[drush5]

Ok. Now that the end of the season is here.....it's time to replace my carb. Plugs are new, timing is set, but the carb is DONE!!! I'm leaning toward buying a new one rather than having this one rebuilt. The question is what kind should I go with? The car is a 71XR7 351 cleavland 4 barrel. Some say go with a holley and some say Edlebrock. So what do you guys think??

 

[stray cat]

That is up to you. I have a 600cfm edelbrock on my 302, and it is much more streetable than my friends holley, but holleys and demon carbs have more get up and go, I think.

 

[dark7068]

for a stock cleveland, go with a 650, for a mild and up go with a 750/780. Carb brand depends on what you like, and what you feel comfortable fixing and setting up. The Clevelands love 780's

Rick

 

[Cougrrcj]

Carbs

I could never get one of the factory Motorcraft spreadbores to work right on either of my 73 Cats.

BetaCat, my closer-to-stock 73 351C-4V, has a stock 4V cast iron intake, a set of early quench heads, a mild aftermarket cam and stock dual exhaust. It absolutely loves its factory Ford 600cfm vacuum secondary Holley from a 66 GT 390. I tried AlphaCat's 780 vacuum secondary Holley on it and went a half second slower in the quarter mile.

AlphaCat, the more modified of my two Cats needs the 780. It has a much more radical cam, higher compression, headers and low restriction exhaust.

Holleys are a pain (read messy) to tune correctly and are more suited to all-out performance. The Carter/Edelbrock carbs are more tuner-friendly, they don't leak and will generally give slightly better economy.

 

[kvinmn]

I have a 390 and had all kinds of trouble with too much carb (750 double pump Demon). A 600-650 cfm with vacuum secondaries should do the trick. I put on a Road Demon (625 - electric choke) and it made more power and is MUCH more streetable than the previous Demon.

Any of the suggested carbs should be fine. Or, since you know the characteristics of your existing carb...rebuild it and save some $$$ for ceramic coated headers...

Ken

 

[bowl]

i like my 670 cfm holley street avenger. so far.

 

[drush5]

Thanks for the advice!!!! I'll let you guys know which one i go for! Probably the 650

 

[modifiedmark]

Just in case your interested, Jegs has 600 Edlebrock elec choke factory remanufatured carbs for $185. I just put one of them on my truck a couple months ago and you cant beat them for that price. Unless your racing alot I reccomend the Eldebrocks as there pretty much bolt em on and forget them. Just remember if you go with a Eldebrock carb and you have a auto trans you need to get the kickdown lever for it. There around $12. mm

 

[boilermaker]

MM, kickdown lever, is that for all automatics, C4 and C6? I was under the impression (don't ask me from where) that you only needed the kickdown kit for the AOD's
bmaker

 

[modifiedmark]

Yeah, c4,c6 and fmx all need the same kickdown lever on the carb. I dont know anything about the AOD! I had one on my 69 and it worked fine but my truck is a 5 spd so I didnt need one on it.

By the way is Kinolas speed shop still in business in Mich City? I used to get stuff from Jack over there all the time. mm

 

[greggieatthebat]

I have a question about the kick-down linkage as well... the only kickdown thing that we found was the cable from the bottom of the throttle lever to the tranny... what on the carb is a kickdown lever? We bought the Holley 600, Vacuum secondaries, electric choke with Ford AT kickdown linkage... There's some of the linkage stuff that we didn't understand (despite the wonderfully detailed instructions [sic] the Holley came with)... help?

 

[cougarguy]

here is numbers for the plate
Ford 289-302 #1490*
Ford 351-W #1491*
Ford 351-M/400 #1493*
Ford 429-460 #1495*
and the adapter
Ford Throttle Lever Adapter (1968 and later) #1483* found on the edelbrock site

 

[Royce Peterson]

67-68 Cougars have no need for the kickdown lever / linkage, it's all inluded in the throttle rod. Anything from 69-73 needs the carburetor mounted kickdown linkage lever.

 

[greggieatthebat]

Thanks Royce! I've been wondering about this for 4 years now, and nobody could give me a straight answer!

 

[boilermaker]

thanks for the info Royce.
MM, yes Kinolas is still in business...I've never been there though...the internet makes a small world, so variety and good prices are just a click away. Sort of sad really, I will have to make a point to visit Kinolas, try to give the "small guys" some business.
bmaker

 

[drush5]

MM, do you have a phone number for Jegs? For that price, I'll odrer one! Thanks.

 

[modifiedmark]

Yeah I thought it was a good deal too, and the one I got for my truck works perfectly. Try www.jegs.com or the # is 1-800-345-4545 mm