I have a 71 F250 with stock 360. It currently has a 2v intake manifold. My current Autolite 2100 2v is cracked and leaking so I need to upgrade. The 4x2 automatic is used on weekends for Home Depot runs and will someday pull a boat. After another 50k miles or whenever the 360 needs to be rebuilt, I would like to upgrade to a 390.

Is there an Edelbrock carb that would work for both the current 360 and potential 390 down the road?

I was guessing that the Edelbrock Performer 390 intake is the best bet because I'm not a racer. I just need a truck to pull my imaginary boat to the lake someday. However, what are your thoughts on the intake as well.

Thanks!

 

Big, The 360 uses a 390 block, so anything that will fit one will fit the other.

You can replace/repair your 2 barrel too, they have worked for about a hundred years now.


John

 

you can use the same 2v intake on both engines. my truck had the 360, my carb was not working properly either. i got a holley 500cfm, worked great. when i put on the edelbrock 390 performer intake i used the holley for a while, it worked good on a very well used motor. until i upgraded my engine as well, turned it into a 390. now im running a edelbrock 750cfm on it. it really woke up the engine.

 

Thanks for the info.

I am a little leary of buying a rebuld 2v Holley. Not being a carb expert, I would like to start fresh with a new carb to ensure that I don't need to do any troubleshooting upfront. After I get some experience with the new carb on the 360, then I could start tinkering and improving the performance, learning as I go.

With that said, investing in a new carb that would work on both the current 360 and future 390 seems appealing. From searching other threads, it appears that a new 4V carb with a new 4v intake is the way to go with a 390. Therefore, if I buy a new 4v carb now for the 360 I would be investing in a future solution as well.

However, by buying a 500CFM 4V Edelbrock for the old 360 now, would I comprimise performance on the future 390? Likewise, would a 750 CFM Edelbrock 4v that has worked well for you and others on the new 390 upgrade be too much for the current 360?

Assuming I purchase the 4V Edelbrock Performer 390 intake manifold now, is there an Edelbrock 4v carb that would work reasonably well on my current 360 and future 390?

Again, truck is primarily for occasional use, pulling a 20ft inboard ski boat, and occational drive on bumpy dirt roads or fields when doing some weekend farming.

I noticed that Edelbrock has a specific off road (1825/1826) although, I wouldn't do much with inclines, just bumpy roads. Also, they have one tuned for towing and economy (1411).

Thanks again for the advice!
B.S.

 

NASCAR's Nationwide series runs on 390 cfm carbs making over 600 hp.

A 750 on a FE ought to be about right.



John

 

If you go with a 4v carb now it will only serve to shorten the life of the 360 as you'll have your foot in it all the time IMO. Just get a replacement 2bbl carb and drive it till it pops. Save the money from the 390 so it's fresh from the word go. /2¢

 

I would suggest getting the Performer RPM since it's a dual plane intake. The performer is a single plane with will hurt your low end.

I prefer holly carbs over edelbrock carbs, but each his own. They both will work fine provide they are setup correctly. Just because you get every thing new does not mean you will not have problems. ALL need to be adjusted to your engine.

 

I was under the impression that the performer would be better for low end as its powerband is idle - 5500rpm, whereas the Performer RPM is 1500-6500rpm which would hurt low end. Am I mistaken? Im definitly not an expert, this is just the assumption I was under. I dont know about the single and dual plane differences as apposed to the powerband differences though.

 

750 is a bit big for a 360, a 600 cfm holley square bore is a pretty universal carb. you shouldnt flood the 360 and they work great on a 390.

i personaly would by the Weiand fe intake for idle-5500. reasoning, it seems like everybodys got a edlebrock.

 

Does no one listen to carb manufactures anymore? Or do they all listen to the "Bigger Is Better" morons? First question applies here and to all street engines. Bigger is not better when it comes to carbs.

http://www.holley.com/TechService/FA...ory=Carburetor

 

X2
Cheap, simple, easy to learn on.

Buy some hemostats at the local hardware for the tiny clips...toughest part, those tiny fasteners.

 

Hey fellow, are you new to this site or something?? Bigger is better, just read the posts.


John

 

Urban Myth, that bigger is better. But training the grasshoppers is hard work.

 

I've always found the dreaded carb size discussion interesting. I've read all the carb manufacturers recommendations. I understand that bigger isn't always better. That being said, on a normally aspirated engine, the engine is only going to pull what it's going to pull. If the carb is jetted for proper fuel air ratio then there is a range of carbs that will work for you and work well. I'm terrible about trying to get things perfect. I have a fairly typical "medium" 390 build....most of the standard things that everyone would do...with an engine that puts out over 375 hp and over 450 ft lbs torque. I tried 4 different carbs on it and rejetted and tuned all of them to try to get optimum. They were 1. Holley 600 cfm vacuum secondary. 2. Holley 750 cfm mechanical secondary. 3. Edelbrock 600 cfm mech/vacuum secondary. 4. Edelbrock 750 cfm mech/vacuum secondary. If you were to go by the carb companies, I would not run anything larger than a 600 cfm. For me, I ended up liking the Edelbrock 750. It just seemed to perform better "seat of pants". Granted that I didn't run them at the strip and my "data" is subjective. Still, I know what I ended up the happiest with. The funny thing is that I really thought I'd like the Holley 600 cfm the best. What I didn't like about it was the response of the secondaries. I changed the springs but I could never make the secondaries as responsive as I wanted. The mechanical secondary Holley was really too much. No matter how much I played with it, I always ended up with a little bog before the Umfffff.....LOL. Moral of my story is this....run what makes you happy and the heck with everyone elses opinion. Remember, you're the one that has to drive it.

Good Luck!

Tracy

 

The manufactures recommendations are usually for a stock or mild build. Your build would not fit into that catagory. It also doesn't fit in to the race engine catagory either. But a round number to use for carb size on a build such as your is to add 20% to the carb size the formula gives you. I would have suggested a 750 vacuum secondary carb for your setup. The smaller carb will improve the off idle response and low end torque. As to the vacuum secondaries. They are suppose to come in at a rate that you can't feel them come on line. FYI all Edelbrock carbs are concidered to be vacuum secondaries as even though the throttle plates open mechanically, the air valve is what contols the air flow thru the secondaries an it is operated by vacuum and air flow. Most 390s work best with a 600 CFM carb. Hell both my 428CJs came with a 735 CFM carbs and the auto shifted at 6000 in drive. Plug the numbers into the formula and you will see the the formula works and Ford didn't add 20% either. I tried several bigger carbs, a 780 and a 800 and they totally sucked. But a 3X2 set up with 3 each 350 CFM carbs dropped a 10th of a second in the quarter mile. The 3X2 was rated a 860CFM on a 390, 920 CFM on a 406 and 1002 CFM on a 428. So as a Holley tech guy told me many, many moons ago in Tulsa at the Nationals, "A lot of little holes is better than a couple of big holes."