350 Street performance, What carb do you like best and why?
Holley, Edelbrock, Rochester, other?

 

I have owned several Edelbrock carbs and never had problems with any of them. I think they are a very good carb for the money.

 

There is no best. Just personal preference. Lots of guys have Q0jets and are very happy with them. Lots of guys have Holleys and Demons and are very happy with them. I and many others are running Edelbrocks, and we love them.

This thread will sure spark a debate though...as they always do.

 

I have a Demon in my 61, a Holley in my 65 and a Quadrajet in my 68. The best carb is the Demon. The Holley always requires tinkering. The Quadrajet, while reliable, has tiny primaries. You really need to get into the secondaries for any power. The Demon requires no tinkering and has instant throttle response.

 

Opinions are like...well, you know the answer to that.

I agree...what's best is whatever you prefer and what's best for the style driving the car is intended for. In my opinion...and just my opinion...first choice is fuel injection. If that's not an option, a Q-jet is the best street carb for your car. It will do everything very well and little not as well as other carbs. After that, I think Edelbrock is an excellent street carb, followed by Demon and lastly, Holley. I think Demons and Holleys are better left to the track than street...that's where they're best.

 

They will all perform if set up correctly, but the Q-jet can be set for performance and street drivability/ economy at the same time. Also, Holley has some serious quality issues. God bless, Sensei

 

Whatever works best for you tends to become your favorite.....my preferences - Street, Edelbrock (tune it once, set it and forget it, very reliable). Performance - Demon (also reliable, most horsepower).

 

 

For fuel economy: Edelbrock
For performance: Holley or Barry Grant

 

ive had a q-jet and a demon, the qjet is great for saving gas, however thats not on the top of my list, the demon performs infinitely better but then again i like to go very fast whenever possible, i agree with what everyone else has said so far, if you want a good hi performance carb go with a demon or a holley dp or something of the sort, the q-jets are good but in a different way, to each their own. good luck with whatever you decide, the forum is here to help.

-alex

 

I bought a demon jr. and had nothing but problems!!!! 1st the butterflys get hung up, 2nd the foat adjusters have a cheap paper gasket that rips if you try adjusting your float and 3rd the manual choke is a cheap piece of plastic cam that cannot hold the troddle open enough to run right. After all that I sent it back to Barry Grant, They had it for three months. I called Barry himself (dail there # and hit extention 110 its his personnal extension. How do I know, I DIAL EVERY EXTENSION !!!) Told Barry his stupidvisor is an IDIOT. Barry was very professional and got another IDIOT right on it. The Idiot said they lost my carb then found it and it was OK. Mail it back and everything was just as I sent it to them NOTHING WAS DONE!!!! When I called barry's line he said to send it back I refussed. I told him to send me another carb because I not letting my car sit another 3 mounts. Barry refussed to send me a carb.I said I will do everything I can to let people know your carb SUCKS and not in a good way. That's why I'm taking the time to tell you guys this long story. SCREW HIM AND YOU GUY'S CAN CALL HIM IN PERSON TO LET HIM KNOW.

 

With that way of thinking, then headers, big cams, gears and roller rockers shouldn't be used on the street.
If a person can't tune a Holley, its the persons fault not the carb.
Theres plenty of replacement and tuning parts to get a Holley to run perfect on any car.
A Q-jet has its limits and once you reach them and really want some power out of your engine switch to Holley and run with the big boys!!!!!

 

I've had good luck / results with Holley. I think probably the biggest problem is that many figure bigger is better and throw on the biggest carb they can get their hands on or afford and figure they will have good results or get more power. Matching CFM capability to an engines REAL needs is important as well as correct jetting. Holley has been easy for me to tune but I can't speak to anything else other than the Quadrajet which I have also run. I'm thinking about trying out a Demon in the future though.

 

This is the case with any carb that is not properly tuned and set up. You have to know how to set the carb up correctly in order for it to perform right. 90% of the carbs I receive for setup and rebuild have no problem - the problem lies with systems other than the carb and with bad carb setup by the owner.

I have run Q-Jets, Holleys, BGs and Edlebrocks on various cars I've owned, and I regularly test Holleys, Q-Jets and BGs back-to-back on my test engine. Not a single one will run right out of the box, and each requires tuning. Once correctly set up, all carbs will run just fine. Use whichever carb you are comfortable with and that you can set up and tune. And be sure to tune your ignition system before ever trying to tune the carb:
"90% of all carb problems are ignition problems."

 

Can you explain how to properly tune a carb?

 

Start with the section in the "stickies" at the top of the page.

http://www.lbfun.com/Corvette/Tech/vettetech.html

 

Lars, thanks for the advice But I have it running fast & strong!!! My problem is a brand new carb can't adjust the floats with out replacing their crappy paper gasket (replaced it with brass.)After fixing that I moved to the choke. The plastic cam that the adjustment screw rides on for the choke idle is so small the engine barely idols at 1000rpm with the choke all the way engauged. After that I had to use 3 springs to pull the idol down the last 500rpms to get it to 700rpm. Pulled it off losed the butterflies tried centering them no luck. used a bore gauge and found a .008 bump in the casting. THE REST YOU KNOW I KNOW HOW TO TUNE, REWORK,REBUILD AND ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE (EXCEPT BORE A CARB PORT SO A CHEAP A$$ CARB WILL IDOL DOWN!!!

 

Sounds like you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by just putting a Quadrajet on it.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

YEA

 

Yes, I can. It's an 8-hour seminar. You can e-mail me for info and costs.
Lars