Here's the story: As long as I have owned it, my car has not run as it was supposed to. My carb has always been off, and the computer never seems to control it correctly. I was looking over the situation today, and I noticed that the MAP sensor, and a couple other carb sensors where disconnected/bypassed. I called my mechanic, and he said that it was probably done a long time ago due to a computer problem. The problem is, the computer has nothing to guage its adjustments on if the sensors arn't working. The price to replace all of the sensors is over $600. I'm on a limited income(high school student) and can't afford to shell out that much $. I think I may just buy a non-computerized Holley carb. I think I'm gonna get the 2-barrel, 500 cfm one. I know its a 2 barrel, but 500 cfm is more than enough for my stock 305 engine. Does this sound like a good idea? I was told that this particular Holley, #hly-0-4412s, did not work with automatic overdrive transmissions. Is this true? And, if it is, what kind of carb should I be looking at?(I want to keep it at or below $250)
Thanks

 

Thats gonna be tough to keep it below $250. Because if you are not using the ecm you should get a mechanical and vacuum advance distributor aswell as replace the carb. If you want to bybass any headaches when swapping carbs I would suggest a Edelbrock Q-jet, since a q-jet is what you are replacing all your posts and ball ends for your throttle and transmission hook up with, will tranfer over. If you decide on any other carb you will need after market or custom brackets to mount throttle and tranny cables to the intake. The two barrel would require a 4 to 2 barrel adapter plate and your air cleaner base will not fit and you will lose hood clearance with the adapter. Don't forget your fuel line will need to be changed if you use a different carb. Since it appears you have a garage do the work labor costs to modify all that to make a 2 barrel work could get exspensive. I would just save up for the Edelbrock Q-jet and a new HEI distributor with mechanical and vacuum advance.