Edelbrock or Holley?

[79_MonteCarlo]

I was wondering what brand I should go with? Is one clearly superior or is it just a preferance? How much money would I be looking at to get an intake, cam, carb, heads and headers for a 350 from the Performer or street avenger group? Any input would be appreciated.

[Cyprus106]

Ima vote Edelbrock on this one. I like their shit better

[Polygon]

Mostly Edelbrock.

[-The Stig-]

Originally posted by 79_MonteCarlo
I was wondering what brand I should go with? Is one clearly superior or is it just a preferance? How much money would I be looking at to get an intake, cam, carb, heads and headers for a 350 from the Performer or street avenger group? Any input would be appreciated.

What kinda performance are you looking for?

Plan to spend about $3,000 to $4,000 when all is said and done... meaning the Motor is Turn-key and ready to drop in.

Still planning that build up? Good man, fill me in on what exact info i gave you about a build up... i cant remember.


As for the Edlebrock Vs Holley Debate...

Edlebrock makes good Intakes, they're heads are decent but can be bought cheaper elsewere... all the rest of their stuff is just copies of other things... Edlebrock's Carbs are cool for the everyday racer, they're just a basic Q-Jet... minimal adjustments to dick with. All you get is Idle and basic air-fuel tuners.


Holley makes everything... they own Wieand Intakes, Hooker Headers, the Company NOS, Lunati, and a few other randoms. From them you can make the most kickass motors.

Holley Carbs are my personal choice, a little pricey.. but you get a great carb. My 750cfm Dbl Pump, Dbl Feed 4bbl with mechanical Secondaires was just under $400. A Edlebrock 750cfm 4bbls with Vaccuum Secondaires is like $250. (if you have a question about Vaccuum Vs Mechanical Secondairies ill be glad to answer it for you.)


Edlebrocks stuff is mainly all for show, nice and pretty. You pay a bit more for some of their stuff than you need to. But, it does look good.

Holley products may not have the glossy looks, but they perform.


So yea...What kind of Performance you looking for?
ill give ya tips from here to the moon... just give me a guide line of where to stop... haha or i'll start talking about alcohol eating small blocks...

[student_anonymous]

I trust the Edlebrock rep myself, know people with their stuff and it's great according to them........

:smoker2:

[79_MonteCarlo]

I just got a lot more serious about a new engine when i found out my 305 has about 4 months left to live. Oh yeah and I got my ass kicked by an Impala the other day, that might have got me thinkiing too . My car is a bone stock 79 monte, it has a curb weight of about 3200 lbs (would be about 2500 minus all the bondo and primer LOL). As far as the engine goes I'm looking to run somewhere in the 13-14 second range and still gets reasonable mileage. By resonable I mean 12-13 MPG in the city (if thats possible). The line as far as gas mileage goes it 11 MPG on Mid range gas (89 octane?). The block would probably be a 350 because they're cheap and easy to find parts for. I have a line on a TH-400 Tranny so i will probably drop that in soon. I want the most value per dollar cause I'm broke. So if anyone has any cheap tricks I'd be happy to know them.

[DeViL]

I'd go with Holley. I don't really need to explain why, Redneck already did it for me. The dual feed Holley was one of the best carbs to go with. Didn't the 454's come with the dual feed holley already?

[-The Stig-]

13-14 seconds in a 3200lb car?

basic as hell...

you'll need anything in the range of 330+hp. The F-bodies can run into the 13's stock. (13.7 to be exact)

So, the easiest way to gain power... is??? Up the CUBES!

Stroker the 350 into a 383. You can purchase a 400 crank for fairly cheap.

For this you'd want to look into buying ...

- 350 4 Bolt Block
- Hign Nodular 3.750 Stroke Crank With 5.7" Stage 1 GM Rods
- Hypereutectic Flat Top Pistons (491 ) Gram WT.

This should take care of the lower part of the motor...

The fun accessories...
- Dart Iron Eagle Heads, 200cc Intake Runners, 2.02"/ 1.60 Valves
- Manely .080 Wall Heat Treated Pushrods
- Comp. Cams Roller Tip Rocker Arms
- Cloyes Dbl. Roller Timing Set
- Comp. Cams Extreme Energy Hyd. Cam .477"/ /480" Lift, 224° / 230° @ .050 268° /280° Adv. Dur., 110 L/C
- Alum. Dual Plane Intake Manifold (any manufacturer will do)
- At least a 700cfm Carb. Vacuum or Mechanical secondaires is your choice.

I guess i'll describe the difference between the two... in Lazy-mans terms. When you mash out with a Vacuum style secondary 4bbl, the Secondaries dont kick in till the intake manifold builds enough vacuum to open up the lil flap that lets in more air. Vacuum carbs are better for everyday driving with occasional 'rally-time'. Mechanical on the other hand is for the racer at heart, it doesnt wait for vacuum it just works off throttle position and just starts to dump in mass fuel when you hit the throttle. It isnt the best for everyday, but is best for race applications.

This set up, should only run you $3100 out the door.

Giving you a budget motor that makes 400+hp and well over 420Ft-lbs. Infact its whats in my car, which dyno's out at 423hp, 437ft-lbs. At 10.25:1 compression you're stuck at 91 octane. But you'll burn most anything on the street...


NOW, for something a bit more tame.... this is the ZZ4 350... which will set you back $3400-3500 bones for just 355hp/405ft-lbs if you buy it. But you can build it cheaper yourself.

What you'll need..
- Cast Iron 4-Bolt Main, 4.000" Bore
- Crankshaft: Forged Steel, 3.480" Stroke*
- Heads, Chamber Size: Aluminum, 58cc Chamber Valves 1.940"/1.500"*
- Hydraulic Roller Camshaft Lift 0.474"/0.510"
Dur. @ 0.050" 208/221 degrees
- Intake: Aluminum Dual Plane

*Aluminum heads will set you back a bit more than you may want to spend, but with 10:1 compression they'll help keep detonation to a minimal. But if the motor is tuned right, Iron Heads will save you money and will work just fine.
* You dont need a forged steel crank shaft. Unless you'd want to use Nitrous... save yourself the green.

Like i mentioned, this motor will have 10:1 compression so 89 octane or better would be a must... 87 will work but it'll ping like crazy. So stay with the 89+ cause it'll give you a good 350Hp and 400ft-lbs.

The Monte will move right along with either motor... I GARUANTEE nothing about smog though. I cannot say it will pass, if you plan to make this into a drag car only then YAY! If not... good luck!

One last choice you have if you want it to be a daily driver. And i cannot stress the coolness of this motor, the EFI Vortec 350. 330hp/380ft-lbs. It will pass smog like no other, give you great milege, and well... move that Monte around with ease!


Hope I was of help...

[Cbass]

Too bad it's a Chevy, or I'd suggest the 400M. With $2000 of build, you're making around 425 hp, and 500 lbft. With a stroker build of around 430, and Cleveland 4V heads, you could make about 600 hp with 11:1 compression.

I know of one guy making just a shade under 800hp on a 436M stroker, but he runs 115 octane gas.

In fact, the only transmission for the 400M was the C6 auto, but it can use the T18 too. Any manual tranny that will fit a BB ford will fit the 400M.

Without much difficult, you can adapt an Edelbrock intake to EFI by tapping holes in the runners, and making your own runner extensions out of tube into an upper manifold... This means you can take an ECU from a 5.0 liter HO, and slap it on...

Just my 2 cents on budget hotrodding, Ford is great for this sort of thing.

[79_MonteCarlo]

What would i need to change if I wanted to use nitro? Would i need to switch to all forged internals? Oh yeah if you have any ideas of high power that you held back cause of emissions, tell me. One of the reasons I bought a '79 is because it is emmisions exempt (anything before '83), all I need to pass the test is a gas cap. God I love Ontario's retarded emissions standards.

[DeViL]

lol well you could get rid of your headers. Full open exhaust will definately, not to mention loud as shit, and definately you wouldn't be passing emissions. But if it doesn't matter....do it.

[-The Stig-]

before 83? DAMN, i hate you... we in California have to look for Pre-73 vehicles.

Ok, the myth of running open headers.

It will sound cool!... but will decrease low end pull... only performance gain it'll give you is higher end pull. And we know most street races, and track races live in hte low RPMs so it wouldnt help you out except attract attention from the local athorities.

Hmm Nitrous motor... forged internals would be the best idea. A 4-bolt main block would be a good idea as well.

As for having a smog except car, welcome to the club! haha... ummm its hard to say what parts to use... High rise manifolds... umm 750cfm+ 4bbl carbs.. big tube headers... free flowing mufflers. all these things are up to you, what you want to do to the car is your choice. it'll be a fun car regardless what you do.

Just remember, you're car is only as fast as your driveline. Spend as much time thinking the rest of the driveline as you do the Motor. a 500hp motor wont do you much good if you blow up the transmission, twist the drive shaft, and blow up the rear end you're first run.

Stock transmissions, and rear ends are not an option. You'll need to look up aftermarket parts.

B&M Transmissions and their accesories can be found at places like http://www.bmracing.com

Eaton Posi's can be found at... http://www.drivetrain.com/eatonposi.html

[Cbass]

Aha, Redneck speaks from experience

My 2 cents, hit a junkyard and get all the stuff you can from an LT1 Firebird or Corvette, including the heads. Hell, just see if you can take the whole engine!

The fuel injection is absolutely invaluable for daily driving, especially up north, especially in Ontario.

[-The Stig-]

oh so true, junkyards can save money like whoa.

But high prioritised items like Fbody motors go quick. So you have to visit them often, and strike quickly.

[79_MonteCarlo]

I'm starting to think the idea of striping a wrecked Corvette of it's drivetrain is a good one cause i should be able to get it relatively cheap and then if I want more i can add more. I'm kind of afraid of nitro now so I'm not sure if i will use it. A guy i know (drives a civic) just melted his spark plugs to the block by holding on for too long.