Going to need to save up for tbi setup, but need a carb replacement for existing quadrajet for now. Asking for appraisals on Holley, Carter, and Edelbrock 4bbls and reccomended cfms for normal daily driving plus higher altitude, 8000' plus. I also have a double snorkel breather on this engine which isnt factory I'm sure. How much gain might i expect with a 15x3 k&n?

 

Holley, in the 650CFM range. Dual snorkel won't make any noticeable gains. (2-3 HP at best.)

 

Anything you buy would have to be jetted to work properly at that sort of altitude.

 

Installed new 600 cfm edelbrock on my 85 360 (w150)ran fine on start up, but on second test drive lost power on grade. Vacuum pots and pcv are temporarily plugged off. Parts house didnt have the 1/4npt vac nipple for back of carb. Engine acts as if totally choked off. Plenty of fuel. Maybe too much? Had to tow it home. Any ideas?

 

Choke stuck shut? Float being overpowered by the fuel pump?

 

should have kept saving and gone TBI. as much as i like the simplicity of carbs if you don't know how to tune them they are really not for you especially when it comes to edelbrock carbs. they are not good starter carbs if you know nothing about carbs. holleys are the simpler ones and will usually run nearly prefect out of the box. carbs are pretty much going the way of the dinosaurs and finding people that know how to tune them good is getting harder.

 

I had my Q-Jet rebuilt then sent it back two more times. I gave up and got a 650 Brawler quick fuel carb. Now it idles and runs the same all the time. Couldn't be happier.