What's your carburetor preference for the 350?

[big_al_71]

Holley HP650 was the best choice for my built 406

[c10boob]

Originally Posted by GMCJOE

What's wrong with the Holley you are running right now? If it isn't running properly, I would suggest just rebuilding it and tuning it properly.

Nothing apparently

I was just told they were junk by someone who has messed with a lot of 350 engines, but after hearing all the responses on here I think I will rebuild my Holley (Dave Ramsey approved) and possibly get a Q-Jet to rebuild and try out at a later time.

[chipflyer]

Quadrajet. Power and economy, the rest give you one or the other, not both.
There is a reason GM used them for so many years on almost everything!

Jeff

[jocko]

c10boob - good plan, and, I wouldn't take any more of that gent's advice.... To your question, you've seen most PREFER a Q-jet (I was one of em), but a Holley is not junk by any means. If you are going to change it, Q-jet is great, but if you aren't having problems and aren't doing a 100 pt resto, then why change it before you have problems?

[54belair]

I like q-jets------they just work well. BUT,,,finding a good q- jet these days is expensive and hard to do. This truck will be my fourth build/street machine----it will have an Edelbrock 1406. All three previous builds had one and they all worked fine.

Now, with all that said-----Im also looking for a complete three duece setup (just for wow factor) and Yes, I know how to set them up.

[RPIcka]

Where do you find a good Q-Jet?

[1972RedNeck]

Maybe you should look for a thermoquad.

[chevydog66]

Go to a race track near you and look to see what everyone there is running. Holleys are great carbs if you know how to tune them. Same with Qjets. Edelbrocks aren't worth using.

[71K20chevy]

Originally Posted by chevydog66

Go to a race track near you and look to see what everyone there is running. Holleys are great carbs if you know how to tune them. Same with Qjets. Edelbrocks aren't worth using.

^^

The guy who rebuilt my Q-Jet runs one on his '74 GTO drag car. And it's not gimpy car, this thing stands on the rear bumper, too.

[GMCJOE]

Originally Posted by c10boob

Nothing apparently

I was just told they were junk by someone who has messed with a lot of 350 engines, but after hearing all the responses on here I think I will rebuild my Holley (Dave Ramsey approved) and possibly get a Q-Jet to rebuild and try out at a later time.

Sounds good... That seems to be the opinion's of many of people, until they are tuned right. They can be a PITA to tune sometimes, but run great when properly tuned. I tend to buy used, so I am not bias on what to run. I have ran Holley, Edelbrock, Carter, and Q-Jets. IMO I have got best performance out of a Holley, which was 2nd in fuel economy to the q-jet I ran on the same engine. I happened to run all them brands on one engine in my high school years. Learned a lot on rebuilding and tuning them. But I still pull out the instructions here and there to tune one up here and there.

[chevydog66]

Try a Demon carb. Even better than a Holley.
Posted via Mobile Device

[GMCJOE]

I found this cool site today while researching the q-jets. Pretty much they can build you one to your vehicle. 9-10 month wait. Or you can buy the book he wrote on it, and build your own. I am getting a copy of it and the transmission book that he wrote. I suggest saving your money, and build your own. Be cheaper the way the carb price's are rising.

http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/

[jhwkns]

Originally Posted by chevydog66

Try a Demon carb. Even better than a Holley.
Posted via Mobile Device

I had a Barry Grant 500cfm that worked great. That was on a 350. I've got a 305 in my truck now, and I'm running a 390 Holley. I prefer a Holley, or Demon in almost any application. I had a Carter AFB, but had a problem with the fuel boiling in the float chambers on hot days. I've never had that happen with a Holley.

Like others have said, "...if you go to the track you don't see many q-jets or edelbrocks"

With carburetors bigger doesn't always mean better. I've seen 359ci engines make almost 500hp with a Holley 4412 (500cfm 2bbl)

[chevydog66]

True, bigger is not always better. You need a strong signal. Too much cfm and the velocity will not be strong enough. A 600 cfm will be plenty for any 350 - 400 ci. motor.

[c10boob]

Thanks again for all the help. I hesitated posting this because I figured I'd be beating a dead horse, but I'm glad I posted it now. MUCH better answers on this forum regarding carburetors than ANYTHING I found during a Google search and multiple searches of various other forums.

[bk2life]

wow what a can of worms.

to sum this all up, kepp your carb on your truck, take your truck to get dyno tuned. have your igntition curve adjusted, have your carb tuned and jetted. get your vacuum modulator on your trans adjusted. new plugs/wires, make it run correclty.

every carb mentioned in this post is a great one and will work perfectly if tuned to YOUR motor.

[Roller400]

Go with the q jet. They are easy to find in good shape. I keep an eye out at swap meets, junk yards and pick em up on eBay once in awhile. Get cliffs book as mentioned earlier. Barnes and noble has ot for $20 . I'm gonna use it to prep one for a c10 I just picked up. Cliff built a jet for me last year for my 68 gto. And it was spot on like fuel injection! Its the origional Carb on my 400 . It dynoed at 412 HP and 482ftlb complete with cast iron exhaust manifolds and stock intake. The a/f ratio was great just fine tuned the screws and set the idle.

[GMCJOE]

I agree with Roller400, I been been in contact with Cliff over e-mail. Busy busy man from what I can tell. He gave me a little advice if I was to build my own, and has even built the same set-up I am running in my truck (96 LT1 corvette engine, carb'ed with Bowtie intake, LT4 hot cam swap, and HEI distributor). Told me he could provide me with a kit to the exact specification of my set-up for me to build my own.

I am still waiting to see what the price would be if he built one for me. I did a bunch of research and he has great reviews on all his work. So, waiting 9-10 months for one of Cliff's high quality Q-Jet builds would be great in my mind.

My opinion is definitely go with a Quadrajet. You will get the best of both out of them, performance and fuel economy. I spent $225 on a Thunder Series 650 four months ago to run on mine. One reason, I haven't ran that style yet and I can get my return on it when I choose to sell. But a Quadrajet is in the works, just had been searching for a reputable business or person that builds them.


Any choice will work, some work better than other. You have to learn how to choose for your application for what brand you decide to run. That's the hardest part. Running to small of a carb is not good, cause's the engine to run lean and in return runs hot and could damage pistons, rings, and such. If you choose to run Holley, use there website. There is an application on there to help choose the right one from them. Quadrajet, I suggest buying Cliff's book as I am going to. Edelbrock, I do not suggest running the 1406 600CFM, most people have issues with it to include myself. Do a google research on it and you will see what I mean. Other brands I am not familiar with, that have been mentioned but have heard good information about them. If you can't decide what size to go with after you pick a manufacture, just give them a call and they should be able to set you up with the right CFM.

[Roller400]

My cliff Carb cost about $550 but that was for my 68 unit that needed a little more tlc then a later unit
And I had it replated. 76 and later non computer controlled units are the ones to get. The castings are better, they have the improved float which gives the fuel bowl a bit more capacity and the adjustable apt feature really allows the part throttle a/f to be dialed in. Not to mention they all flow 800 + cfm. As soon as I figure what to do with this awesome 69 c10 I scored, I'm gonna tackle a q jet build myself. I know my around them pretty well but have never attempted a custom unit cliff style. Q jets are the zenith of Carb technology, the next step up was fuel injection. Pontiac guys routinely run them on 500 HP + big inch motors.

[GMCJOE]

Cliff gave me a price finally on building me a Quadrajet. $575 +shipping. I don't doubt his work by any means as it is proven, but my pockets just aren't that deep. So, I did a little more research and found guy that builds the Quadrajet's, seems to be done up as Cliff does for $359, and has a ton of history with building them.

Here is the link: https://www.smicarburetor.com/products/productID/852

Hope that helps you out c10boob, if you choose to replace your carburetor with a Quadrajet.

[jd7]

holly for me never had an edelbrock run right