Which carb to put on Holley or Carter/

I am going to replace my 4100 with either a Holley or Carter/Edelbrock carb. Which one would work the best? I have only run Holley, but have heard the Carter/Edelbrock are easier to tune and get better mileage. What cfm should I look for, this will go on my 62 Galaxie with the 390 Thunderbird Special? I have been watching on Ebay, but most of the Carter's are not listed for a Ford, will one for a Chev or Mopar have the same mounting flange?

Thanks,
BobG
[addsig]

What are you planning on doing with the car is the main question. There are several people dragging etc and are using the 4100 carb. Imo if you aren't going to be doing any heavy dragging or racing of some type the 4100 will be fine. I have only experienced one Holley and it was a nightmare. I have heard, like you, that Edelbrock is more user friendly. I chunked the Holley and got me another 4100. It's almost plug n play and I don't do anything but drive around so it works great for me.
Not sure what mileage improvements if any, you can get out of a 390. What do you get now? Way back when, with my original engine and carb I got around 16mpg. Now with a bit less than stock I get 9.

Deb

I would like to keep the 4100. I put a kit in it, but can't find the secondary diaphram. I have also been having a problem of getting the idle mixture screws set. One of them is only open 1/4 turn, the other one is about one turn. I seems to idle alright, but I thought they were supposed to be opened up about 2 turns and then adjust from their. Do you happen to know where I could find one. I had one on back order at Napa for over a month before I canceled it.

BobG

_________________
Bob G

1962 Galaxie 500 XL with a 390 Thunderbird Special.
1972 F100 with a 390

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: unioncreek on 9/21/04 5:37am ]</font>

you just ran into why so many people use the Holley. Performance part for Holley's are everywhere, just about anything you can think of, dream of or need is floating around out there, somewhere. there is a "learning" curve to tune a Holley or any carburator. Some people never figure it out, others take to it like a duck to sauce or a turkey to stuffing. Most people fall somewhere in the middle. Personally I think Fords and Holley go together, always have since 1957, except, for those years when when Ford started making their own, the Autolite carb, which were a lot better than people gave them credit for. Even then, they used the Holleys for their performance engines.

As far as the bad things being said about Autolites...its mostly sour grapes...When a lot of guys couldn't or wouldn't take the time to learn how to make them work... they pulled them off, installed Holleys and called the autolites junk. Ain't that always the way. Puts me in mind of a friend I had years ago; we used to shoot pool all the time...he was the worst pool player in the world but thought he was the best. Got give him credit, he kept trying....gott'a give him credit for sticking with a bad hand.

Anyway, every time he would lose, he blamed it on the pool stick. It got to be a regular thing. He would come into the pool hall, get damn near every stick in the place and roll them on the table, do his "surveyor" look down the length of the stick and finally pick two or three the met his standards. By the end of the evening he had thrown all of them accross the room or broken them. he started buying pool sticks, like bad golfers by new clubs...the next one was always going to make him Minnisota Fats.

Sometimes it ain't the stick or the golf club. I'll bet he is still buying new cue sticks on a regular basis.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Beoweolf on 9/21/04 5:45am ]</font>

Autozone has the kit that includes the rear diaphram. Or a new/rebuilt carb for approx. $150. Napa's kit didn't have really much of anything for the rear area of the carb. This way you know what the cost of a 'new' one is and where to find the kit in case you don't decide on Holley or whichever of your choices.

Deb

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On 2004-09-20 17:38, Beoweolf wrote:
As far as the bad things being said about Autolites...its mostly sour grapes...When a lot of guys couldn't or wouldn't take the time to learn how to make them work... they pulled them off, installed Holleys and called the autolites junk. Ain't that always the way.
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I'm one of those that didn't want to put the time and effort into the holley I had, after almost a year and finally a fire I had had enough and went back to the stock 4100 and am totally happy with it. Adjusted the idle mixture and the floats and I was on the road. Plus I never cared for the sucking sound of the holley, I liked the quiet 4100. But that's just me and I still won't knock holleys. They are great for people who want to fiddle with adjustments and like to tinker. I had other tinkering to spend my time on. On top of no patience.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]
I'm happy to say that right now it's doing great (knock on wood) and think I'm ready to attempt driving it to Anaheim at the end of the month.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Deb

Edelbrock on my 460CJ/Dually &amp; the 390/'64 Galaxie, had a Holley POS on the dually originally but it was such a crap heap that I finally *modified* it into a aluminum frisbee with a sledge hammer, pounded that damn thing FLAT!.
One advantage of Edlebrock is you can strip or work on them without gas pissing out all over the manifold... [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img]

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On 2004-09-20 18:12, GregCook wrote:
I have used Holleys forever. My 66 Fairlane has a 850DP and my 63 Galaxie has a 1050 Dominator. They are both fine carbs and they run well.

However, I recently bought a "turnkey" 63 390 to put in my 60 Edsel, originally a 352. It's a .030" over (396&amp;quot[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]. It has an Edelbrock Peformer kit, Cam, Intake, and 750 Carb. I added 63 427 exhaust manifolds.

This thing runs great, excellent throttle response and plenty of usable power in mid range. I'm sure most of this super driveability is due to the Edelbrock carb.

I would recommend a 750 Edelbrock.

Works for me! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]

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I second that. About a year ago, I put an Edelbrock 750 on my '63 390, and the Gal has never run stronger. And the mileage is still around 16 mpg.
[addsig]

Does the mounting flange on the Carter carb fit all applications or does Ford have a different bolt pattern? What cfm would you recommend, my engine is the 390 Thunderbird Special (300 hp)? Is there somewhere I can find the Carter numbers so that I can find one with the right cfm?

Thanks,
Bob

Thanks Greg,

I'm leaning more toward building it as a sleeper and will probably go with the 750. I drive it maybe once a week and have started taking it to car shows as an "in progress" car.

Bob