Edlebrock 4 barrel or Rochester 4 barrel

[No Regretz]

So im 16 and had my 72 chevy c20 for almost a year now. time flies. me my dad and my grandpa have been working out the kinks to make it drivable until i save up enough for us to rebuild the engine and redo the interior and all that good stuff.

But the question i have is with carberators, my truck has been getting flooded and my grandpa says it is the edlebrock carberator thats just no good poorly built carbs i beleive him, he was a mechanic but dont no what to do

what are your guys' opinions on carburators i know edlebrock has a big name but does it live up to it

[hugger6933]

Edelbrock [carter] makes great carbs. The main problem most people will have with them will be flooding. The problem could be either to much fuel pressure or sticking [dirty] needle and seat. These carbs are really good not just my opion but thousand of others as well. Check the neele and seat make sure it is not sticking lower the float level just a tad and check the pressure . % to 6 lbs would be good for a street app. Make sure you put a good filter close to the carb[ one of those clear glass ones not the cheaper plastic] . With that done you shuold be good to go. Another benifit to the edelbrock is that you can set it and forget it. not like the holley that takes more frequent changes[ now before you holley guys light up your torchs remember this is a 16 year old young man that just whats to ride!] I have run both holleys from 309 cfm to 1150 dominators and they are great for all out performance. I prfer a edelbrock for a street app. Now with all that said another flooding problem could be from a carb to big for the motor it is on. My experiance tells me that a 600 cfm is good fro most small blocks. Any thing bigger and you may be in trouble. Hope this helps. Jim

[capev86]

My experiance tells me that a 600 cfm is good fro most small blocks. Any thing bigger and you may be in trouble. Hope this helps. Jim

within reason, tuning and the correct jet size will allow you to run a big carb on a smaller motor. the engine will only pull so much gas and air as a factor of volume/vacuum.

i say find a good factory rochester q-jet and sell the edelbrock. i wanted to ditch the 2 barrel on my 72 burb c20 307/3 on the tree so i'd have bit more spunk and power for towing. the q-jet was the natural choice for a daily driver. i think it is more efficient under light throttle than the rochester 2bbl and the engine actually wakes up a bit when i put my foot into it. if a bone stock 350 uses 600 cfm, then i probably have 225 more cfm than i will ever need on that 307 but it is nice to have some elbow room all the while staying loyal to GM's performance glory days.

the q-jet flows 750 cfm and have other advantages over aftermarket units. i like the spread bore design that gives good fuel economy and throttle response from small primaries (smaller than the bores in a rochester 2 barrel) combined with big secondaries that give you gobs of extra air when you mash the gas. just remember that the most powerful GM muscle cars ran awesome with variations of this carb. take note that a q-jet uses a different bolt pattern on the intake manifold than square bore carbs like the holley and many edelbrocks (unless they are a q-jet replacement model) so you may have to change manifold if it is not a stock unit or spread bore friendly. i used an edelbrock intake (idel-5500rpm range for good low end) that was drilled/tapped for both base plate styles and the intake holes were widened at the back to accommodate those large secondaries.

find a fully mechanical unit from the late 70's to early 80's as they are slightly improved over what came on our trucks. just be sure not to use one with an electronic drop down feature on the accelerator pump (i made one work by turning it back it to run right when warmed up). the two plug unit is fully electronically controlled and will require almost as many sensors and plug-ins as a tbi setup. the q-jet is a bit more complicated (looks more than anything) than other carbs but is really the best choice for a daily driver or street performer if it is in good shape and tuned properly. check out Cliff's High Performance for a good q-jet brought up to modern standards and with even better dependability than stock.

[Hubscrub]

to be honest i would use a Q-jet i love them most people hate them but mostly because they don't understand them they give you good performance and good mileage, i have used edelbrocks and still do but i believe Q-jets are still a better carb.

[Hubscrub]

to be honest i would use a Q-jet i love them most people hate them but mostly because they don't understand them they give you good performance and good mileage, i have used edelbrocks and still do but i believe Q-jets are still a better carb. My dad was a machanic for 30+ years and he don't run anything but Q-jets

[No Regretz]

hugger my grandpa was a mechanic and he checked all of floats and seeds there was no fuel in the floats or marks on the seeds. we cleaned it all out with a air compressor but it was still flooding and my grandpa keeps setting the choke and timing somehow it keeps getting off. Im not saying your wrong by any means but i just dont kno if we should sell it and by a quadra jet or try and fix the issue.

[slikside]

Go to the edelbrock website and search there for tuning tips and/or call them. You will find good info there. Since this is the carb you already have, it will prolly be less expensive to tinker with this one than to get yourself another carb and/or rebuild that one.

I am currently rebuilding the Q-jet that my '72 C10 came with. As another mentioned above, I'm using Cliff's HP parts, and service for the shaft rebushing...but this is the carb I already have, and I'm somewhat committed to staying original as much as possible.

If you just want to be "rolling" asap, I say stay with the edelbrock, or go with a "new " Q-jet. If you want a "project", rebuild a Q-jet.

[RichardJ]

The Q-jet is a good carb but I wouldn't go to the trouble and expense to make the switch. If you had one on there I would say fix it, but you don't.
I would agree with Huggers comments, but an Edelbrock is a cheap copy of a Carter. The best thing about the Edelbrock is that you can find the parts anywhere and most of them will fit the Carter.
Fuel pressure problems are very common with the Edelbrock. A regulator is a much easier and cheaper fix than a new carb. I would want a regulator that adjusts down to at least 4 psi for myself, but most people think that is too low.
A good Holley regulator at Summit is $28 for a 1-4 or their 4 1/2- 9 psi. Summit has a house brand copy for $25. Do not use one of those small round regulators as they always end up leaking. The odd thing is that the cheap ones run around $25 also.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/P...k%7cAsc&page=1

I am not a fan of glass filter. If you don't like plastic, use the metal equivalent. When the glass ones break, it isn't pretty.

[geezer#99]

Hey No Regretz. Got a pic of this edelbrock carb!!!