Is there a consensus on best carburetor?

72_EB · Feb 18, 2018

Interesting. Never really noticed that with mine (same specs 4.11/C4, varying tire sizes over the years, 31/32/33/35).
Wonder where your timing is at or if still using factory air cleaner (did ditch that many years ago - too restrictive). Also wonder if a larger venturi Autolite would have helped you too if you were running a stock 1.08.
Also, I guess I should have said the 2100/2150 is perfect in a basically stock form setup. Stock motor and Autolite are never going to throw you back in your seat, but you will get kick ass, turn key, reliability in a multitude of sea level weather conditions, great off road and off camber situations, and a carb that is argueably the easiest to rebuild of any other out there.

blubuckaroo said:
I love the 2100/2150 carb. But I had to replace mine when I went to 4.11s with my C4.
That carb works great until you stomp on it and try to pass on a two lane. When the C4 kicks down, that poor little carb just plain runs out of air.
Too bad, since it runs perfectly for most other cases.
The four barrel version would probably work great, but Ford didn't use many of those. The price is prohibitive for good used ones.

ahansen_1985 · Feb 18, 2018

edelbrock

personally I am a fan of the thunder series edelbrock, with the offroad kit in it.

I bought mine new from edelbrock over 2 years ago. 650 cfm manual choke, with the kit already in it. on a 351w.
I did adjust the fuel air a bit, and I have ran it hard ever since then and haven't touched the carb. the only time its stalled at all was going down a very steep hill, fell off a root wad and bounced on the front end. at an idle and it died. but to its credit it restarted right then with no issues. Ive had no issues on any uphill or side hill climbs.

but as the others have said there probably isn't a "best" we all have different preferences

dblupcobb · Feb 18, 2018

pcf_mark said:
While I love a good debate I'll stay on the sidelines and ask if you could describe in more detail. From your description it sounds like it could be timing or even possibly your torque converter is bad.

+1 for Holley - I can make it get great gas mileage or turn 9 second quarters. Not usually both however!

My bronco is mainly street these days. Mild off reading. I have a float needle and seats kit installed, running an electric fan, MSD ignition w/ billet distributor and high output coil. I had a little work done on heads when I built the motor. I used to be a lot more willing to make adjustments on carb. Not so much these days. I have been through 3 accelerator pump diaphragms in last 3 months and have had them perforate at the oddest of times (very inconvenient ones). I’m not looking for something to amp up performance, but don’t want to sacrifice much from my Holley 1850S (600 cfm not 625).

pcf_mark · Feb 18, 2018

If you keep killing the diaphragms you have one of two problems. You are not buying genuine Holley - most aftermarket ones are not made from the correct material and any ethanol in the fuel eats them alive. Option two is the accelerator pump is adjusted incorrectly or has been modified. At full throttle you should be able to slip a .010 feeler gauge between the arm that is part of the accelerator pump cover and "bolt" with the spring and lock nut on the throttle linkage. If you can't then it is over adjusted and straining the diaphragm. This happens when someone either over adjusts the linkage or replaces the spring with something solid. Since you said it was not pullng away smooth and clean I bet it is out of adjustment giving you a huge pump shot early and not having any duration left once you get moving.

WheelHorse · Feb 19, 2018

pcf_mark said:
As stated above^

It's nice to see that there are a handful of guys who still understand carbs.

I follow the sniper forum and if you can't chase down a carb, holy heck the amount of RFI issues, bad CPU's and TPS's is insane and chasing those down is just as time consuming.

Now granted most sniper users only come on to complain and there's no account of how many plug-n-play successfully, but I don't feel the Sniper or FI tech is where it needs (reliability wise) to switch from a carb.

Most of the carb issues, as read by anyone who tunes them, realize that 90% of those issues are due to the inability of the end-user to tune or dial in ALL areas of the carb.

kat · Feb 19, 2018

Bronco came with a Holley...had nothing but issues. Bought an Edelbrock and never looked back. No issues

dblupcobb · May 4, 2018

My original post was seeking input if there is a consensus on best carb for an EB. Unequivocally, the answer to that is no. However, in my quest to replace my Holley (that served me well for its 1st 10 years), I settled on an Edelbrock 1406 and am currently in love. There was zero tuning necessary. Only had to slightly modify linkage, re-route fuel line, and obtain spacer to get it to fit, but once I bolted the Edelbrock on, it made my engine purr. I have driven 2 tanks of gas through the new carb and haven't had the first issue. My first wife (lets call her Holley), was great and gave me many years of happiness and pleasure. But towards the end, things just got rocky (ethanol fuel and accelerator pump diaphragms). We had too many fights and had to get a divorce. I may just be in the Honeymoon phase w/ the Edelbrock, but so far, I am pleased as I can be.

One day, I will definitely seek out an EFI setup, but for now, I am in love with my Edelbrock.

bmc69 · May 4, 2018

dblupcobb said:
I may just be in the Honeymoon phase w/ the Edelbrock, but so far, I am pleased as I can be.

I've had an Edelbrock 1406 on my '78 Bronco 400 since 1993. "rebuilt" it once simply because it was full of crap from sitting for a few years at one point. Still runs as flawlessly today as it did after I got it tuned and dialed in, in '93. 25 years of stone reliable service.

But I hate it on the more severe trails and I've got an EFI setup going on the new 400 that will replace the old one.;D

Rustytruck · May 4, 2018

E-10 or more just makes things tougher. First no mater what carb you use in a Bronco where you live its hot. Just plain hot. Modern fuels don't like hot. it was bad when it was pure gasoline but new fuels have made it even worse. Why do people tout the Edlebrocks and Quadrajets? its because they don't have this big ass fuel bowl hanging out in hot airstream comming off the engine and radiator. They have much smaller fuel bowls and even if the fuel perculates there is so much less volume overflowing. fuel is moving through the carb much faster so while running it picks up much less heat.

Now get a thick base gasket for your carb in the range of 3/8 Inch thick. insulate your steel fuel line running up from the pump to the carb. If you can run a big open element air cleaner under the hood so the engine is sucking up the hot air under the hood. Make sure that the areas around the engine are as clear as they can be so air can actually move around the engine. Anything you can do to get hot air moved out of the engine compartment is a blessing. I even wrap the exhaust pipe with header wrap from the exhaust manifolds to the under floor boards. One negative factor for going to after market carbs is the transition from cast iron intake to aluminium intake. Now the aluminium intake is sucking up much more engine and coolant heat and radiating into the carb.

My biggest problem with Holley's they don't work well when they sit for long periods and they need to have the vacuum secondary's regularly excersized or they get stuck and start dumping fuel. I couldn't keep the Holly's running hard so they gave me problems. When I had my Mustang no problem but the way I drove my Bronco it was an uphill battle.

https://www.summitracing.com/search...der=Ascending&tw=exhaust wrap&sw=Exhaust Wrap

https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/heat-sleeves

https://www.summitracing.com/search...rder=Ascending&keyword=insulator carb gaskets

okie4570 · May 4, 2018

ahansen_1985 said:
personally I am a fan of the thunder series edelbrock, with the offroad kit in it.

I bought mine new from edelbrock over 2 years ago. 650 cfm manual choke, with the kit already in it. on a 351w.
I did adjust the fuel air a bit, and I have ran it hard ever since then and haven't touched the carb. the only time its stalled at all was going down a very steep hill, fell off a root wad and bounced on the front end. at an idle and it died. but to its credit it restarted right then with no issues. Ive had no issues on any uphill or side hill climbs.

but as the others have said there probably isn't a "best" we all have different preferences

I had the same on my 71' 302 when I bought it. Two trips to OCBR on the rocks pointed up and I was done with it. Qjet solved those issues. Do you run a mechanical fuel pump or electric?

Rustytruck · May 4, 2018

I run a Quadrajet with stock type fuel pump and Cagle pressure regulator.

rmk57 · May 4, 2018

My Bronco has a 1 barrel but all my other performance stuff has nothing but Holley/ Quick fuel. One thing Iv'e found is with todays ethanol based fuel is that you cant let them sit for extended periods or it will dry out and rupture the accelerator pump gasket, that goes for the Autolite 2100-4100 to.
I think the new Holley green pump gaskets are supposed to be resistant to todays regular fuel.

Joe473 · May 4, 2018

72_EB said:
Interesting. Never really noticed that with mine (same specs 4.11/C4, varying tire sizes over the years, 31/32/33/35).
Wonder where your timing is at or if still using factory air cleaner (did ditch that many years ago - too restrictive). Also wonder if a larger venturi Autolite would have helped you too if you were running a stock 1.08.
Also, I guess I should have said the 2100/2150 is perfect in a basically stock form setup. Stock motor and Autolite are never going to throw you back in your seat, but you will get kick ass, turn key, reliability in a multitude of sea level weather conditions, great off road and off camber situations, and a carb that is argueably the easiest to rebuild of any other out there.

X3 on the autolite for stock looking street use. Most don't notice it as the front half looks just like 2100. I would be curious on the summit carb. Only drawback to 4100 is steep downhill makes it flood over a bit.

I am running a 1.12 on a 347 with stock air cleaner, it's reliable as hell and will put you in the seat anytime you open the secondaries. I am considering trying the 1.08 to see if I could get better gas mileage at cruise. 14-16 on highway now. 2800 rpm at 75 on primaries

If I was doing offroading with big tires and a cut bronco doing rock crawling and technical stuff quadrajet would be next choice. They are not as easy to tune as the autolite though.

On fuel injection if staying within a couple of thosand feet of same elevation I don't see the huge benefit of TBI. If I do it it would be SEFI with automatic when I get too old and lazy to shift a 5 speed and rebuild a carb every 5 -10 yrs

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Cortez · May 4, 2018

My experience has been Edelbrock is decent and consistent but the best running and best off-road was a quadrajet. I have the fitech fuel injection now and it’s better than the Edelbrock.

sprdv1 · May 7, 2018

DirtDonk said:
As you can see... No.;D

Paul

LOL, what he said.. but you can choose from the options, and will prob have good luck w/either

CA10Cruzer · May 8, 2018

the best carb is the one you like to work on

Broncobowsher · May 8, 2018

CA10Cruzer said:
the best carb is the one you like to work on

Best carb is the one you don't have to work on;D

ntsqd · May 8, 2018

blubuckaroo said:
....
The Edelbrock carb is also more affected by heat soak. That's because of its centralized fuel bowls. So, you'll need a heat spacer too.
But even with all that, it's the easiest to tune.

I think that you meant outboard fuel bowls, not centralized like the Q-Jet has. They hang out in space right over the heat riser port of the intake manifold. I fought and fought that percolation on my '67 Ranchero with a 625 AFB. Eventually I had a heat dam plate ala the Z-28 part, that ran from rocker cover inner gasket rail to rocker cover inner gasket rail, and from dist. to bell-housing. It helped, but did not cure it. Prior to the AFB I had a range of different Holley's on the car. I could get them to really wail at WOT, but never, ever got decent part throttle drivability. The AFB didn't wail at WOT, but it had the part throttle drivability and it got better mileage than any of the Holleys. Anyone reading this and tuning an AFB, PM me as I think I still have my tuning file that greatly simplifies jet and needle selection.

Modern fuel is formulated for EFI.

1strodeo · Oct 19, 2018

Can anyone tell me if the stock V8 air cleaner will fit on the Edelbrock 1406? I found one practically brand new for $150 thanks

JaxLax · Oct 19, 2018

I just cruise around town with random highway driving.
2100 on a stock 302/c4/gearing.
It's fine. I'm not trying to pass very often, nor am I ever going over 75mph.

Is there a consensus on best carburetor?

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