Aandy Miller

I have a 1961 Corvette. I recently bought an old Edelbrock c4b intake manifold. I was curious if anyone else is usuing this intake and what carb are u using. My spread bore Holley will not work. Also, is anyone using the new Edelbrock manifold that has the oil fill tube?

L79vette66

I used them all (C4B, C3B, and C3BX.) All mine had two different carb mounting holes. I've used them with a stock hood, 700 double pumper holley, 1 inch spacer, and a stock 66-67 drop base air cleaner. All intakes still had 1/4 inch of space from hood.

newbe60

I have a 1960 with a 1962 327 engine and am using an edelbrock 600cfm carb with the c4b... runs great

sub006

Like F.I. heads and Bucron tires, that intake is no longer state of the art if max performance is your goal. However, old speed equipment is totally cool for cruising, and the Edelbrock is as good or better for quality and reliability than stock.

Desertvette

I had a 65 327 with a stock hood ,that ran a 2818 Holley with the C4B

The 2818 utilizes a hot air choke unit fed from the exhaust manifold with tubing. An electric choke would also work since there is no choke well on the C4B.
Bob

OC-1

Used a 3310 Holley on a C3B with 327 in a 62 with an aftermarket aircleaner. Had to muck with the base for sufficient cleanance.

OC-1

1980 Edlebrock catalog list the C3B height dimensions as :
A = 3.550"
B = 4.450"

measurement A is the height from the bottom of the front of the manifold to a straight edge laid along the carb mounting surface.

B references the height as measured at the rear of the manifold. The directions go on to say that to determine hood clearance compare these measurements to the same points on the stock intake.

Unfortunately, this catalog does not list the C4B but just check those measurements, keeping in mind how I described the fit of the C3B.

BillbUrruss

What did you end up using?
I bought a C4B for my 61 just because I wanted to dress up the 283/230 and put the aluminum Corvette valve covers on it. The problem that I ran into is the vacume advance is tight against the manifold and can't be adjusted.

Frankie the Fink

I just had a 3CBX removed from my '63. It sported a Carter AFB 3721SB as a carb...you can not use HEI distributors with this manifold, and, yes, the vacuum can location will be a bit limited. Sometimes re-clocking the distributor can address that.

Yes, they are old school manifolds but one of the few aftermarket, dual plane upgrades that will give sufficient hood clearance on an old Corvette and allow use of a vintage Corvette carb with the factory air cleaner

Frankly I don't notice much difference performance-wise between this setup and the original cast iron manifold and WCFB carb (it is a 250hp car); the biggest bump in performance was getting the distributor rebuilt and properly curved by Lars...

BillbUrruss

I'm no mechanic I just love to tinker and make it look good, so I'm guessing this manifold may have been designed for a distributor with centrifical advance??? If the vacume can had been a 1/4" bigger I couldn't have got the distributor in and as it is it will hardly move at all.
Thanks for your thoughts

64Corvette

I have also been looking at changing my manifold. I called Edelbrock and they recommended that I go with a Edelbrock Performer # 2101 non EGR intake. It has a place for the filler tube but you have to take it to a machine shop and have it drilled out. The person I was talking to said I could still use my AFB and my stock air cleaner. The price I was quoted was 164.00.

itsonlyairandfuel

The thing I hate about an edelbrock intake ,is the vacuum port placed to close to the back of the carb. It makes it a pain to use a holley carb. If they are that afraid of holley competition, they should build a better carb. The intake itself is a good piece. Ron B.

Frankie the Fink

My Edelbrock C3BX is straight off my '63 original motor and they are nice looking and some grind the Edelbrock logo off; the filler tube is in the right spot, original dizzy works fine with it and there is no stripped threads/broken ears. You can run a Carter AFB on it with manual choke just fine (I did for over a year).

Its a nice, lightweight, low profile, old school, dual plane that gives a nice performance boost but its not gonna add 70 hp to your stock mill. There is also no 'hot slot' under the carb to cause percolation and corrosion to your carb.

BillbUrruss

I've got one. My original question was about the vacume advance tight up against the runner. I can't adjust the timing

rene-paul

Bill, There are distributor rebuilding specs that call for the dot/depression on the drive gear to be aligned with the rotor tip. Is yours set up like this? Are your wires clocked in the cap correctly? Keep us informed.
Brgds,
Rene

BillbUrruss

Nothing changed except the manifold.
Before one bolt was loosened I lifted the distributor cap & tapped the ignition until the rotor was on #1 and on TDC. I pulled the distributor and everything else needed to changed the stock manifold. The I reinstalled everything, rotor in the exact same place and it started right up but it does backfire. I checked the timing and it is off a few degrees. I can't turn the distributor because the vacume advance is about an 1/8" or so from the rear runner of the C4B manifold, so it can barely be moved.

JohnZ

In both directions, or only one?

Frankie the Fink

Here is how a stock distributor should be aligned (first pic). Here is my distributor setup on the 3CBX and I've had the timing everywhere from 4* BTDC to 16* BTDC (second pic)...its a little tight but there should not be a problem if your manifold is similar.

BillbUrruss

My before and after pictures are identical to your pictures except my #1 starts where your #2 is. I thought this was unusual, never having owned anything with a 283 in it, so I Googled it and found that different year 283's have #1 in different locations. I believe my timing was off by about 4 to 6 degrees and I couldn't adjust it enough but it seems to run ok. I'll play with it.
Thanks

JohnZ

ALL small-block Chevy V-8's have the #1 wire tower and the point adjusting window oriented as shown in the photo above, and virtually all of them have vacuum advance units. If you're unable to set your timing correctly, you'll need to pull the distributor and re-orient the drive gear 180* on the shaft; that will give you an extra 13* of distributor housing rotation away from the #8 intake runner.