Time for a new Carb

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jah64

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Hi all,
I have a 1969 Dart GT with a 340 and leaky Holley 3310-2 on an old Torker 340 manifold with a '68 4 speed cam and Rhodes lifters and a 727 automatic and 3:23 gears. The Holley is fairly worn out, the throttle shafts have lots of play and a corner of base plate has been repaired with epoxy 30 some years ago. Somehow the secondary fuel bowl drains into into the intake manifold after a week or so. Not good.. Although it runs well, I think this carb is a bit big for this engine and it is tired.
So this is what I am considering for options:
1: Rebuild the Holley AGAIN and see if i can get the leaking to stop. May have to repair corrosion on the gasket faces?? not sure where the leak is.
2: I just picked up a free Carter AFB B-6 9625S that may have come off of a GM. It needs to be cleaned and rebuilt. May also need throttle adapter purchase. not sure on that one yet.
3: Purchase a Holley 600cfm 4160 from Classic Ind H1850 ~$310.00.
4: Purchase an Edelbrock 600cfm Performer series from Classic Ind E1405 for ~$315.00
The intended use of our Dart is cruising and trouble free reliability. I have a couple of teen age boys who like to drive it occasionally and it needs to be turn key and go. I'd like to spend less than $500.00. Not really interested in fuel injection either.

What are everyone's thoughts? Any other suggestions are welcome. I'v done a ton of reading and from what I can gather it's Holley for flexibility and Edelbrock for set it and forget it reliability. or am I wrong on that one?

Andy
 
I know a bunch of people who are "in the biz" and a few of them have race cars.. they all like Quick Fuel carbs.
 
I'd go with a 650 (or 800) AVS (not AFB) from Ededlbrock or a QuickFuel 600-750. A lot of people will say a 750 is just right and it maybe. Holly/Quickfuel or Edelbrock, pick which ever your used to tuning.

I wouldn't buy a carb from Classic Industries. Their customer service sucks.
 
I second the Holley Street Demon 625. If you have to adjust it it's easy and once
ajusted forget about it..
It literally cannot leak everything is contained in a solid float bowl..
Small primaries with triple stacked pinturas for great throttle response..
 
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I agree with both sireland67 and j par regarding the Street Demon carbs. If all you're interested in is cruising then i think it's the best carb for you.
I also agree with dano, don't but a carb from Classic Industries. Check out either Summit or Jegs for best price and much better customer service.
I only buy from Classic when I can 'Will Call' the items. Their shipping charges are way too high.
 
A new 3310 is an option. 750 Double Pumper - Quick Fuel, Holley 4779, Slayer, whatever fits the budget. 750 not too much CFM's. But, a 600 eddy would run good but in my opinion, not the correct carb for your car.
 
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Ede 600 or 650. Don't buy it new. Pick one up that's been lightly used, for pennies on the dollar. I just sold a very nice Ede 600cfm for $220.00. And yes, they are pretty much set and forget. Sitting with today's Crappy gas is the worst thing for them. But you could say that with any carb. Driving them, and not letting them set for a long time, is the best thing for them.
 
My .02 is a little different so here goes...

I have a 1969 Dart GT with a 340 and leaky Holley 3310-2 on an old Torker 340 manifold with a '68 4 speed cam and Rhodes lifters and a 727 automatic and 3:23 gears. The Holley is fairly worn out, the throttle shafts have lots of play and a corner of base plate has been repaired with epoxy 30 some years ago. Somehow the secondary fuel bowl drains into into the intake manifold after a week or so. Not good.. Although it runs well, I think this carb is a bit big for this engine and it is tired.
So this is what I am considering for options:
Rhoads lifters on a a factory cam? Only thing I can think of as a reason for this would be an attempt to offset the Torker's weakness on the street.
Old Torker never had a good rep. for what your doing. Torker II is supposed to be better but...
Even though its not what you asked about, I'm going to suggest a used Holley Street Dominator (also sold as Street Contender). Staying with a single plane will make the swap simpler. With the SD, experiment with 1/2" and maybe 1" phenolic spacers if you want.

1: Rebuild the Holley AGAIN and see if i can get the leaking to stop. May have to repair corrosion on the gasket faces?? not sure where the leak is.
Take this a step further. That's my suggestion. With epoxy repair on the base and concerns about shaft play, replace it. By new, or used in good condition.
Before doing that. Take it apart and look everything over. Corrossion and pitting on the faces where the channels are is not worth fixing.
Leaking from the secondary bowl into the intake is pretty difficult unless the secondary power valve signal passage is open. On at least one 3310-2 I've had, this passage wasn't even drilled. But who knows what you'll find on your current one.

The intended use of our Dart is cruising and trouble free reliability. I have a couple of teen age boys who like to drive it occasionally and it needs to be turn key and go. I'd like to spend less than $500.00.
Well my first suggestion was stick with what you got and replace the damaged and worn parts. If you're doing vacuum secondary the Holley 3310 is as good as any - especially the older ones.

If you want to try something new, for what you want to do, the new Street Demons with phenolic fuel bowl mentioned by Jpar is what I would try.
Like any non-factory carb, some tuning will be required. Unlike factroy tuning, this means repeated trials, making one change at a time until you are satisfied.

What are everyone's thoughts? Any other suggestions are welcome. I'v done a ton of reading and from what I can gather it's Holley for flexibility and Edelbrock for set it and forget it reliability. or am I wrong on that one?
That's what the magazine writers always say Blah blah blah.
Holley's probably became popular in hot rodding because of image (marketing) and ease of changing jets quickly at the track.
Whether one brand's carb is going to be closer tuned to your engine out of the box is a crap shoot (dice game). Johnny and Will have run enough Carterbrock's I'd give their opinion on them some wieght.
Either way, if you're buying new I'd look at the smaller venturi carbs which you already seem to be doing.
The advantages of less restrictive carbs come at wide open throttle, particularly above 3500 rpm.
The advantage of a slightly smaller carb should be onto the primary main circuits at lower rpm and potentially better fuel distribution.
 
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Not to hijack this thread, but I noticed that no one has suggested using the free AFB carb. Is it a dog? I have a Carter AFB on my 74 Dart and I think it's holding the engine back. I haven't rebuilt it, but here's some of the issues I'm having with it.
  • Fuel bowls empty after sitting for a day, not boiling out I have a wood spacer.
  • No vacuum on the manifold port at idle, acts like it's ported. The ported port works properly.
  • Pretty sure there is no gas being fed to the secondary's when they open. They do open, but the 360 with an eddie intake just doesn't wake up like I expect. I have no idea how to check for gas being fed to the secondaries.
Should I clean and rebuild it or just replace it with one of the suggestions above?
 
Not to hijack this thread, but I noticed that no one has suggested using the free AFB carb. Is it a dog? I have a Carter AFB on my 74 Dart and I think it's holding the engine back. I haven't rebuilt it, but here's some of the issues I'm having with it.
  • Fuel bowls empty after sitting for a day, not boiling out I have a wood spacer.
  • No vacuum on the manifold port at idle, acts like it's ported. The ported port works properly.
  • Pretty sure there is no gas being fed to the secondary's when they open. They do open, but the 360 with an eddie intake just doesn't wake up like I expect. I have no idea how to check for gas being fed to the secondaries.
Should I clean and rebuild it or just replace it with one of the suggestions above?
If it wasn't getting fuel through the secondaries when you opened it up it would have a major bog... And it might just fall flat on its face..
I think I would recommend rebuilding the carb that you have if for any reason to learn more about it and how it works. if you get one of the ones recommended above again you'll be just throwing another carb on there trying to cure your problem without any real knowledge of it. At least if you rebuild this one and get another one you'll have a better understanding of the inner workings...
 
Not to hijack this thread, but I noticed that no one has suggested using the free AFB carb. Is it a dog? I have a Carter AFB on my 74 Dart and I think it's holding the engine back. I haven't rebuilt it, but here's some of the issues I'm having with it.
  • Fuel bowls empty after sitting for a day, not boiling out I have a wood spacer.
  • No vacuum on the manifold port at idle, acts like it's ported. The ported port works properly.
  • Pretty sure there is no gas being fed to the secondary's when they open. They do open, but the 360 with an eddie intake just doesn't wake up like I expect. I have no idea how to check for gas being fed to the secondaries.
Should I clean and rebuild it or just replace it with one of the suggestions above?
AFB's can work great. Fuel does escape the eddies/Carters quickly, but shouldn't be in a day. Wow! Maybe the floats are so low you just think it's evaporating, and maybe it's the issue with it performing on the 360.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies! GREATLY APPRECIATED! Carburetors were never something I really got into.. so this is fun. I did this engine build almost 40 years ago when I was a teenager with limited funds and knowledge. I did have a mentor help me sort things out though. The torker 340 was free, that's why I used it. Probably a new manifold coming next year... @Mattax I think the cam is actually a Direct Connection Purple cam. We used the Rhodes lifters to keep decent vacuum at idle as I recall. And my little sister drove the car at the time too :D I do have a new set of lifter sitting on the shelf. which may be put into service some day. So.. reading through the suggestions and searching FABO for "SD vs AVS2" I narrowed it down to the Street Demon 625 with plastic bowls or the Ede 650 AVS2. I chose the AVS2 EDL-1906 with the free EDL-8126 fuel line and the EDL-1481 Throttle Lever Adapter. I've never had a new carb. always pulled crap out of junkyards and garage sales and rebuilt them. Looking forward to nice box from Summit next week! I'll report in when I get it on an running.

Thanks, Again.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies! GREATLY APPRECIATED! Carburetors were never something I really got into.. so this is fun. I did this engine build almost 40 years ago when I was a teenager with limited funds and knowledge. I did have a mentor help me sort things out though. The torker 340 was free, that's why I used it. Probably a new manifold coming next year... @Mattax I think the cam is actually a Direct Connection Purple cam. We used the Rhodes lifters to keep decent vacuum at idle as I recall. And my little sister drove the car at the time too :D I do have a new set of lifter sitting on the shelf. which may be put into service some day. So.. reading through the suggestions and searching FABO for "SD vs AVS2" I narrowed it down to the Street Demon 625 with plastic bowls or the Ede 650 AVS2. I chose the AVS2 EDL-1906 with the free EDL-8126 fuel line and the EDL-1481 Throttle Lever Adapter. I've never had a new carb. always pulled crap out of junkyards and garage sales and rebuilt them. Looking forward to nice box from Summit next week! I'll report in when I get it on an running.

Thanks, Again.

I put the AVS2 650 on my 340 and it ran good but thought it could run better. I went ahead and bought the #1948 tune kit, changed the jets, rods, and step up springs and wow! did that wake it up.
 
@ClydeT. If I may ask, what jets rods and springs did you end up with? I just bought the kit. Looking for a starting point.
 
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Hard to pass up a free intake, in this case I'd sell the "smelter material" torker intake and buy a dual plane.

Run an ede for simplicity.

It will always be soft on the bottom end with that intake.
 
Picked up an LD340 for a steal @ Carlisle. Just need to do smidge of repair work on the bypass threads. And she is ready for the install.
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to answer your question as motorpirate says, the Edelbrock 600 would be perfect!
 
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