Barry Grant 625 Road Demon, a good choice?

[ebry710]

With Edelbrock getting out of the Q-Jet business, plus Rochester, Webber and Carter out of business. There aren't old designs left.

Through 68-72chevytrucks.com threads, there is not a clear single carburetor that is considered the best.

625-700 cfm seems like the standard for a SBC 350. Holly Street Avenger 670, Holley Spread Bore 650, Edelbrock 1406 and Barry Grant 625 Road Demon seem to be the choices.

If economy, performance, buying new, service and parts are important (out side of member with manufacture's shavings in his float bowl) it seems that the Road Demon is a good choice.

What do you guys think? My worn-out Quadrajet is cramping my style.

[dznucks]

Buyer beware....when it comes to a demon. I just went through hell to get a demon to run. there was alot more wrong with it than shavings in the fuel bowl. In fact, the secondary air bleeds where not drilled through in the main body, the secondary metering block was blocked with something, the ported vacuum passage was not drilled properly, and the manifold vacuum port was selaed off with some type of glue/adhesive. At least this was what was wrong with it from the factory. i sent it to demon 4 times to get it to finally run right. there customer service and carb techs suck. they are mostly condecending a-holes.

I do have a holley 600 and edelbrock 600. The Demon 625 is a better running carb, now that it runs right. Also, there are guys that can make a quadrajet outrun any of the carbs we're talking about and get better milage.

So.....to answer your question with a question...how much trouble are you willing to go through? You could get a demon that runs perfect or you could get a lemon like i did. If I were to buy another carb, I would get a holley.

[14U2NV]

I had some of the same issues with my brand new 625 demon. I could not get it to tune, it was all over the place. I decided to tear down the carb after reading online about the poor quality control at Barry Grant. Turns out mine had two gaskets on one of the fuel bowls and the extra was not lining up so all of the holes were blocked. After I put it back together, needless to say it ran like a champ. I was mad that I had to tear down a BRAND NEW carb.

From my understanding, the only issue is with the Demon line. However, since this incident, I will NEVER buy a new BG product again. I do know that used Demon carbs can be had very cheap. I bet they are carbs that have some sort of quality control issue and the person that bought it new got mad at it. It has crossed my mind to buy and "refurb" them to flip.

Chad

[ChevLoRay]

Summit Racing sells Q-Jets, with their name on them. If you are Q-Jet oriented, give 'em a shout-out.

[LEEVON]

I don't know how long ago that BG was having quality issues, but I've had several with no problems. It's my understanding that they tightened their quality control along time ago...they also have a very helpful tech that frequents the forums. I'd go for the BG over the others. They're easier to tune if you have any upgrades on your engine. All the parts interchange with Holley.

If it's bone stock, can't go wrong with a q-jet though.

[dznucks]

I do know that used Demon carbs can be had very cheap.

How knowledgable are you with carbs? I knew nothing about carbs before I bought the Demon. Carbs arent as complicated as many people think.
If your set on a Demon, I would buy a used one and plan to take it apart and rebuild it, paying close attention to all the pasages. If it has major issues that are manufacturing defects you can send it back to Demon and they will fix it.

[big_al_71]

I went with a holley hp650 and it was super easy to tune for my specs and have had zero issues. Had an edelbrock 1406 in my elky also no issues. I have heard nothing but issues with the demon carbs.

[fastom]

I have one on my truck, love it. I did disassemble it before I installed it, used compressed air to blow out everything.

Very easy to tune and it's not needed any changes to date.

[dwcsr]

If you have any kind of loapy cam a holley can be a bear to tune. You end up drilling the plates. I went with a holley 750 and had to sell it because I could not get it to tune right. I got a BG road demon 750 and tuned right in where I wanted it. They have an Idle ez for extra air under the plates. I think if you end up with a returned unit you get crap. If its a new unused unit there good.

[LEEVON]

If you upgrade to the speed demon 650 it has the "idle-eze" baseplate, makes tuning for cams easier.

[LockDoc]

Don't know if you saw this post or not...

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...mon+carbs+junk

I never did get mine dialed in. I worked with it for weeks & sent it back once. I watched the video about 5 times and followed the setup procedures to a "T". I finally gave up...

LockDoc

[ebry710]

Give me one carb that everyone is happy with? Ain't happening. But one thing I have noticed, all carbs use in this forum seem to work if you learn how to clean them, tune them and you pay attention to them..............or you got lucky, put them on and it worked.

[ChevLoRay]

Geeze, that sounds like the key to happiness!

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

If you upgrade to the speed demon 650 it has the "idle-eze" baseplate, makes tuning for cams easier.

Your right I do have a speed demon not a road demon.

[ebry710]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

Your right I do have a speed demon not a road demon.

Why do you like the Speed D over the Road D?

Since torque and "light footed" fuel economy is important to me, how does the speed demon and the road demon stack up?

[68Stepbed]

Originally Posted by ebry710

Since torque and "light footed" fuel economy is important to me, how does the speed demon and the road demon stack up?

You better go with a good q-jet.

I had a 625 Road Demon for about two weeks. It really never ran right. I couldn't get it to idle right at all. Fuel mileage was horrible. Went from 14mpg with a Holley to 6mpg with the Demon.

I run a 570 Holley on my 350 with a mild cam. It runs great. I get ~14mpg with a TH350 and 3.73 gears. I set the tune on it over 3 yrs. ago and haven't touched it since.

I've had several 600 cfm Edelbrocks. Not one of them ever ran right or kept a tune after the warranty went out on them.

The only good Edelbrock I had was a 500cfm man. choke unit on a stock 350. It ran like a champ and knocked back 16-17mpg with 3.73 gears and auto tranny!

[Youngbuck7072]

i got a carter afb 650 lastnight and sprayed some carb cleaner in it and mounted it up and it fired right up