Hello all, I am going to start working on my 354 firepower hemi. I have a parts carburator, that doesn't work. So I was wondering what brand you guys would recommend, Holley or Edelbrock? I have heard good reviews about both, and am trying to figure out what would be best for my 47. I'm going for a four barrel carb. Thanks, Oliver
If the engine you're referring to is the 1956 Imperial engine, then the intake is setup for a WCFB 4 barrel, which is an excellent carb and looks fantastic in a period hot rod or custom. So I'd recommend sending it out to one of the Carter WCFB restoration shops and pay them $200-350 for a restoration. Same cost as a new carb, and it bolts on and runs perfectly.
....bolts on and everything fits the manifold without a spacer/adapter. If you decide to use something newer then stay at 500cfm max unless you make substantial internal changes. Also, something newer will have larger throttle bore spacing so the spacer/adapter will act like a funnel and will somewhat restrict air flow. If you must use something newer then consider machining the intake manifold to match the newer gasket bore pattern/spacing.
All about this. I put an inexpensive Trans-Dapt adapter on stock manifolds on these, and most often a 500cfm Edelbrock, most often used. With a little peppier cam, I will use a 600cfm Edelbrock, also most often used. Other brands of carburetors are fine too, but Edelbrocks are very easy to tune. You just need a vacuum gauge, and a variety of screwdrivers. Worst-case, a handful of cheap parts.
I always wanted to try two holly two barrels adapted to a two four intake. I've used Edelbrock 600cfm with good results on a number of 354's
WHAT'S a "holly' ?? You mean a Holley...carburetor ?!? ----------------------------------- Either the Edelbrock OR the Holley will work fine. Normally the Edelbrock is tuned a little more for general purpose driving, whereas the Holley's are more tuned for performance to racing, depending on the version you buy. Pick your driving style and buy according to that. Many years back, I had a Chevy II that still needed to be smog tested (SoCal !). In my normal driving I ran a Holley carburetor. The Holley would not...p*** the smog test. The Edelbrock would p*** with flying colors...so to speak. So the Edelbrock came out of the box, every two years and got mounted to the manifold for a week or so. After the testing, it went back into its box for another two year hibernation. Mike
73RR & Gimpy offered great advice. For bolt-on, no-h***le performance on a stock application, a 500 cfm Edelbrock is your best bet. Generally, Edelbrock/Carter carbs are more street-oriented while Holleys and their copies are marketed to guys who expect to tweek them for max performance. I have a straight-out-of-the-box 625 cfm Edelbrock on my 354. But it also has a HotHeads single 4bbl intake, moderate performance (225* @ .050") cam, and headers. It's in a 2800 lb '28 Ford sedan. Hope this helps.
The engine is going to have a torqueflite running behind it. It is going to have it's heads decked and ported, with the block decked. The bores I have are currently stock but I don't know the condition of the cylinders. The cam I'm hoping to get for it is somewhere around 0.460" lift; 205-215 degrees duration at .050; 112 LSA; max 10 degrees overlap or ~0.45 lift, 210-215 degrees at .050 and LSA around 112 degrees. From what a couple of the guys on the hamb told me these are the best options for my specifications. I am going to keep most of the parts stock, like a stock water pump and stock intake, because I don't want the engine to be a racer. I just want to be able to drive to high school and make lots of noise doing it. Like I said going in my 47 pickup. I know the stock cast parts are heavy, and I might change out the exhaust, but I really want to keep the original hemi look. I'm gonna have some adjustable rockers as well, if that has anything to do with the carb.
Also one note, I'm shootin' for a 10 to 1 c/r. Awesome hemi Gary! Thank you all for your advice, that narrows down the carb choices plenty enough for me to decide.
Be cautious about cutting the heads and deck to gain c/r. You won't get 10:1. You will be far better off with forged pistons.
I just kinda want to clean up the surfaces, so the gasket is able to do its job the right way. If I bore the pistons over to clean them up too I'd need bigger pistons. Where do you get yours from? Thanks Oliver
I am a WD for RaceTec. No, forgings are expensive and even more so since the chinese flu raised hell with, well, everything. Supply chain is sorta back but labour issues abound. There are a couple guys with generic forgings on the shelf but you have to build around the piston instead of getting a piston that is exact for your needs.
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