Best 4 bbl Carb for Stock 302?

[Brinco]

I just wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for a 4bbl carb. The engine is basically a stock 302 and has the motorcraft 2bbl carb on it now. It seems a lot of people run the Edelbrock set up but I have heard some mention they felt the 650 was too much for the 302. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[bronco_daddy]

Edelbrock Performer Intake #2121 dual plane, Edelbrock Performer 4bbl Carb #1403 which is 600cfm good throttle response and good low end torque and very crisp..great combo with an RV cam..solid package proven over and over. The dual plane gives you nice torque. I just bought that manifold plus I am running the mallory comp 9000 unilite breakerless distributor..get the felpro intake gaskets and stainless bolts..

 

[blubuckaroo]

Yes,
The Edelbrock 1403 (500 CFM) is good. The 302 with hydraulic lifters can't pull more than 450 CFM anyway. Any more carb is more than a waste. It hurts your pep. However, don't expect to pull a new carb of any brand out of the box and have it behave properly. The new carb will come with a pretty good size book. You'll probably end up lowering the fuel level a 1/16", installing the softer pull-off springs, and possibly changing metering rods/jets. Don't let any of this scare you. None of it is very difficult at all. You can buy a huge tuning kit with a lot of unnecessary parts or just the parts you will need. Edelbrock has great tech support and has got to be the best deal for people like me that want to tinker with it but need a bit of help at times.

 

[broncnaz]

Basically 600 cfm or below with the 500 cfm carbs being a little better for throttle response, mileage and are easier to tune. I'm partial to holley carbs. I normally run a 600 cfm holley, recently changed over to a Road demon JR carb 525CFM(holley knock off basically) and its been even better mileage and throttle response is better than the 600 cfm carb.
I'm not big on the edelbrock carbs I'm testing one right now on my bronco runs ok on the street but sucks offroad. I will modify it to improve its offroad manners but in the meantime I'm going back to the holley style carbs I just like them better.
As was said all carbs especailly aftermarket carbs will need some tuning if you expect it to run perfect out of the box then dont get a aftermarket carb. Yes some are close and some people bolt them on and think they are fine but it can still usually be tuned to get better perfromance. Even stock carbs can benifit from tuning. Its just a little harder to find tuning parts but in the end its worth it. Personnally I feel the stock carb does it all, holley is next in line with way better offroad manners than the edelbrocks, then comes edelbrock which would be the last carb I'd run and then only if it was a street only vehicle.
All in all the stock carb is really all you need.
One other suggestion I have is if your going to swap intakes and carb you really need to modify the exhuast small block ford engines need more help on the exhuast side than they do on the intake side. You may be getting more air into the engine but with a stock exhuast you cant get it out so you really see little benefit.

 

[Brinco]

Thanks for the info if anyone else has any other suggestions please let me know.

Bronco Daddy it looks like the #1403 is 500CFM. Is that the one you are using or is it a 600 CFM?

Thanks

 

[SSDDBRONCO]

Brinco i just bought myself the holley truck avenger 470 installin in this weekend i'll let you know how it is

 

[ep67bro]

I have three broncos with three differant set ups. One is a mild built 289 with a 470 cfm Holley truck avenger carb on a Edlebrock Performer intake. Works great off road and pretty well on the street.
The next is a stock 302 with a Motorcraft 2100 2 brl carb works pretty well but does not have the power of the other two set ups and can be touchey when its cold.
The last is a 500 cfm edlebrock #1403 on a Eldelbrock performer intake on a 302 runs great on the street but I have no time with it off road. The 289 in my 67 used to have a Holley 650 cfm carb on it. It was great on the street, seemed to have more power that the TA but sucked off road. If you plan on wheeling your truck get a Off road carb or due the off road mods that are listed on this site!

 

[Zinger223]

I just put an Edelbrock 2121 Performer Intake along with a Holley 1850 600cfm 4-bbl on my stock 302. I bought the one with the manual choke and bought an OEM looking choke cable and bezel from Wild Horses. Looks really nice and runs great!

 

[orangebronco68]

i have had a 570 Holley Truck Avenger on my bronco for more that 9 years now. Had the first series and when i found out they had new upgrades called Holley and asked for the upgrades on my carb. Bottom line is i sent my old Truck Avenger in and they sent me a brand new one no charge. Great Service and tech support. As for how the Carb works, it is the best i have found for off road. Beats all others hands down. Works at all angles without a stumble. On road, it is not as peppy as my Holley 600 double pumper. The Truck Avenger is not a fuel economy carb. I get 11 mpg on the highway but will get 14 or 15 with the double pumper.
Hope this helps.

 

[DirtDonk]

I'll be interested in how the 470 works for you SSD. I'm a big fan of the smaller-is-better as far as the stock engines are concerned. Anything under 650 will run ok on a Bronco, but I had the same experiences as the others. The smaller I went, the better things got overall.
Not saying one or the other larger ones couldn't be tuned to run sweeter than an out-of-the-box smaller one, but I never went that far.

I love the Edelbrock/Carter types, for their ease of tunability/tweaking and just plain friendliness. But like broncnaz's experience, I thought both my 625 and then my 500 sucked off-road. Took many trips over the Rubicon with them and, even though they got me there and back, they weren't exactly happy about it.
Never got to try the off-road needle and seat though, so that might have made a difference. I think the return line setup I started to make though, would have made a big difference too. Maybe even more so even than a pressure regulator?

My Holley experiences were mixed at best, but I think the 470 Avenger has a lot going for it. So hurry up and get that sucker installed so we can hear how it went!

Thanks

Paul

 

[orangebronco68]

I started building 4180 Holleys to act better off road more than 20 years ago. I put spring loaded needle and seats, float bowl baffles, jet extensions and a modified float bowl tube. (funny, it looks almost identical to the Truck Avenger) and they worked in my opinion great. That is until i got the Truck Avenger. Works much better. When i got mine the only one they maked was the 570. For your stock motor i would go with the smaller Truck Avenger and have fun with no worries.

 

[broncnaz]

Your TA should get as good or better fuel ecomony than the double pumper. I best I have gotten out of a 600cfm(edlebrock) carb so far is 15 mpg but with my 525 cfm carb I can pull 17. Will probably do some testing with my 600cfm holleys soon I just bought 6 at a yard sale. Although i think i'll only have enough parts to make 4 good ones.

 

[fungus]

I just went through an 11 month round of upgrades on my rig, one of which was the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake (craigslist find for $60), junkyard Quadrajet ($8) and the Edelbrock spreadbore carb to squarebore intake adapter ($30). I bought a rebuild kit for the Q-jet ($20 & can be had anywhere) but didn't even use it cause the carb was so clean! Sooo, for under $100 I've got a setup that gets pretty good economy when puttin' around town (staying out of the secondaries) and really gets on it when you mash the skinny pedal and open'er up. First breakin' run I went from San Diego (sea level) up to Big Bear wheeling some trails (over 8K elev) and it ran like it was injected! Never stumbled on obstacles or off camber, never loaded up, and when firing up after a shutdown I'd just bump the key w/o touching the throttle and she'd fire right up. It had a hot air choke on it originally but I swapped that out in the junkyard w/ one that had an electric choke. 3 screws and that swap was complete. REALLY happy w/ my Q-jet!

 

[sprdv1]

A vote for quadra jet...

 

[BronCowie]

The 500cfm edelbrock works great on my DD. I hear they're not that great for extreme wheeling, but I don't do that. It just depends on what you do with your Bronco.

 

[Brinco]

Thanks for all the great information, it is very helpful and I really appreciate it. I only do a bit of four wheelin (nothing extreme) and most of the time the rig is on the road.

 

[broncnaz]

Even just a small incline and a stock edelbrock floods out. Like I said I've been testing a edelbrock sure on flat trails its fine but a incline kills it. They can be modified but they are way less able out of the box than even a standard holley.

 

[bronco_daddy]

600cfm..this system was designed for me by a group of gear heads that race a lot at Bonneville. You can go a little smaller but I trust these guys as they hold a few records to back up their knowledge..simple system.

 

[Crawdad]

What did you ever decide? I'm about to install both Edelbrock intake and 1403 (electric choke) carb in the coming weekends. It would be great to have some pics posted on how linkages look on the carb. I wanted mild performance, something to hunt and pull occasional boat. Mostly for running around town on weekends. I'm putting it on a 351 w.

 

[agent orange]

Wheres' Mars Chariot? I figured he would be right on this with the Autolite 4100? I took his advise and installed a 4100 and love it. Haven't had the oportunity to wheel much yet but really runs alot better than the 1406 edelbrock! Good luck