Ok I am planing on buying a Edelbrock Carb and Intake for my 77 F-100 302 . (all stock). And I just wanted to know everyones opinion on Edelbrock Vs. Every other Carb Manufacturer? Also what would be the corect size for my 302. I want somthing that gets alright gas mileage but is MEAN when I want it to be. MEAN = Jumps when I say I want her to jump. This is going to be a daily driver (thats why I want alright gas mileage) and somone told me 600cfm is the max I should go, and anything over a 600cfm would be too much for my stock cam and would give me very bad gas mileage. So whats your opinion? Also whats better "Manual or Electric Choke"?

 

i believe the 600 would be plenty.Eld carbs are good, made by weber. put you some good dual exhaust with a crossover, semi quiet mufflers w/turndowns in front of the rear axel. You will be pleased.If you still have restrictive single exhaust the 4 bbl potential will be limited.advance your timing till it pings then back it off a little to optimize your setup.

 

In my opinion I believe a 550, 570 or 600 cfm holley would suite your engine, they are a good carb and I agree that you need some dual exhaust to make the most of the 4 barrel upgrade
Steve

 

I have heard bad things about holley.... Like there power valves and some of the plastic parts on them breaking... What are the Warranty's on Edl, and Holley?

 

The newest incarnation of the Holley, the street avenger series, has power valve blow out protection. Solves that problem, I never heard of someone breaking any plastic parts unless they have abused the part. ie... the accelerator pump cam and choke cam. Those are the only parts besides the vavcum secondary choke diaphram cover that normally get abused. Holley did go to a plastic cover on that to make it easy to swap out the secondary rate springs vise the older solid cast metal cover. So unless you are the type to beat on things because you have no clue what you are doing you're good to go. Besides Holley makes those parts very inexpesive so you can swap out differant cams to increase or decrease the performance options on your carb.

 

but, if you are going to spend that much on a holley, I would get a BG 625 cfm Road Demon......better castings......My edelbrock works fairly well, although it is still requiring some tuning.

 

But Edelbrock says that they dont have any plastic parts to break?(Plastic on trucks gets brittle after time(hot and cold weather) and easily cracks and breaks). Also there are no power valves to blow on the Performer series carbs. I have seen Road Demon In the mag's that I get, I hate how they never advertise there prces? I take it they are expencive? I have had many friends and relitives that use Edelbrock and I only know of one person who didnt like his. My uncle had Dual Edelbrock carbs on his VW Baja and said he didnt like them because they werent doing enough, so he switched to webber (I guess they are better for the VW engines?) So whats the Price and Performance difference between the Edelbrock and Holley Intake? I heard I can put a Holley Intake on my 302 and the Edelbrock carb will fit on it as well? I dont understand why poeple dont just buy the Edelbrock intake, along with the carb? Is there a performance difference if you mix match Carb and Intake or is it better if you have Matching Carb and Intake Manufacturers? I need to know whats best --- If I buy matching 600cfm Edelbrock Carb and Edelbrock Intake. Or Should I buy Holley Intake and a Edelbrock 600cfm Carb?

P.S. About the Dual Exhaust, does anyone know of a good place in western WA that does Dual Exhaust? I know of one but they will prob charge me an arm and a leg... Also what kind of Exhaust should I get if I get the 600cfm? I went to the Exhaust shop the other day and was lookin through a book they had and they give you a choice between Turbo Mufflers and Glass Packs (chery bomb)? I know if I ask them there they will tell me that they wont put anything on there if its going to lowe my emitions.... My truck is registerd in a place where I dont have to take emitions tests. What should I do?

 

GO with a turbo muffler type muffler - not too loud just right!

 

Well, I have a 3 on the tree how would the turbo sound with that? The PO took a hack saw to the stock exhaust and did some welding of his own... It had single exhaust on it and he cut it off right under the cab and put on a Chery Bomb Glass pack and angled it so it comes out in front of the rear passenger side tire. It is very loud when I am geting on the freeway and when I am shifting from 2nd to 3rd. How quiet will the turbo mufflers be compared to the Glass packs, and is there a performance difference?

Also what size Exhaust should I get? I was told 2 1/2" or 3". And as for headers? What should I go with?

 

As far as the exhaust goes you shouldn't more then a 2 1/4 if that. 2 inch pipes will do your engine just fine. I have a 460 I plan on running and I won't be running 3" pipes. You need a small amount of back pressure for you exhaust valves.

The question of swapping carbs and intakes has to do with preferance. I like the idea of being able to fiddle with my carb once in a while. I can increase and decrease the jetting as I wish with my Holley. All intakes and carb bases are interchangable due to uniformity. You do have a few odd ball sizes like the dominator flange and spreadbores.

 

and Edelbrock is a Weber carburetor, so trading off for one wouldn't do you any good. Holley makes good intakes, I have one, but Edelbrock makes the best. You can interchange intakes and carbs as you wish, it won't matter. Holley intakes are more expensive too. For exhaust, Mark is right on about large exhaust pipes, but you can get away with 2.5" pipes if you have them exit behind the rear wheels if you have a long wheel base. Reason is, the large diameter pipes will reduce backpressure, but the length of the pipes will add a little bit back. If you keep catalytic converters with pipes that long, you won't need mufflers, but if you do get mufflers, don't do glasspacks. They don't sound nearly as cool as turbos, and they are much worse for flow than they would look. The only thing they have going for them is the fact that they're cheap. Get a pair of Hooker Aerochambers, they are just as good as Flowmaster, but cost about half as much. TK

 

Hooker Aerochambers--- I take it these are Headers? Also, my uncle had Edelbrock Carbs and took them off and put on
We(bb)er's with 2 B's not one. He told me that they are made for bug's and are not made by the same company as edelbrock? I duno and dont really care, I know for sure I am going to buy Edelbrock Carb and Intake now. I seen in a mag. that I have that I can buy the Edelbrock cam set along with the intake, it said its 128.00. I was wondering if this would also be a good investment? And can I install these on my own? Will I have to buy all new valve springs and rocker arms? Or does the Cam come with all of it? I am new to beefing up engines, so if any of these questions seem dumb im sorry. But thanks for all of your help so far.!

 

I beleive torqueking means carter not weber. The Edelbrock 600 would work great on your 302, definately not to big. The reason I know this is I had and Edelbrock 600 on my carbed 3.8L buick engine, and it worked awesome, no bog, even off the line. As far as intakes go, go with the one thats more in your budget or height requirement etc. Both intakes will probably only vary 10 Hp or so one way or another.

 

Ok sounds like a Plan, I will buy the Edelbrock Performer Series 600 CFM. And The Edelbrock Intake.... I have some chrome on my body but dont have any on my engine, would a shiney intake look alright or should I just go with the regular aluminum look? also is there a performance difference, because I know that the performance from intake matters about how smooth the inside is and how it flows.... Are there any differences in performance betwen the 2 finishes? Also I need to know about headers? Everyone is giving me different products? I do know that Hooker headers are good because I have heard and seen the dyno difference. What should I get?

 

an Edelbrock is a Carter, but it is ultimately a Weber design, check out the logo on the driver's side. The Edelbrock cam is a very nice choice for a mild street motor, like yours. You should use Edelbrock's recommended valve springs, that way you don't have to worry about them wearing out or floating valves, you'll be able to drive it as hard as you want without worrying about anything. The rocker arms will be fine, you just need the spring kit that the cam is matched to, the sales rep at the parts store will be able to find what you need. With that cam, you might be able to use stock springs for a while, but they will float if you ever rev it above 5,000 RPM or so, and that's risking engine damage, and not to mention stock springs will fatigue faster. Go with the natural finish Edelbrock intake, there is certainly no performance difference between the natural and the polished one. I'd recommend you pick up a can of high temp aluminum engine paint, and give it a blast of that, it will look awesome. I'm really not a big fan of chrome, it looks cheap. If you don't paint your intake, it will still look good for a while, but it will get stains on it and fade, but it will perform the same. The Hooker Aerochamber is a muffler. I recommend Dynomax Headers, Summit has those for $79 for your application, and you're not gonna be able to beat that anywhere, and they're the heaviest gage tubes on the market, I've had mine for 3 years, and they're holding up just fine. TK