So I have pretty much just finished installing an edelbrock performer Rpm and edelbrock 600cfm carb with electric choke. My vette is a 1980 and none of the dropbase airfilter bases seem to fit onto the carb. Does anyone have a solution? I have a feeling I will need to buy a hood with more clearance but would prefer not to.

Another item I wish to look into is eliminating some of these vaccuum hoses. There is no way that all of these are necessary. The canister a bulk of them go into on the drivers side behind the wheel well is something to do with emissions right? If so, can I eliminate it and anything else relating to emissions? Where do I route the hoses then. I live in Saskatchewan and emissions testing is nonexistant. I simply do not like the feeling of having all of those vacuum hoses, which make it more complex and more chances to leak.

Also what size exhaust pipe do you recconmend for a factory L-82 with my intake/carb combo and headers. I had 2.5" with my manifolds and it had a nice deep sound but it had almost no power till higher up in the RPM range.

Thanks alot for any help!

 

Basically you can disconnect any vacuum line except the following:
You need 1 line going to the transmission modulator. Usually this comes from the nipple on the intake manifold behind the carb. Also you can T off of this line and go to the vacuum switch mounted on the driver's side firewall. That switch works with the transmission to control torque converter lockup in 3rd gear.
You need a large (and I prefer a dedicated line) from the carb or carb spacer to the power brake booster.
You need 1 line going from the vacuum advance on the distributor to the carb and this should be "ported" vacuum - you should get no vacuum from this source at idle, but you will get vacuum above idle.
1 more line should run from the intake to a splitter / check valve on the drivers side firewall. One should go into the firewall to run your headlight open / close signal and the other should head directly to the headlight vacuum canister. This is an existing line and you should be able to just leave this one alone. It will also have a much smaller line that branches off and goes to your a/c controls.
The last will be a large line going from the carb to the PCV valve.
Any thing going to and from the charcoal canister can go, and all the little temperature activated vacuum switches can go too.

What is your air cleaner hitting on? Most Edelbrock carbs need a "banjo" fuel fitting to clear a drop base air cleaner.

 

That big "cannister" is a reservoir for vacuum. Without it, your headlights, heater valves, a/c valves, brakes, and any vacuum accessories won't work, or at least I think they will make the engine take a huge hit when they open.

Look for drop base airfilters with indentations in them to fit around the carb. They might be advertised for other Chevy types like Chevelles or Camaros.

 

The canister in the front of the car is for the headlights. The one by the fender is the charcoal "emissions" canister.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...980895121&rd=1

This is what I used but you need a 2" filter. I have the same setup. You will need a banjo fitting or other type of fuel line. I have the edelbrock one that goes straight down and is chrome. It is expensive though.

 

Agree with all the above but I left my charcoal filter line hooked up. Stops those nasty fuel vapors from stinking up your garage. Also, if you plug that line, you will need a vented gas cap.

BTW: My $0.02 on the carb. The Edelbrock carb is a copy of the Carter AFB which was GM's low performance carb of the 1960's. All the high perfomance cars got Holleys. I am not sure why it is now considered a performance piece but you are better off with a Holley or Barry Grant (or even, forgive me Dep, a Q-Jet).

As for a lack of low end torque, the L-82 cam specs out at 222/222 @ .050" lift. Just designed to make HP at RPM.

 

The Edelbrock base will work with their banjo fitting and electric choke. You may have to go to a 2" filter element.

 

I'm using a 2" drop base on my Edelbrock 800 - and you do have to use a banjo fitting or they also have a nice hard line with a filter.

 

Personally, I kept the stock carb/intake on my L82. A properly tuned QJet is an excellent carb. But I did have the intake manifold ceramic coated for that special "bling." Exhaust manifolds, too. No need to eliminate the charcoal canister -- it helps keep your garage from smelling of gasoline after the engine's been running -- doesn't hurt power at all.



What was previously said about the L82 is true. The BEST thing you can do to your engine is swap the heads -- use heads with small intake runners for low-end grunt. You can keep the stock cam -- it's a good one.

 

Ahh...the '80s have two canisters? Who'd have guessed!

 

Thanks alot for the help! I currently have the nice chrome line that edelbrock sells with the inline filter, the problem was the electric choke. I don't know why but that canister is bugging the hell out of me. It has **** running alll over the place. Thanks alot for the info about the temp related switches, thats what had me concerned. The air cleaner on ebay will work? If so I am buying it. Thanks alot for all the help, it means a TON.

 

Here's my set up on my '80. No hood clearance problems........

 

 

Has anyone come up with a cold air set up to use with a Performer RPM intake, Q-Jet carb and a stock '76 hood?

Right now I am using a 1 1/4 drop base with a 3" open element air cleaner. Everything fits ok, but I would really like a cold air intake.

 

I got the 555-50001 air cleaner from Jegs. It's an offset base with a 2" filter.
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...84&prmenbr=361
I put it on when I put the 1406 on an old Torker I manifold so I also had to cut about another 1/2" off the base with a dremel to make it work. You probably wouldn't have to do that with a standard Performer manifold.

 

I had another thread where I was looking for the lowest profile air cleaner, I remembered seeing one from the forum member pages. Well I found it while looking for something else, here's a pic from http://www.corvetteforum.net/c3/themoneypit/ Does anyone know Len and Mindy so he/she/they can tell us how low this filter is and where they got it? It looks great!

 

Those of you with the edelbrock carbs, what did you do for a linkage for the kickdown and throttle?

Thanks a ton. I have the car running now and it is 100% better. Probably due to eliminating the millions of vacuum leaks I had. Next I am putting new valve seals to get rid of the blue smoke upon startup.