I finally found a 4 barrel intake manifold for a 292. The seller recommended that I have an adaptor made that would allow me to put on a late model edelbrock carb.

Anyone have such a beast or know who makes one? If I can buy one, I'd rather do that than try to have one made.

Also if you have an Edlebrock carb gathering dust, I'd be interested.

Thanks,

Greg

 

Which manifold do you have? I think an Edelbrock/Carter will bolt on a '57 312 ECZ manifold. They are made to take a Holley or Autolite carb. The '56 and earlier manifolds have a smaller bolt pattern and used the old holley Centri-flow carb ( looks like it's made wrong side out ).

 

Hey Greg. Is that the ECZ-G manifold? Why not put on a Holley LIST-1850 650 cfm carb? Holley carbs look really tough and they're pretty common. Just an idea.

BTW, I have this manifold and carb as well as the original Autolite 4bbl. I can soon provide some first-hand experience with this combo.

Best regards,

 

Actually the manifold will be shipped to me next week so I don't know the code yet. I do know that it is off of a 312 and will probably need to be milled since my 292 heads have been milled.

I can tell you I don't know squat about carbs. The anecdotal advice that I've been given is that the Edlebrocks are a little less cantankerous then the Holleys. This truck isn't going to be driven much more than 5k a year if that. I want my wife to have confidence in it getting her home so I am aiming at anything that requires less time under the hood.

Without starting a flame war, I am interested in opinions on the Holleys versus the Edelbrocks. There is a guy in town who does nothing except Holley 600cfm carbs so that would be an easy answer.

I like hearing that there are current models that will bolt up. I'm really not interested in an adaptor if it can be avoided.

Both of the previous replies have been a great help. This thread will be printed and filed so that I can just take it down to the parts man when the manifold is ready to bolt up.

Thanks to all,

Greg

 

Holleys are infinitely tuneable with all the parts available to do whatever you need to fine tune one. The only drawbacks to a Holley are the vertical gasketed surfaces between the body and metering block and the fuel bowl and metering block, which after a time usually develop a leak ( after many heating and cooling cycles they tend to warp a little ). You also wind up having to catch the gas that runs out whenever you have to remove the fuel bowls to change jets, power valve, etc. The Edelbrock does not have any gasketed surfaces below the fuel level. The Holleys also have a habit of icing when the weather is cold and humid ( the symptom being a surging idle which keeps getting worse that is cured by a momentary shutdown to let the carb warm up fro, the engine heat ). The Edelbrock is nothing but a Carter AFB. They are also very tuneable, and if you buy the strip kit, you have just about everything you need to fine tune one. With the Holley you will have to buy everything separately to fine tune it. The Holley uses jets/metering plates exclusively to meter the fuel, where the Edelbrock uses a combination of jets and metering rods ( different ones are supplied in the strip kit ). I think the Edelbrock does not have a power valve, which, on a Holley you may have to change as part of the tuning process. In most instances the Holley works pretty good out of the box, except in my experience, the
#1850 600 vacuum secondary tends to be lean in the secondaries. As for the Edelbrock, I can't say how they work out of the box as I haven't used one, but, there are a lot of them around so I don't think they have any problems. Another choice, if you can find one, is an Autolite 4 BBL. They resemble a Holley at a squint, but they are dirt simple. They also have no gaskets below the fuel line. They basically have just two main castings, the main body and top cover. These are the carbs that originally came on all four barrel application on Fords and Mers from '57 up until the 70's except for the few high performance engines that had Holleys as original equipment.

 

Wow. I'm impressed by 5Star's answer.

The only thing I would add is that Holley sells a model of carb much like the Autolite. It's called a 4010 (600 CFM) and 4011 (650 CFM). They tend to be a little cheaper than other carbs and it'll bolt onto the ECZ-G manifold like other Holleys or Autolites.

I favor Holley because of their mystique; having a Holley 4150 or 4160 4 bbl (like the LIST 1850) on your car means you are a gear-head.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 15-Sep-02 AT 07:24 PM (EST)]Paul,

Do they still sell those ( the Autolite ripoff )? I remember when they came out in the late 80's. Holley advertised them like they were some big new deal, but they didn't go over very well. They were almost exactly like an Autolite on the outside, but with Holley jets and power valve on the inside.

Del
If ya don' eeat yerr meat, ya can't have any pudding.
How can ya have any pudding if ya don' eeat yerr meat?

 

Del,

I went over to Holley's web site and it's not clear whether it is still being offered. I also went to Summit Racing's web site and they list the 0-84011 as "not available". Short answer, probably not. So that leave just the 4150/4160 type Holley, and the Autolite.

I've heard that the Autolite is not a bad carb, but I think I'll be trying the 1850 first.

Best regards,

 

The early 60's Autolite 4bbl carb is
a very good carb, very simple and dead nuts
reliable. I have had a couple of them on
various engines, even a scrub...


Steve & the Rockette
'63 F100
'68 F100
'72 Capri 2L
'73 Capri 2.6L V6
'73 MG B GT 2.6L V6(Ford)
'98 Contour SVT 2.5L V6, That blowed up real good...
'01 ZX2 (No Mods yet)

 

There are two 4bbl intakes.
ECZ-A is the early pattern and ECZ-B is the later. Both were available on 292 and 312's thru 1956.

If you are getting the earlier then use the adapter plate and port match as well as possible for a smooth flow.

Several have also hogged out to make into a dual plane with a noticable improvement.

For a real kick in the butt get one of those new aluminum 4 bbl intakes. Pricey but great dyno results.

 

I got my manifold yesterday. The casting number is ECZ 9426 B.

It sounds like the later model casting.

Any additional thoughts?

As always, thanks for the help,

Greg

 

Thats the good one.
And I just noticed a goof in my previous post. It was supposed to say the A version was used on the 292 & 312 thru 56. The B came out for 57 models.

Unless you are into a lot of machine work leave it alone and run a good carb on it. And a 57 or late
Some of the Y Block racers have machined them, smoothed them and even converted to dual plane.

You havenet mentioned the engine/truck year but be sure to use a 57 or later distributor. The earlier ones are vacuum advance only and are calibrated for the old carbs. The later are vacuum and mechanical.

 

Even more good stuff!

The truck is a '59 F100 Stepside. If I remember correctly, the block coded out as an early 60s. I probably need to go to a new distributor. I notices when we yanked the motor, that the lifting chain was tangled up with the Dist. If it isn't bent or torqued, I'll eat my hat!

Maybe I'll start a new thread looking for Distributor advice....

Thanks for all the great help!!!

Greg