Carter..runs out of the box...500 cfm will give you plenty of power and economy on anything up to 350 sbc..Summit or Jegs...
Nothing just "runs" out-of-the-box, kemosabe. That's a good way to find yourself in trouble later. First thing you should ask is what's wrong with the carb you have. You could be a rebuild kit away from the perfect carb already, rather than bolting a carb on and setting yourself up for failure. ~Jason
x2... couldn't of said it better.. but if you don't have a carb there's all sorts of options.. but.. seeing as you said "out of the box" I'm guessing your thinking mail order... Holley, Edelbrock, etc.. I'm a fan of Holley's.. some people like edelbrocks/afb based carbs.. it's all a matter of opinion.. But before somebody can really lead you in the right direction, what engine are you running? what type of intake? single 4? 2x4? single 2? 2x2, 3x2, etc...
If you are talking about a 4 barrel, you can't go wrong with an Edelbrock Performer. I have installed 4 of them on four different projects and I have never had to touch any of them after setting the idle speed. Three of them were 500 cfm's and the other was the 650 Thunder series. They sure beat the hell out of all the leaky Holleys.
600cfm Holley with vacuum secondaries. I've had great success with these carbs on many different engines, although I currently run a pair of 390 Holleys on my 306 inch small block.
A wee bit more information might get more useful answers; but gotta agree with Jason based on the question. I might add that the "best" carburetor out of the box is the one you feel most comfortable modifying! Jon.
edelbrock, ive used 2 out of the box, also im now running the new summit carb that is a remake of an old holley, runs idles revs great.....
x2... I do have a customer with a Holley 570 Street Avenger on a 390 that likes it... but a 600-650 would be perfect..
You must not have bought a carb in a while - Cater has been out of the carburetor business for years! (Plant closed in 1984) Also out of Business!
While the Carter plant did close in 1984 , lots of boxed Carters still available, if you look hard enough. Jon.
Yeah, there are some NOS Carters still floating around out there. Not TOO rare - they pop up from time to time. All you have to do is look at eBay or Craigslist every once in a while. Or hell, ask around - folks like Jon could probably come up with one if you were interested. Then again, folks like Jon can take a few numbers from you over the phone and custom-build one for you, too. But I damn sure like the REAL-DEAL Carters over the Edelbrock knock-offs... And I'm a Rochester guy! Lol! I also have an unnatural affinity for the lowly Stromberg WW. ~Jason
ive tried them all and hands down the most trouble free,efficent,tuner friendly is the carter/edelbrock AFB!
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