. Everything can be done from the top of the carb with it (and all the linkage) in place. Never had to touch it again.

 

Demon has a good reputation, have not had one of them. I like Holly, but I have always worked on them and know how to tune them to the application. Like Other have mentioned, Too LARGE means problems and can be hard to adjusted. I use to have a 292 in my 56, I think it only had a 450 cfm 2V (stock engine), ran fine. I only use mechanical secondaries. Once setup no lag like the vacuum ones. But if a engine does not rap fast, vacuum sec are better.

Manual choke, simple and always work. I always seam to forget to open it all the way up as the engine warms up. I added a micro switch and dash light for the choke, so it would lite up if the choke was on. A good reminder for a retired old man.

 

i personally would not buy an eldibrok I have only had one not only did it look ugly but it also is a b**ch to tune and does not have the same tuning capibilities as a Holly. I have not owned a Demon but have heard numerous bad things about them I have had to tune my Holly 2 times now and am about to tune it again but the first time was when I got it and put it on stock heads and a hydrolic cam and a dual plane intake then once when I put ported trick flows with a solid roller cam and a singel plane and I am quite sure after this 393 kit I may have to fiddel with it once more in a total of 6.5 years of owning it.....So in retrospect I would go with a holly 600

 

Just to stir up the mud a bit.... I have used all the Carbs mentioned on the street and strip. Each has it's good and bad points. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting familiar with a certain brand. Even Q-Jets work great if you understand them.

Anyway, the Edelbrock (Carter) 500CFM 4 barrel sounds like the ticket for a 292. They (and the 625CFM) are great street carbs. Simple, easy to tune, mechanical secondaries, easy to get parts for, and real easy to rebuild. The tune-up kit is also cool. You can can externally re-jet with metering rods in less than 5 minutes. Big 'Ol Honkin Idle Mixture Screws right in front. No muss-no fuss.

Have you priced Demons ?

Just my two cents.......

 

Just to give you an idea, a friend builds engines and quite a few race car engines. He dynos almost all engines that he builds, He just dyno'ed a warmed over cxxxy 350 crate motor (like I will run). At 5500rpm producing just under 400hp it was drawing 487 cfm. As Randy Jack indicated above he was running too rich in stock form with a 600 Edlebrock on his 351C. I have watched my engine builder friend change carbs on a 389 pontiac that the owner supplied a 750 Holley double pumper. When he changed it to a 600 Holley the power went up quite a bit and the fuel usage went down (better A/F ratio) at the same RPM's. Bigger is not necessarily better!

 

so is my holley 1350 too big for a 305??

just kidding, its for a 572 a buddy is building

 

It's not too big if you are using Brodix heads and spinning it at 20,000 RPM......

 

Thanks for the input and please keep it coming. The demon I was looking at was a Road Demon Jr. with 525 cfm $274.99. The edelbrock a 500 cfm $244.95, and in the holley I think there is a 390 cfm 4bbl $355.95 and 465cfm $380.39. As for the smaller 4100 4bbl I have one. But it is on my 66 with a 390 and it runs well so i kind of hate to start switching stuff around with it. I have thought about it though. A rebuilt 4100 with 1.08 venturies is $559.50 from pony carbs But I would hope I could find one cheeper than that( any ideas on where)? I hate to spend over $400 on a carb but i guess if that is what it takes. So keep the input coming.

 

Buy a throttle body injection system. Bolts on like a carburetor and tunes with a turn of a ****.

http://www.holley.com/BrowseCatalogs...olley&Page=173

 

my two cents is this : the holley is great at first but are a pain in the rear after they once develop a problem , as said before it's there forever . in my racing applications nothin but a holley two or four barrel , thats where they shine . for the street , once again as said before the q-jet , the most reliable carb made i beleive , and the edelbrock / carter { the q-jet's a carter also look at it close man . by carter } . thats all i can pop off about !

 

I would not get anything larger than a 500cfm. The 390 cfm would probably be the ticket. I think NASCAR runs the 390 and if so I doubt that you will be making over 700 hp at 9 grand. If so you may need bigger. My T runs a 750 holley but it has a big lopey cam and headers and gets 8 mpg.

 

My son had a Demon and it was a major PITA. Parts do NOT interchange with Holley except to a limited degree. They, like Holleys, are designed to be run WOT all the time. The metering rod designs like Edelbrock/Carter are pretty darn good and parts are easy and cheap.