Replacing carb suggestions

[Trappey74]

Need to replace my carburator due to the original starting to leak a bit and I have a completely stock 302. Should I go back with the same style carb or is there a possible upgrade to help awaken my engine some that will work with stock hood and air cleaner.

 

[broncodriver99]

What's leaking? Why not rebuild it?

 

[Trappey74]

Well the guy who I showed where it was leaking from said it's a shaft running into it that has a seal that's gone out and can't buy them anymore. Sounds like he just wants to install a new one

 

[HB73]

If you decide to go original, I have a Carter AFB that was just professionally rebuilt available.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[broncodriver99]

Well the guy who I showed where it was leaking from said it's a shaft running into it that has a seal that's gone out and can't buy them anymore. Sounds like he just wants to install a new one

Not sure what seal he is talking about. You can have a worn throttle shaft bore but that is repairable for pretty cheap.

 

[jckkys]

About the only carburetor that can think of that may improve the performance of a stock 302 is a small 480 CFM 4100 4 bbl. Even then the improvement would only be seen at high RPM full throttle. Since the average EB owner only does this occasionally, there's no good upgrade from what you have. Better performance can be had far less expensively by perfecting the ignition timing and advancing the cam timing.

 

[blubuckaroo]

I agree that too much carb is a problem many fall into when setting up a motor. I could never understand why so many 302s have 600 CFM carbs.?:?

But, in defense of four Barrels...
There is more benefit to four barrel carbs than larger CFM capabilities.
A modestly sized four barrel will have significantly smaller primary venturi than the venturi of a two barrel. A smaller venturi creates a better velocity of the air/fuel mixture during normal driving.
That's exactly why Quadrajet carbs have become so popular on trail rigs. They have really teenie primary venturi.

 

[jckkys]

Agreed. In the case of a 480 CFM 4100 the primary venturis are exactly the same size as the venturis on EB 2100-2150s. The Holley carburetor sizing recommendation graph puts a stock 302 using about a 200 CFM at 4000 RPM where these engines near their red line. Ford did put the small 4100 in a lot of non performance 289s. These were close to the EB 289s. They had the same cam and more compression. This and the 4bbl gave them just 10 more rated HP.

 

[blubuckaroo]

I would recommend a 2 bbl carb, for a stock street/trail Bronco with 3.50 gears. But if you ever decide to go to lower gears, it can run out of breath really fast when trying to pass on the freeway.
I found that out when I switched to 4.11 gears. With the engine already wound up and going down the highway, I hit the gas and the C4 dropped into passing gear, it was like the poor thing had asthma.