A little more oomph

flyfish said
Simple answer, you are getting reply's from 2 types of people...the mostly stock street car/car show folks, and the street/strip racing folks.

The street/strip racing folks will 99% of the time suggest a Holley carb because they make more power. The only time they won't is if it is for a specific race class restriction that won't let them run a Holley. They would also never recommend 302 heads on a performance build because they are not made for it, there are soooo many other heads that are better suited for more power.

The mostly stock street car/car show folks like the stuff that originally came on the car, and don't know how to setup/tune a Holley carb so they bad mouth them. In reality, both carbs work (Edelbrock type and Holley type carbs), but from a performance perspective the Holley will make more power.

For some reason (unknown to me) these same folks think 302 heads are a performance upgrade...they are not. The intake ports on 302's are super tiny, I literally can't fit my thumb in them. 302's just don't flow enough air to make decent power unless you put a TON of work into them...even after that, they still don't make good power compared to any aftermarket head, or ported 360 stock head.

I hope that helps.

That makes sense. I am more the street car/car show crowd. I like reliability and having a clean stockish look. I'm not trying to make a 12 second Scamp. I wouldn't mind touching the 13s though lol. And from what I'm reading, some ported 302 heads with bigger valves could make that happen with some more intake and exhaust. I should have clarified the goals. I do want to go faster. Not looking at making a 450 HP engine. Just figured if I'm messing with it this winter, these seemed like better options than current setup. Not going the aluminum head route, I would consider a magnum head swap. I rarely hear good coming from a 360 head on a 318, but I do hear it from time to time. I'm not loyal to either carb personally, I can tune an AFB but can't imagine not being able to learn how to tune a Holley. Thanks for the feedback.