i need a carb for a 68 bird

it turns out my 68 429 tbird needs a new carb. im not sure what is on it - i think its the origonal one but there are no codes or numbers - have had it off twice this weekend and it still isnt right. what is a good carb to get or has someone got one- i dont really want to get a 2nd hand one as i cannot trust that it will last so i would prefere to get a new one .

the engine is all factory - never been modified but i would like to modify it in the future so i want a good carb .

any help please .

Well, you could replace the one you have with a rebuilt factory one, or simply rebuild the carb yourself. The rebuild kits will come with the appropriate gaskets, springs, etc., that you need to get your carb back to operating order. Trust me, it's a job that you can easily do with patience, the right tools, and some skill. I have rebuilt a few carbs, and I actually kind of like rebuilding them.

You would have to get the model number and specifications (like manual choke, electric choke, etc.), from the carb.

OR . . . you can get a better aftermarket carb. Some guys on this forum may want to kill me for suggesting that, but it's a tried and true practice to take off your stock carb and put on a Holley carb or another aftermarket carb like that. Edelbrock, Holley, . . . pick your poison.

The advantage is reliability, aftermarket support (which means cheap as heck rebuild kits), and tuneability. There are plenty of articles on the net about rebuilding and tuning Holley carbs, as well as plenty of books on aftermarket carburetors.

Don't be afraid to pick a second or even third hand Holley carb, put a rebuild kit on it, and put it on your engine! It's easy, and will really wake your engine up!

Sorry to post twice, but are you asking for some advice as to what kind of carburetor to get? Like brand, type (which means "how big" of a flow do you want-- for a 429, maybe 750 cfm), and specs?

Can't go wrong with a Holley 4150, manual or electric choke depending on what you have now, and at least 750 cfm for that big block. Maybe even bigger.

The AUTOLITE 4300 Series you have on your 429 is a piece of crap. It was designed by ROCHESTER for FORD.

The EDELBROCK Performer 600CFM is the most logical replacement for a street engine (IMO).

thanks for the help you guys,

have been thinking - might do a small amount of upgrading ie cams , intake manifolds etc as i have to get a new carb , found a pretty good site and saw this package. any good ???? $685.99 is about £348 so not too bad .

Edelbrock 2166PK - Edelbrock Performer Power Packages - JEGS

wlt me know what you think

I really like Edelbrock, especially the intakes. I have one on my Galaxie's 302. Even wanted to name my dog Edelbrock! I have heard some complaints about Edelbrock carbs, though not enough for me to shy away from them. Haven't heard too much negative feedback about the cams, though.

That package would be a good upgrade for response and power, but that intake and cam is designed for low end power, which is to say, power from off-idle up to 5500. That would be perfect for me if I had a 429 in a T-bird, but you need to be aware that you aren't building a high-revving race engine by adding that package. However, that package would take away a lot of the guesswork of making sure that the cams, carb and intake were aimed at the same area of the powerband.

Jegs and Summit are great places for mail ordering parts. They're probably two of the biggest names in the business.

Finally, keep in mind that the more the engine takes in, which it will with that package, the more it needs to "exhale," so a mild upgrade in the exhaust would really exploit the power gains of that package.

so that package would really only increas acceleration upto around 5500 rpm - i didnt think these engines went much more than 6000 rpm - dont they idle at 600 or so??? they do all sorts of packages at jegs so i think im going to be taking her off the road for a while whilst i totaly do the engine, i can spend about $500 a month so hopefully xmass she wil be pretty cool.

i wish i knew more about this or had someone local to help me lol , have seen things like quad carbs etc - dont want to spend loads and loads,just enough to get her fast enough to play with , i have had nearly 120mph out of her and shes quick for a 40 year old car but just not enough for me , what about all this efi - a good idea??? turbo 429???? what ???. the car has original exhaust manifolds - they do have a crack in them, its not major yet but theres not a lot of room there for headers - i only know of one guy in america with headers on this shape tbird with a 429 - his a 1969 one and he had them custom made - expensive i expect! i do have side exit pipes though with pretty good sized pipe and long thin mufflers so it does breath pretty well. next i will need stronger breaks lol - thats another post lol
then i need to customise the hood as it might not close with whatever i put on her. i think im going to use that jegs for as much as i can as they do those ez kits for all sorts of areas of the car .
anyone able to have a look at what carb kits they do (or efi or turbo ??)
and advise me of what to purchase - blower???? hmmmm the choice lol

cheers guys sorry for the long post

"so that package would really only increas acceleration upto around 5500 rpm ?"

Well, not increase acceleration, but the intake itself is designed for low velocity flow, which makes power from off idle to 5500 rpm, perfect for a strong daily driver or weekend car. If you were racing the car, then I would look to move the power curve up to say 1500 rpm to 6500 rpm. Since you want to just do the intake and carb, then go for the Jeg's package. If you went with a package that gave you a higher power curve, like 1500-6500 rpm, you would need to get new valvetrain parts and even bottom end parts, like crank, rods and such, to handle the high rpm's.

Since you are looking for just a tad of modification, go with that Jeg's package, and leave the EFI alone until you really, really want to modify that engine. You'd have to get a lot of stuff, a lot of expensive stuff, to make the EFI work on that older engine. Same with a blower or turbo: you'd have to change the valvetrain and bottom end of the whole engine.

Try the Jeg's package, see what the results are. Then, I'd suggest looking at headers. That should give you plenty of things to do without getting a second mortgage on your house.