What's the deal with hot rod guys an edelbrock carbs. I can see running strombergs if you want the looks but if your going to run a 4 barrel why edelbrock/carter. In all my years of wrenching on cars I've never seen/or been able to get one of those "quadrajet" style carbs run like a holley.. and every time I see a hot rod out there with one it just makes me cringe.. So whats the deal guys!
Actually the Edelbrock/Carter are AFB style carbs and AFB's have been performance carbs as long as Holleys have. And as a side note, a lot of SS 396's, GTO's and such have been running pretty strong with QuadraJets for a while too. Look at the stock and SuperStock cl***es in NHRA. Larry T
I've had both good and bad running Holleys. Mostly bad. Back in the early 90's on my off topic ElCamino I replaced a Holley with an Edlebrock/Carter and it worked like a champ. Since then I have never used a Holley again. Plus like Larry said above. They are like the old AFB's of the 60's so they kinda fit the era.
The Edelbrock / Carter is NOTHING like a quadrajet. They are very good performing carbs, especially for street driven cars. I first got hooked on them in the late 70's when I was at Santa Ana Speed trying to get some jetting advise for my 650 double pumper on a 331" small block. They recommended a change to a 625 AFB Carter, they loaned me one to try. The car picked up 2 tenths in the quarter and 2MPG around town without the bog that the Holley had when the secondaries opened. Been sold on them, ever since!
Having had a good running Holley, and a defective Edelbrock, I tend to agree... I will say that I like the design of the AFB better... It's easier to work on and the vacuum secondaries are more efficient than the double-pumper. But I would have fired my Edelbrock out of a cannon rather than put another one on a car, by the time I was done with it...
I run Edelbrocks, My last experience with a Holley that defied all attempts by several people to get it to work properly ended when I converted it into 2-dimensional art with a 14lb hammer & hung it on the shop wall as a warning to other carbs....
If you follow the carb manufacturers recomendations,you'll have no problems.Bolt a stock 600 cfm Holley,Edelbrock or AFB on a mildy modified 350 cube V-8 and it'll run just fine.If an engine is seriously tuned ,the carb may need some modifications ,and then it still might have some low speed issues. Guys bolt on a carb,engine runs like ****,they start messing with jets until the carb is wacked completely out of tune.Then the carb is said to be a piece of ****.Meanwhile the timing is retarted,heat risers plugged with carbon and it's got a burnt valve. Millions of engines made with Rochester and Carter 4 barrels that gave good perfromance.Every medium gas truck engine V-8 had a Holley 2 or 4 barrel carb on it,millions of them ran without blowing power valves or catching on fire. The only bad carb is a Rochester B one barrel If you run an Edelbrock,use a regulator to keep fuel pressure at 5 psi,you'll be amazed how good it runs.
Carburetors are a mechanical device, when they work correctly they are fine. There is no VOODOO about it. If someone can't figure one out, the problem is usually the rebuilder. I use Carter/Edelbrock carbs on my "economy" rides like my truck. They just get better mileage than my Holley. The China accelerator pumps die quick these days, but you gotta deal with that. For all out power, I use a mechanical secondary Holley. I have 750 on my Challenger and 650 on the supercharged 283 in my Model A. No problem there, either. My Dad uses Rochesters because they're OE for the engines he has them on, a 1969 Chevelle and a 1957 Chevy. Both those vehicles drive and accelerate like brand new cars, because the carb were properly rebuilt by him. Like I said, there's nothing magical about carbs, they just atomize fuel, it's just some people just have preferences.
Testify! ive got experience with both and each have their place. there is zero validity with an "it ****s" statement unless a real effort was made to figure out why "it ****ed" in the first place..
i have good luck with holley,s but it,s like el scotto said alot has to do with who did the rebuild on it and how well they know them
I got one on the shelf...dont even know if its any good even one of those endurashine ones..shiney..oooh shiney maybe some day i will find out if its just a good looking boat anchor..or not
Some of the fellas are pretty good at tunning them. I'm not and don't wanna be. If you are running a pretty stock engine like a lot ot "hot rods" do they are plug n play. They are easier to fit on a 2x4 than a pair of Holleys. Although the Holleys can be done. I'm not too impressed with them myself, but to each his own.
I had a Edlebrock carb on my 69 Camaro and it ran freaking great! I'm going buy another one for my Plymouth project.
I run Edelbrock carbs exclusively. They of a simple design and are extremely easy to kit.....even for a caveman like me.
I find the biggest problem people have with holleys is they get the wrong size carb. Everybody ***umes 750 double pumper or vacuum secondary where in most cases a 650 is what you need. I've ran both on the street for years, and have never had any luck with edelbrock, carter or quadrajets. Either daily drivers, or race cars. They've always ended up getting thrown across the garage. I know they were "decent" on factory cars in the 60s..but exhaust manifolds work decent as well. I just find it odd when you look at all the carbed cars out there (specifically hot rods). It seems they are either running stormbergs (awesome!), or edelbrock/carter carbs... Holley has been around since 1903!
lol.. you need to come wrench on cars with me.. after one weekend you'll be clinging to a tiki mask and calling cleo, ha.. no voodoo in carbs.. that's like saying there's no ghosts in heads, or spiders in my gears!
I had an Edelbrock carb on my 77 ford one ton dump truck with a 460 engine. That truck got 13 mpg around town and worked good at low or high rpm. When i sold the truck it had 840,000 miles, in 13 years it never gave me a problem.
I had a problem with a Holley. Got some fingernail clippings, chicken feathers, put em in a bag made from a turtle and threw the whole shebang in a fire. After the embers cooled I went and got an Edelbrock, bolted it on, started the car. Tweaked it just a bit and havent touched it in a year. I'm sold.
i switched from holley to edelbrock after i couldnt get my 750dp to run to my liking. my father in law kept telling me to junk that holley and get an edelbrock. (he has been running them for years with great performance and reliability). so i bought and edelbrock, bolted it on and hit the key. the car started and idled with no adjustment needed to the carb. he just smiled and walked away. im now an edelbrock fan.
Admitting my ignorance here, but how can you just switch from one to the other? Isn't holley squarebore and edelbrock spreadbore? So do most intakes accept either or do you get an adapter?
When it came time for me to buy a carb for the ole '58, I questioned Holley and had one on the car at that time. I also questioned Edelbrock. He said, "See all those people over at the Holley Repair tent?" I say "yes". He said, Don't see anybody standing here with their carbs in their hands do you? I bought the Edelbrock in '93 and had it off the car just twice. both times were to put the 3x2s on the car.... Carb has been perfect dispite a back fire or belch or two. That alone would have taken the power valve out of the Holley.
X2. Application is the key word here. Most can be tuned to the engine. Take the time to understand the circuits in a carb, and what they do.
BRAHM...I ran AFB. in the 60s. the new edelbrock is a vast improvement ( knock off ) now in 1964 the largest AFB. was 650 cfm. but holly had the 750 cfm. dubble pumper. and believe me that was a huge advantige. my compi***ion beat me my a car . but i still like edelbrock better, well for 1 thing they have a 800 cfm. now. but holly has proven their metal over the past 50 years. all of the big boy's run HOLLY'S or DEMON another ( knock off ) brother we'r blessed with options, but let's never forget who the real leader is...POP.
This is a subject that comes up weekly at the parts store...here is my answer. Rebuild what you have and learn how it works. A carb is a machine that, when dialed in properly, will work just fine. Your engine has no idea what sticker is on the side of it. Nothing made me laugh harder than to listen and smell all of the horribly tuned cars at some of the car shows we have been to. It brought a tear to my eye...literally! All the gas in the air, my eyes started to water! Carb tuning is slowly becoming a lost "art". Unfortunately that "art" is being replaced with vodoo and more fuel than most engines will burn. Personally I choose Holley. More personal prefrence than which is better. I simply like how they look, and I know how to work on em, and I scored one cheap!
The car in my avatar runs a Holley. I love it. I run Edelbrocks on everything these days, but lately I'm liking Holleys.
The truck I'm driving now came with a fairly new JET performance quadrajet on it. I hated how it ran, bogged all the time...ran fine once you got it moving. Got tired of it one day and robbed the Edelbrock off my Olds...didn't touch a single setting, dropped it on and it ran GREAT! Until one day something went wrong...it wouldn't pull at all under a load. I had a brand new Demon on my shelf I'd bought for another project so I put it on and couldn't get it to run well at all (though I am pretty carb. retarded). Tossed the original Quad back on a dealt with it. Got a kit for the Edelbrock and rebuilt it, nothing more than a bunch of trash in there. I put it back together and put it back on my Olds, runs great still! First carb I ever rebuilt... Got tired yet again of the Quadrabog on the truck and bought another Edelbrock a couple weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! They are a very user friendly carb...easy to tune and easy to rebuild. I've never messed with a Holley, and God willing I'll never have to.
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