The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Holley 4160 or Edelbrock 1405 for a 327 Chevy V8

Holley 4160 or Edelbrock 1405. I’m checking to see what those with more experience say about the merits of these two carburetors in a street driven truck with a 327 and an SM420 transmission.
Thank you,
Larry

That's sort of like asking if I'd rather get beaten to death with a chain or a baseball bat. Anything other than a properly sized Quadrajet would be a distant second or third choice.
Jerry

I’ve got a square bore Edelbrock performer intake, and a Holley 1850 C that’s giving me fits. I might try the 1405 if there’s a chance it’s an improvement or the lesser of two evils.
Thanks,
Larry

Spread-bore intake: second Jerry's comment about a Q-Jet above OR Carter TQ.
Square-bore intake: Carter AFB 3721s (3721sa, 3721sb).

Jon

LAJones48, is your manifold a dual plane? I assume it is if it is a Performer series. If it is only drilled for a square bore, the Q-jet would need an adapter and would probably not be the best option. If the manifold is a 2101, it is drilled for both square bore and spread bore.

I had a 1411 Edelbrock 750 cfm on my 454 with a Weiand dual plane intake. The 1411 was ok but after reading the reviews for the most recent AVS2 model Edelbrock carb. I’m using the 1912 (I think) 800 cfm. It’s been flawless right out of the box, especially the idle to just off idle & low speed cruising. Do a Google search for what others are saying about it

1405 street use. I`ve had ZERO problems in my 327s.

Thanks everyone. It’s a Performer intake, dual plane, drilled for a square bore. I’ll do some more reading.

The Holley 4160 is rated at 600 CFM. It should work well for a 327 with stock cam. I myself like the Holley, it's easy to set up and tune. I have run several different models over the years with good results.

You didn't state what cam you are using or any other modifications that may have been done to the engine. The Edelbrock Performer is great all around manifold for a SBC.

I currently have a Holley 4150, 670 CFM, on a built .030 over 327. The cam and head work I have pair well with 670.

Holley, hands down. Edlebrokes are finicky, and a fuel pressure guage is needed to set pressure. Pressure guage is temporary. Just my experience with both.

So everybody is just going to ignore Carbking's recommendation even though he is the only bonafide carburetor expert on this site?

LaJones asked about a specific Holley or Edelbrock, assuming he has both at hand. If he has a square bore manifold and does not have the funds for a Carter AFB carb, he may be limited to what he has.

I was gonna say funds. The only thing I had to do with the 1405 was enlarge the throttle cam hole
for the throttle pivot linkage rod. I took off a quad on my 58. Thats just me.

Carbking is not insulted. (And if one analyzes the word "expert" one finds from algebra "x" is an unknown, and "spurt" is a drip under pressure. Thus an "expert" is an unknown drip under pressure!

Questions are asked, I sometimes post an answer. In this case, both Jerry and I posted tangential answers. How those answers are used is totally within the domain of the reader.

The internal combustion engine is remarkedly adaptable. There are few, if any, circumstances where only one carburetor is the "best" for an engine.

When picking a carburetor for an engine, in addition to size, the following variables may be considered, generally, only one of these may be maximized:

(1) initial cost (the OP has maximized this item, as he has the carbs of which he asked)
(2) tuning cost (NOTHING is perfect out of the box)
(3) maximum power
(4) driveability (if used on a street-driven vehicle)
(5) economy of operation
(6) reliability

Jon

There was no insult or question as to Jon's guidance or wisdom, I for one value his opinion.

The question was as to a specific Carburetor of the two choices. I do believe the Holley is the better of those.

BTW, I love a good running Qjet, I have only know one Man personally who could tune one correctly, he is no longer with us.

First of all, thanks to everyone for your interesting and useful suggestions and questions. I always learn more here than I ever could teach.
I mentioned above that I have an 1850c Holley which is in the 4160 family. It is mounted on a Performer dual plane intake. Other engine specs are: recent rebuild, .60 over, original power pack heads, .218/.218 flat tappet hydraulic cam.
I posted a while back about having backfiring issues through the intake and narrowed that down to an overly rich condition which might have started due to too high fuel pressure.
Then life got busy and I had to take a break on the engine problems. With spring coming soon to the mountains, I’m giving my attention back to the truck. I promise to let y’all know how things turn out with a list of what I’ve done in what order and hopefully the happy ending.

Larry

Sarge - As I mentioned, both Jerry and I posted tangential answers rather than a direct answer (implying that we both thought there were better solutions). Jerry's comment about the chain or the baseball bat might (or might not) be somewhat extreme.

But if I absolutely HAD to choose from the two presented choices, it would be the Holley (and a class C fire estinguisher).

Jon

Haha! I have two fire extinguishers at hand.

The original post said "327 Chevy V8". It made me think Mopar used a Carter AVS for '68-71" and for one year only,1967, the Chevy 327 used it as well.
I have a Carter AVS on my 292 six. I recently had to replace the fuel pump. I bought three different pumps and they all put out over 10 psi. I settled on a Carter pump that produced just under 14 psi and a Jegs (holley copy) fuel pressure regulator, set at 5 psi.
You mentioned a high pressure problem above.
You might want to just get a regulator and maybe keep the carb you have?

Did you put a Jegs regulator on that Carter pump? I wound up using an Edelbrock pump that puts out 6 PSI, and I’ve got the carb off to check for sticking needle and seats before I start it up again. Thanks for your ideas.

Do you mean a Carter pump and a Jegs regulator?

Sorry about that! I meant to type "fuel regulator"

The Carter pump was advertised as 5 psi. Not even close. A Delphi pump advertised at 7psi was above 13. A pump from O'reilly, advertised at 6-8 was 12 psi.
The Carter and the Delphi pump looked identical and each had a plastic pouch with a gasket and instructions and both pouches had the same part number and very similar instructions.
I called Carter and after initial denial, the guy finally admitted the Carter and Delphi pumps are made by the same company in China. Not sure which company owns who.
The Carter guy said they were aware of the problems with the excessively high pressures in their mechanical pumps and were in the process of fixing the problem in ALL their pumps. He said the Mexican pumps, before that were just as bad. He said earlier pumps made somewhere else in Asia (Korea maybe) were much better.
Somehow none of that makes me feel any better.

The Jegs REGULATOR looks exactly like the Holley, but half the price. It can be rebuilt with the Holley rebuild kit that comes with two springs. You can rebuild it as a 1-4 psi or a 5-8 psi regulator.

>>LAJones'
I wound up using an Edelbrock pump that puts out 6 PSI<<

I'd check that pressure with a "T" fitting for the gauge. I have read guys checking the pressure with the gauge dead headed. Maybe I'm wrong, but I want to know the pressure with engine running.
Is that edelbrock pump rebuildable? If it is, I wouldn't use a regulator. I start nibbling away at the spring until the pressure got down to where I wanted it.
The 6 cylinder pumps are all sealed up and takes a cut-off wheel to get apart.

Good point on double checking the pump with a gauge inline. That’s part of the plan. The pump says made in USA on the casting so fingers crossed.

Go to a swap meet, and find an original style fuel pump that's held together with screws.

Buy it- - - -as long as the housing isn't cracked or badly corroded, it doesn't matter if it works.

Send it to Then and Now rebuilders. It will come back with an ethanol-resistant diaphragm, good inlet and outlet check valves, and the right pressure.

Stop worrying about excessive fuel pressure.
Jerry

Jerry, on my list of things to do. One of the big issues with repowering my truck has been dealing with aftermarket junk. Back when I had the original 6 in it, I just rebuilt all of the accessories as needed. When it’s working though, I sure like the 327. Looks like I need to get ahold of good cores and replace the new shiny stuff with reliable old stuff.
Thanks,
Larry

In my '57 2 ton, it has the original 283 and 2 bbl Rochester 2G. I bought an inexpensive pump from O'reilly's 8 years ago just to get the engine running, still using that pump and it puts out 6.5 - 7 psi. I added a tee to the fuel line just before it enters the carburetor, I then ran 1/4" hard line from the tee down to a pre pump frame mounted filter, the filter has three ports, one from the tank, one to the pump, one for the bypass from the tee. I didn't measure pressure at the carb after the modification but I get no "hot soak" fuel spillage and the truck will run all day at 4000 rpm with a load, good enough for the girls I go with!

FWIW, I have a MR Gasket regulator on the 454 with the AVS2, set at 3.5 psi using 3/8” line. I used that psi before getting truck on the road. Since getting it roadworthy, I’ve not had any reason to increase the psi. That’s operating in the 1000 to 2500 rpm range with few revs to 4500.

Thanks for more real time info. I guess I’ll never run out of options to try on my rig. This coming week looks good for getting it back in one piece so I can see if I’ve made a difference.