Dead Reckon

I get a lot of strange reactions to telling people my Oldsmobile has a Chevy 350, though I should reiterate, it is a VIN L car, 350 SBC 4bbl.

Anyway, swapped the Q-jet for a Summit Racing Street & Strip carb a while back, completely forgot to brag about it.

Here is a video, but please note I've gotten rid of this air cleaner, and will be taking an update video tomorrow. I really like the carburetor, it's a smooth runner, came 90% adjusted out of the box, did some seat of my pants adjustments today, got the floats a little leaned out, rear was a hair too rich, front looked like a swimming pool. Float windows are the best invention ever thought of on a carburetor apart from externally adjustable floats themselves. Still needs a bit of adjustment, and the top of the carb was a bit loose, I had to snug the screws holding it together about a quarter turn 'cause it seeped a little. BUT it's a $260 carburetor, fit and finish are secondary, function is primary.

1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 new Summit Racing Street & Strip 650 carburetor - YouTube

So the good and bad of the summit:

Good:

Out of the box works with my factory intake with nothing more than an adapter, and a hammer to move the EGR so I could get to the bolts.

Works great with my TH350, hooked up with no adapter, just the included stud, shifts better than the factory Q-jet ever did, shifts are sharp and predictable. Feels like a different transmission. Shifts a little later, holds the gear better during acceleration. I like it, a lot.

Mostly tuned out of the box, few adjustments like floats had to be set.

Holley design, so the floats, screws, and pretty much everything else is easy to set.

Made in the states by Holley, even though it says Summit

Excellent finish for the price

Comes with a great fuel rail once you clean the chrome off the threads

Comes with everything you need to install BUT an air filter, studs, fuel line, and filter.

Great documentation, it's almost like talking to a technician if you have a semi-mechanical head on your shoulders. Gears for brain cells, that sort of thing.

Electric choke, and it is set great out of the box. I temporarily hooked mine into one of those test boxes around the engine bay, the orange ones.

The Bad:

No studs! But most intakes have them, so no biggy, my adapter had 'em when I bought it.

Fuel rail will hit the EGR and other things on the manifold, took some work to make it, well, work. I'm going to get a 90 degree turn so I can hook up the fuel system properly once I figure out what size thread the damn thing has.

Chrome on the fuel rail threads needs to be removed if it overlaps onto the threads, or it will leak.

Top plate was a bit loose out of the box, wasn't leaking but in one spot, quick snug of the screws that hold it down fixed that.

Won't work with factory air cleaner in my application due to the top of the fuel inlets.

Requires a bracket to work with most factory throttle cables, $10 accessory, my friend made one by cutting the factory bracket and I used a zip tie to keep it from moving around.


Think that's it, but I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks for reading, I'd recommend this carb, it is a Holley through and through, and I like Holley's.