Stay with the Q-jet. They are fine. You are making the mistake of thinking you can simply bolt on horsepower in an indiscriminate manner.

 

Exactly. That was my whole point. The "butt dyno" claims that there's an improvement. The track numbers beg to differ.

 

He already bolted the new one on and if it works on his car, fine. The Edelbrock carb is a decent carb, easy to setup, and will probably work just fine for his application. We all have our opinions on which works best based on our own experiences. The differences in power will be negligible and it will not damage his car.

 

Thank you, gentlemen.

Based on both of your posts, I would also like to point out that the converse is also important: Specifically, that this is the reason why "top performance" parts or entire rebuilds will sometimes make a car run like crap. If you build an engine to get the most possible power out if it, such as for racing, it will only give that power at the highest RPMs and throttle openings, and will be crappy under the more normal conditions of actually driving.

This is why modifications need to be matched to the car, the rest of the engine, and the intended driving style and conditions.

- Eric

 

Correct, though "it will not damage his car" is hardly a resounding endorsement...

My whole point was in response to the "it's a performance carb so I know it will make 5-10 more HP" comment. I guarantee that ANY properly built and adjusted carb will make a 5-10 HP improvement over one that is not running correctly.

 

I agree with you Joe, and we all remember how we were as pups with our first cars. Half the kids in my school in the mid 70's thought hi performance was upgrading the stereo. How many people get on here and say they have "The Hi Performance Rocket 350" in their car?

 

HEY! The stereo is the FIRST thing I fix on a car.

Otherwise, how can I listen to music as I fix the rest of it?

- Eric

 

Unless I missed it there is no mention of how his 350 is built. If it is a run of the mill stock 350 it doesn't even need a 4 barrel. If I had a buck for every kid that bolted a performance manifold and carb on a non high performance engine I'd be rich.

 

I'm going to plead the fifth when asked about what I did to my car in my young and stupid days...

I do know of a "friend" who punched nail holed in the end caps of the (single) muffler to make it sound "cooler". That was good for another 5-10 HP. Of course, this was before coffee can exhaust tips, which are much more effective.

 

My motor is mostly stock other than the headers and the dual exhust and it had a stock qjet 4bbl

 

A 2v carb is not cool looking to anyone.

 

I don't know all the variations, I'm sure some came with 2bbl some with 4bbl. If you are replacing the carb with a suitable for the car replacement there is nothing wrong with what you are doing. I always get a bit taken back when Qjets are dismissed as lesser. I promise in your street application a properly tuned Qjet will give you anything any other suitable carb will. More importantly what is it that you want out of the car? A low compression 180hp 350 with stock rear end gears is never going to be a quick car. Maybe saving the money you are spending for another engine would make you happier. Just a thought.

 

The whole 180 hp thing is the only reason my mom would let my have somthing like this if it has 250 hp she probably would of not let me have it. Plus she does not know that the things I am plaining to do or have done to the motor will make it faster lol

 

Lol, I understand. Just remember that engine as it sits is only going to be so fast. If you could just bolt on horsepower everyone would do it. Have fun.

 

It's not to slow but it sounds rely fast lol

 

Two comments.

1. Your mother lets you have this car? How old are you?

2. Your mother can cite horsepower ratings? Your mother sets horsepower limits on the cars you drive and 180 is ok but 250 is too much?



Excuse me for a minute as I get past the uncontrollable fit of laughter I feel coming on....




....there, that's better. I must say that I am impressed. My mother wouldn't know horsepower from horse manure.

 

By todays standards his HP is low, there are V6's putting out 300, lol.

 

The CORRECT dual plane aftermarket intake and 4 bbl carb of choice will add power to any 350 that came with a 2 bbl if properly tuned. BTW, the last 350 that even came with a 2 bbl was in 1972, all after that were Q-jets. I promise you that if you take a 69 Cutlass with a 350 2 bbl (8.5 to 1 CR) and add a little cam (something in the 210 @ .050 with .480 lift), 4 bbl intake (Performer) and 4 bbl carb of choice (Holley!! ) the car will be noticeably faster.

 

We'll my mother would not know the difrence either but when she heard it had a v8 she asumed it would be way to fast for me so I told her that it only had 180 hp and I also told her that it was 35 hp less than her car she was more confortable with me geting it

 

There are things you can do to make is snappier. Timing is a big one setting up the curve in the dist. If you feel comfortable with it. The headers will help and im a big believer in an x pipe . If you don't mind going to manual steering that frees up some hp. These aren't things that will open up the flood gates but it all adds up. My car started with an engine that went 14.3 and eventually we got it down to 13.7 with a bunch of little things to free up hp or help it out with out getting into the engine.

 

What is a x pipe? Wouldn't it increase restriction?

 

What's her car?

 

[QUOTE=coppercutlass;607176]If you don't mind going to manual steering that frees up some hp. QUOTE]

The tiny bit of power that will add will not even be felt compared to the benefit of power steering, IMO.

 

1999 mercedes clk320

 

I got used to manual steering . The x pipe adds some back presure but the crossflow pulls out exhaust. Or so that's what I have read. I gained a 1.5 tenths almost with it.

 

You can "get used to it" all you want, it would be very difficult to justify the minimal gains over the convenience of power steering on a driver, IMHO. I also found the X pipe worth a tenth.

 

Jaunty, Archer is 16. If his mother wants to, she can go down to Motor Vehicles and pull his license or take the plates off his car. It is important that she approve of what he's driving and what he does to it. He's putting a lot of time, thought, and money he has earned into this car, and he could be driving around in a Honda with a loud muffler instead.

Be nice to him.

- Eric

 

Jim I'm not saying you are wrong. To each their own. I went with manual steering for simplicity .

 

I'm sure if you start replacing the internals the car will be faster. My point was as it sits now. Replacing the internals is no small endeavor to some of us. New cam, new valve train, why stop there? Any car can be made quicker or more powerful. At what cost? and was it a good platform to begin with?

 

The intake and carb alone would make a noticeable improvement, IMO. With the intake off, you are halfway to a cam change. Yes, it is more work, agreed, but I still consider a cam swap a "bolt on", but others may not.

 

I am wondering why you think a fair sized 4bbl and a more efficient intake wouldn't improve things. As long as you keep your foot out of the secondaries.........it would get better mileage than the 2bbl. Now I'm talking either a Qjet or a 750 vac secondary Holley (don't care for Ebrok carbs). Had a Holley 500 cfm 2bbl on a 355 sbc that I liked a lot but no matter what I did I couldn't pass a gas station. The Qjet at least let me run on primaries.

 

The discussion of 2bbl vs 4bbl is all well and good, and has been discussed before, but the OP started out with a QuadraJet, and not a 2bbl.

- Eric

 

I think it's cool that 16 yr old Archer is working w/ old Olds iron! Good move on scooping up a cheap, good, usable carb that has improved the way the car runs. If you have auto shop @ school it would be a good exercise to get car on an exhaust analyzer & see how it is doing mixture wise. A wideband gauge would be even better but I'm sure that money could go other places.

Next step in your tuning odyssey is ignition tinkering - initial timing, curve, limit and yes, ported v manifold vacuum!

IMO if you have to do a full exhaust in car, put an x pipe in, if not, don't give it a second thought.

There is more than one way to skin a cat & you will get differing opinions on here to nearly any problem or technique you inquire about. There are lots of very knowlegable people & rarely will any be flat out wrong but you can learn a lot by posing questions & absorbing different answers & approaches.

One thing we all have to remember is the budget of a "youngster" means most things have to be zero or small expense. I remember driving my 65 442 for close to 3 months w/ bad battery & always having to park on a grade so I could pop start it!

 

Ha ha! I did the same thing with my Chevelle SS - couldn't afford a battery for a few months, and always made sure to park in a place I could "roll out" of (perfectly flat places, like parking garages, were fine, too, so long as I could put a shoulder into it and get it going at a trot in a straight line). Fortunately, that car started instantly every time.

- Eric