Trying to decide on a carburetor to use for the 350 I'm slowly trying to put together for my Camaro, but I don't know much about choosing the right size or how the different brands stack up next to each other. The plan is to use a stock 350 shortblock and get it zero decked. The heads will be port and polished 416 castings and I'll be using an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold with the square bore flange. I'll be using shorty headers, but I'm not sure what kind yet. For the cam, I'm thinking about the Xtreme Energy 268H kit that comes with the cam, lifters, timing chain and gears, new valve springs, retainers and locks. Please give me your opinions on which carb I should choose, and let me know if the cam is a too big or otherwise ill suited to the application. Thanks.

 

It seems that most people on these boards prefer either to keep their stock Q-jet, or go to a Holley carb. For your app, a 650 double pumper would probably do the trick.

 

I'm extremely happy with my Speed Demon. Very tuneable, and they are one of the best looking carbs, I think. Everyone is going to have a different opinion. If your looking for pure power then the Holley/Demon setup seems to be preferred. Edelbrocks are not very well liked on here, but I've tuned one of them as well. They do ok, but don't usually make as much power. My demon with vacum secondaries is very streetable and has no issues once it's warmed up. Almost always fires right up with very little cranking. I would say your going to be around the 650 to 750 range. Depending on how radical you want to get down the road. I'm running a 650 on my 305, which is over carbing it alittle, but when the 305 dies someday then I plan on going with a 350 or so.

 

I read alot on here, and went with the Edelbrock. The Holley's and others are "more tunable" according to most, but the thought of "more tunable" in my book also translated to "more trouble to set up for an idiot like myself". More tunable means things like rejetting and such - places I didn't want to go just yet.

I guess it all depends on what you're looking for. I wanted simple, plug and play, inexpensive, easy, and something to get started with and learn from/with, with not much "tuning" - and the Edelbrock was the way to go.

I got the 1406 with electric choke, it's a 600cfm which is plenty for your 350, runs out of the box with literally very little to no adjustment, and it's on the shelf at most Pep Boys for $249.

My two-cents (for my application) - A vote for Edelbrock!

 

Wouldn't a 600 be a little small for a 350? And I've heard for cars around 3600 pounds like mine you should use a vacuum secondary carb unless youre using really deep rear gears. Anyone else want to ring in on this and cut through my lack of knowledge?

 

Been reading around and it seems like alot of people like sticking with the Q-jet. Theres a guy at work with the Performer RPM Q-jet that he's looking to get rid of so he can use a squarebore manifold like mine. Should I trade him manifolds and rebuild my Q-jet or would I get more out of keeping the squarebore manifold and getting a new carb?

 

Anybody?

 

my old 350 was fairly mild and the edelbrock 600 i had on it was a little small, never got it working quite right, and the 750 is too big. 650 would be a good size with a holley, or the quadrajet can be made to work quite nicely

 

or what about the 700DP to go with your T-5

 

Would a mechanical secondary carb work weel with a 3400 pound car and a manual with 3.73s in the rear? I thought I read that heavier cars with manual transmissions should get a vacuum secondary? Not trying to contradict you, I just want what'll work best. Thanks for the responses so far.

 

I am running a 350 in my trans am with the same cam that you want but I have afr heads, edelbrock performer rpm intake, 9.5 to 1 compression, 700r4 trans with 373 posi out back...I did alot of homework also and I decided to get a holley 750 vac secondary...I did have to play with it for a while but it is realy dialed in now and I could not be more happy with how it performs. I have awesome throttle response in lower rpm range and no bog at all. Your motor should be right there with mine and that is the carb I would recommend. My wifes camaro has a rebuilt 307 out of something like a 1970 truck and I put a edelbrock performer intake on hers with a holley 600 VS, 700r4 and 373's also and that carb worked great right out of the box I am not going to do a thing to it. My car is in the high 12's in the 1/4 mile right now and I bet her car is a high 13's very very low 14's with a 307 with no mods except intake, carb, headers and exhaust...lol! But yeah I think if you plan on driving it on the street alot forsure get a 750 VS if you plan on racing more than cruising 750 double pumper...JMO!

 

Thanks 4playta. For now, this car is my summer daily driver, and when I get this motor together I'll take it to the track maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Streetability is the more important thing here. I can handle giving up the 15 or 20 horse a mechanical secondary would give me if itll be easier to drive with a VS carb. How easy is the holley to tune?

 

i'm running a double pumper with a 700r4, no problems. love it to death. dead easy to tune as well. floats, throttle blades, idle speed/mixture. you're done.

seeing you have a t-5 i'd steer clear of a VS.

 

350 CID + 700DP + manual tranny + 3.73 gears = happy camper.

Any demand-based secondary type carb (VS, Performer, AV, etc.) with the above = less than happy camper.

Streetability and secondary type are unrelated.

 

Looking on jegs, this is about the only 700 cfm double pumper I could find. 510-0-4778C Would that be the carb I'm looking for? If it is, they offer a kit that includes the duel feed fuel line and a pressure gauge, would that be something I'd need to get?

 

The Performer RPM Q-jet will mount both squarebore and spreadbore carbs.

 

You don't "need" the pressure gage, but unless you fabricate something yourself, you will need a dual feed line.

 

Well I figured the pressure gauge wasn't a necessity but it came in the kit so I mentioned it. I guess I'll grab that carb with the dual feed line and call it a day. Thanks for all the help you guys.

 

I am using a Dominator on my car, I have a little more motor than you but it had a 600 vac secondary that worked great for allot of street driving and fuel milage.. Also was very easy to tune if you needed to pass smog test..

The dom is only a 750..

 

I did not see you had a stick I would go with a double pumper on your app instead of a VS

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

...i didn't realize these things had jumped up in price, wow...

 

I'd buy a 750 double pumper to leave some room to grow if there will be future mods. I also like the proform carbs, but they have no choke and are $530 last I checked, but very tuneable.

 

Will I be able to tune a 750 to my engine fairly decently? Eventually I'd like to move up to AFR aluminum heads but that's not in the budget for quite some time, would the 750 be adequate for those or would I need bigger anyways?

 

yup yup, get the 750.

i'd look into an xe274 as well, but thats just me.

 

your not going to notice any difference between a dp or vs on a 3400 lb car, I could barely feel anything with my 6200 lb pickup. I'd say go with the dp design youll be happy.(those diaphragms are a bear to install if you need a spring swap.

 

The XE274 has .490" of lift at the valve, my understanding was that about .480" was the safe limit before having to grind down the valve guide boss. And the rated operating range goes right to 6000 rpm, about the fastest I'd like to spin the stock crank. Unless modifying the heads to handle .490" is relatively easy and and the crank can handle being spun to 6200 or so? Opinions on that?

 

I have this 650 on a ZZ4. It set up real easy and I've had no problems.

 

I got the same app, and runs like a champ..helps me with the idle I want. And I've been told better gas mileage than the Holley

 

You'd be hard pressed to notice a difference in mileage between two properly tuned, appropriately sized carbs of different design.