carb and manifold

[fdbdw]

rookie but leaning fast, want some advice on the a good carb and manifold upgrade, I just bought a 1971 c10, LB, 350, t350 tran, 2bbl rochester carb. I would like to get a 4bbl, not looking to race just want good solid performance its not a DD but I do drive it quite a bit. I dont have the money right now to upgrade any other parts (cam, crank, ect) so I want to get a good combo that would work well with whats there. The block has a suffix tyw, if my info is right its a 74 or75 350 sb. I greatly appreciate any advice

[oldiron]

Moving over to the pickup forum.

[VetteVet]

Originally Posted by fdbdw

rookie but leaning fast, want some advice on the a good carb and manifold upgrade, I just bought a 1971 c10, LB, 350, t350 tran, 2bbl rochester carb. I would like to get a 4bbl, not looking to race just want good solid performance its not a DD but I do drive it quite a bit. I dont have the money right now to upgrade any other parts (cam, crank, ect) so I want to get a good combo that would work well with whats there. The block has a suffix tyw, if my info is right its a 74 or75 350 sb. I greatly appreciate any advice

I would wait until I could afford all the stuff and do the job one time. You won't notice much performance gain with just a manifold and carb on a heavy truck. You could change manifold and carb now, but you will have to buy new gaskets again when you get a cam. If it runs good now just drive it.

[WIDESIDE72]

Waiting until you could afford a cam is a good idea. For a daily driver, look at the torque type RV cams. Comp Cams sells good stuff and has a tech line. They will suggest a cam depending on your needs. Summit used to sell a package with a cam, lifters, intake and carb matched for your app. I think they still do. I would go with a dual plane like an Edelbrock Performer or Performer Air gap. As for a carb, for a daily driver, it is hard to beat a Quadrjet. It was OEM and easier to adapt. The small primaries of the spread bore design give better gas mileage than a square flange and are not as tempermental as a Holley. (Holley makes spread bore carbs too). Carter/ Edelbrock carbs would be a second choice. If $$$ is tight, for the intake you could check you local Craigslist or EBAY, but make sure there are no cracks or bad threads. Don't waste your time with a used cam or lifters, unless you pulled them from a running engine and took care to match the lifters to what lobe they came off of. Used carbs are iffy too.

[68Stepbed]

For a stock 350, the BEST combo I've found yet is an aluminum intake (Edelbrock Performer, Performer EPS, Weiand 8004, or anything similar) with either a 500 cfm Edelbrock carb or a Holley 500 cfm 2bbl. And, yes, the Holley 2bbl wil be a major performance improvement over the Rochester 2GC. If your just dead set on a 4bbl carb, I would suggest the Holley 570 Street Avenger. If you can find a good Q-jet, they're best, but I've yet to find a decent one.

As far as a cam and heads, yes they will make big improvements, but I would suggest getting all your external goodies first. Aluminum intake and carb, performance air cleaner, aluminum pulleys, electric fan, headers and good exhaust. These will make dramatic differences over your stock stuff. Then, if you add a cam, heads or have some head work later, it will be like icing on the cake.