carb for a 360 engine

[will7262]

I have discovered that my egine is sound enough to keep for a while and will just need some tweeking.
I want to change the current carter crab and inlet manifold for something a little more modern and free flowing.
Has any body got some pointers and experience regarding this?

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

Today is your lucky day, and a firm named Edelbrock has everything you need to have the newest style carburetor and intake manifold, along with a wonderful electric choke to make cold starting easier. They make a 600CFM Carb, and a manifold to match. This is their Performer series, and I have it on a number of my Chyrsler products. They can sit for months and just fire up any time I want to drive one of my prizes. I would look no further, and please don't let anyone tell you about Holley carbs and all that nonsense, as I suspect you don't plan to run you car at the dragstrip. Don't make the mistake of specifying a larger carb, as you will likely not run your car at wide-open throttle either.

[RGSchmitt]

The choices to "upgrade" both the fuel system and ignition of the small-block Mopar engine are immense - the Summit or JEGS catalogs probably offer combinations in the thousands. Several companies, including Edelbrock, now offer fuel injection conversions.

One question you should ask yourself: who will install, service and troubleshoot your choices?

If I was in London and planned changes to a V-8 Bristol, knowing my mechanical limitations, I'd be talking to shops with good reputations for advice and agreement with your plans.

Bob

[will7262]

Bob
I have done some research and I think the edlbrock system is the way to go as they do a matching cam, inlet manifold, timing gear upgrade, hydraulic lifters etc as a matched kit.
I will , along with my brother, fit this ourselves. We have done countless set ups and have all the right equipment so should be easy.

[lansdownplace]

Originally Posted by will7262

Bob
I have done some research and I think the edlbrock system is the way to go as they do a matching cam, inlet manifold, timing gear upgrade, hydraulic lifters etc as a matched kit.
I will , along with my brother, fit this ourselves. We have done countless set ups and have all the right equipment so should be easy.

The 600cfm edlebrock carb is very breathless over 100mph, and the 750 dosen't have an automatic choke and isn't great for a low idle. I would be careful about throwing out your Carter as I tried both Edlebrock carbs on my uprated engine and both caused problems, particularly with sustaining vacuum at low RPM causing engine cutout under heavy braking particularly if turning. I went back to the Thermoquad which is a spread-bore design rather than the edlebrock which is a square-bore design. All of the problems disappeared immediately and it tested/tuned very well on a rolling road.

Paul

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

Most interesting response on the Edelbrock carbs. More interesting that we have used the 750 cfm carb on our drag car with more than 600 horsepower with no problems at all.

The infamous Thermoquad carb is a 'throw-away' in this country, not worth trying to rebuild. But, there is always aftermarket fuel injection setups that will cure the loss of power in sharp turns and panic braking.

Opinions it is said are like some parts of the human anatomy, and everyone has one.......enough said.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by lansdownplace

The 600cfm edlebrock carb is very breathless over 100mph, ....

breathless? maybe this is because your car is turbo charged, but a 600 CFM carb couldn't possibly be "breathless" on a Bristol 603.

At 5500 RPM, the maximum volume of air a normally aspirated 360 CID engine could consume is 572.9 CFM, BUT that assumes 100% VE, whereas in reality the VE is more like 80%, so the max CFM it requires is 458. Less for a worn engine.

You don't say which Edelbrock 600 CFM carb you used, then there's the question of jetting, metering rods and step up spring. So before dismissing ALL Edelbrock carbs on the basis of your experience I respectfully suggest you supply a bit more detail!

By the way, you CAN get a 750 CFM Edelbrock with an electric choke

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by will7262

I want to change the current carter crab and inlet manifold for something a little more modern and free flowing.
Has any body got some pointers and experience regarding this?

Will, bear in mind that the performance benefits of increasing the breathing capacity of the inlet manifold and carby will be limited or governed by numerous other factors, including cylinder head characteristics, valve size and cam profiles. There will be optimum combinations, so do your homework or you might end up making things worse rather than better.

To work out what performance improvements are feasible with your engine, you really need to know the casting number of the cylinder heads, then you know what you have to work with. You need to remove a rocker cover to see the casting number.

Finally, I'm sure you don't need to be told that the more you do to your old engine the closer you get to the price of a new crate engine. This is something I wish I had been told before I spent many thousands on the engine in my 411.

[will7262]

Thanks for all the feedback
Take a look at EBay 190315483712 what great value something like this is.
As for the heads we are going for a cast iron head with a little porting and larger valves.
Once we get the heads off we will see what needs to be done to the bores and go from there.
As we will do all this ourdelves the labour cost is nil so its only parts costs that count. Given this I think I can do an mild uprated engine for less than a crate motor.