I have a 302 and have all the "standard" performance N/A goodies. I have an Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap intake manifold and 351w heads. I am looking for an amazingly streetable carburetor (i.e. low maintenance and good/great performance). It will obviously have to be in the 600-650cfm range. I have a Predator, but im still iffy on using it. There was a fellow here that had one on his mav and if he see's it, please let me know how it has worked out for you. Thanx for the info guys n gals, Kyle B.
For a street car, I'd go with an Edelbrock EPS 600 cfm carb. They seem to "hold a tune" better than most holleys, though the holleys do make more power. It's what I have on my Mustang right now, and would have it on the maverick if I was driving it. Don't know too much about predator carbs...other than I have heard of many folks using them with mixed results. I have heard they are hard to tune and find parts for should the need arise. At least you can go down to just about any parts store and pick up a Holley rebuild kit. That being said, if I had the choice, I'd use a Holley 750 vacuum secondary with annular or truck boosters for any street use, or an Edelbrock 750 or 800. I know, sounds too big...but there's no such thing as too big when it comes to carbs. It's all in the tuning
I used the Speed Deamon 650. I had to install air bleeds to richen up the idle circuit but other than that its worked like a champ for a year now. Ran it on a dyno this year & I didnt have to touch the jetting.
Generally speaking AFB carbs work pretty good . I think it is true they are less maintenance than a Holley but Holleys are more tunable . Chokes work good on Edlebrock/AFB not so good on Holleys Holleys wont handle dirt as well as ........ any carb really I guess it depends on how much time you are going to spend tuning . On a side note . All of the Edlebrock carbs I have seen are a nice shiny chrome .
All I've ever had are Holleys, they kick ass but are high maintainence. I don't run a choke either...wide open at all times....
Quick Fuel........ Call them, they will custom build you a carb. to your engine specs and also for the type of driving you will be doing. They built one for my race car and the only thing I had to change on it was the idle bleeds. They use all Holley stuff and are alot cheaper than those other guys.
Carburetor I have had an Edelbrock 600cfm on my car for 11+ years with no problems. The electric choke works well, the carb performs well & never requires any adjustments. I'd recommend the Edelbrock or the Carter carbs. Holleys are better for racing than for on the street. Just my 2 cents... MAVRICK513
The Edelbrocks are definitly the way to go.. Out of the box they work great.. You can tune them if you like to get better performance, but not really needed... Holleys work well, and for most people they will work out of the box, but for some ALOT of tunning is required to get it to run right.. Once tuned though.. I've never had to go back and change my carbs... I use both Holleys and edelbrocks on my cars with really no reasoning other than thats what was on my shelf when I assembled the engine... Generally the people who compain about holleys are the ones who use old or used carbs that are either worn out, or set up for a completely different app than what they have.. Its really hard to beat the simplicity of the Edelbrock, I also recoment the Demons and Holley avenger serries.. for most of us small block street cars the holleys and demons are a bit over Jetted but still run great.
I never could get the Edelbrock tune right, I changed jets, needles, and springs. I also don't like the fact that you can't change the secondary timing unless you grind some metal off the counter weight. That secondary issue has been changed on some of the newer versions. I have more experence with the holleys and know what to change to get the results I want. I do like the fact you don't have to worry so much about fuel leaks on the Edelbrocks when making changes. And one of the biggest pains on the holleys has been addressed, the frekin transfer tube. Every time I would take the old version apart that little O ring would be the sorce for the leak, now they have a rubber condom for the transfer tube.
I have never had a problem with a Holley carb in my life. I have had 3 different ones on my Mav over the years. Only reason I had to replace is cause I have a bad problem of taking things off the Mav and putting them on other cars, guess that keeps new things on the Mav! The one I just took off my car had been on there since 1992 and still works great. Put it on my 70 Mercury Cylcone Spoiler and it works great on it too. Now I have a mechanical secondary 700 cfm on the Mav and I think it is the best carb choice I have made yet for the car. Dont get me wrong, I think the other carbs out there are great, I just stick with what has given me problem free service over the years. Dan ps I never run a choke, dont drive it in cold weather anyways.
Back to the carb choice subject LOL. I got a serious laugh today when my brother came home with a 1050 Dominator, and told me he was going to use it on my ex-turbo maverick that he's been bracket racing. It's just a mild 302....and we all know that the 1050 was way more carb than it could use. It probably would have worked with enough tuning....but I wanted to try it on my car and didnt really help him much with it. He got a little bent when it stumbled...and we decided to swap it onto my windsor just for giggles. Upped the jets, removed power valves, and played with the squirters and eventually picked up .1 /1 mph in the 1000' to a 8.81 @ 113 mph, 1/8 was a 6.84 @ 102. I kinda like it, though the hood won't fit now! That being said, I drove my Mustang out there just for fun and ran against a guy in a '02 LS1 Firebird. Everyone talks about how well those cars run, and to be honest, they do run well....but it sure felt good running .1 quicker and 2 mph more than he did! I couldn't believe it
With almost the same setup in mine a 650 DP holley with jets 72 primaries 76 secondary, runs excellant .
New carb I just won this one on Ebay. 650 DP Holley apparently fresh and ready to run. Anyone intrerrested in my Edelbrock 1407? It has about 5 or 6 hours of run time on it.
