Newbie Needs advice!

I have a 1974 with 350 2b carb. I want to get 3 things right away.

1. 4b Carb
2. Manifold
3. Headers

I would like everyones advice as to what to get. Price and ease of install are important.

Links, pics and item numbers are hugely appreciated, like I said Im a newb so I need guidance.

Thanks in advance for help!:o

Is this a good price for this manifold can I use this? What would be a good offer to make if I can use it?:D

http://worcester.craigslist.org/pts/978047781.html

I wouldn't use a single plane intake ( see wide open hole where the carb goes.) These are for more modified engines than it sounds like you have. I'd get a dual plane. See on that add how it says "Basic Operating RPM Range: 3,000-8,000". If you're not planning on taking the engine to that RPM then you don't want that intake. Dual Planes have lower operating RPMs in general.

The other determining factor is what carb you get. There's two types spread bore and square bore. The square bore has 4 equally sized barrels and the spreadbore has bigger ones in the back. If your carb doesn't match the intake then you need to run an adapter plate which eats precious hood clearance.

I wouldn't use a single plane intake ( see wide open hole where the carb goes.) These are for more modified engines than it sounds like you have. I'd get a dual plane.

The other determining factor is what carb you get. There's two types spread bore and square bore. The square bore has 4 equally sized barrels and the spreadbore has bigger ones in the back. If your carb doesn't match the intake then you need to run an adapter plate which eats precious hood clearance.

Any ideas what to buy, and from where?

Well it's a little tough to tell exactly what you should buy unless we know more about your engine. I'm assuming it's a stock 350 and your starting to tinker with it.

a 1406 edelbrock is probably a good carb to start out with, and an edelbrock performer intake would be my choice.

I buy parts mostly from summit racing. They have good prices and if you make it a habit to stick with one vendor when you're buying lots of parts you'll get coupons from them.

Everybody has different opinions about what brand to buy. The edelbrock is basic, and it's cheap. I personally think a holley is too difficult to tune if you've never done it before.

Edlebrock performer , eddy 600 cfm electric choke / 1850 holley vac secondaries electric choke, when you buy your headers make sure you get ones for power steering if you have it or you will be pounding the tubes to 1/2 dimension to clear. small tube and long collector for more torque. Do a search or ask which brand fit easily and which dont hang low on the driver side. All of this is if you intend to street drive and care about milage. The biggest factor is have all your componets for the same purpose. In my opinion you will get more out of gearing than the mods your thinking of. A 700 r4 and some 3.73's will really wake it up. The 2bbl has good low end torque! What exactly do you want out of your car?

Edlebrock performer , eddy 600 cfm electric choke / 1850 holley vac secondaries electric choke, when you buy your headers make sure you get ones for power steering if you have it or you will be pounding the tubes to 1/2 dimension to clear. small tube and long collector for more torque. Do a search or ask which brand fit easily and which dont hang low on the driver side. All of this is if you intend to street drive and care about milage. The biggest factor is have all your componets for the same purpose. In my opinion you will get more out of gearing than the mods your thinking of. A 700 r4 and some 3.73's will really wake it up. The 2bbl has good low end torque! What exactly do you want out of your car?

I guess I want it to be quicker/faster. The engine has such low mileage I want to just drive it and maybe do a new engine in the future. So for now try to get the most horsepower for the least dollar. In a perfect world right? And yes the engine is completely stock. Add 373's? So I will need a posi rear?

Your only going to get so much out of it with the parts your looking at. You have to think in terms of what all it takes to push more air / fuel in and out. You start with the air filter , then carb, then intake, then heads , then valve size, then rocker arm ratio, then cam. Then your compression ratio makes a big difference! Then to get the air out its the valve size , rocker arm ratio, heads, and total exhaust and maybe an X pipe. So to take parts designed to flow with your 2brl carb and only replace a few of the parts with parts that flow more fuel/ air is like building a water system that starts large then gets small and then gets large again. How much water would it flow and what would the pressure be like? If you are looking to build a higher performance engine or even use your short block if it is low miles could work with new Vortec heads and a different cam. You could go with a Performer RPM and a 650 double pump and some 1.6 roller rockers and those will carry over to a higher flowing platform. Dont forget your ignition through all this thinking!

first , welcome to the site. second i think your on the right track. peronaly i would do intake/carb/gears/and a true dual exhaust i would skip the headers for now,once you get the basics then go for the cam and headers. if its a solid engine. just think factory high performance,an ss nova from the late 70s was pretty quick and didnt have a lot of fancy stuff, just the right stuff in the right place.

Ian,

keep an eye out in our classifieds here:yes: why buy brand new when you can get a used intake and a rebuilt carb for alot less:)

Intakes are EASILY cleaned and we have several carb gurus who know what they are doing and will save you a TON.

And, you would be buying from someone who knows Novas and SBC's and not just trying to sell something you do NOT want or need.


Stevesnovasite...NPHNP



Jim

I have all three!

Carb will be rebuilt ready to go.
Holley 600 or 670 avenger or 750vs
Have a Edelbrock performer intake.

I have a set of headers. But truthfully a new set from Summit with the deal they have on free shipping would be a better buy.

Happy to help.

Al

Until you have a little more experience, I would just drive the car instead of buying things you don't understand. If it were mine, I'd look around for an old timer that knows how to curve a distributor, and get the basic tune-up correct. The 70's were a terrible time for power and economy, but with some timing improvements, and even re-jetting your 2bbl carb, you can see some pretty decent changes in performance. Afterward, if you still feel the need, start reading the basics as to what works and what doesn't--some of the guys on here are pretty sharp...others...........?

I have a 1974 with 350 2b carb. I want to get 3 things right away.

1. 4b Carb
2. Manifold
3. Headers

I would like everyones advice as to what to get. Price and ease of install are important.

Links, pics and item numbers are hugely appreciated, like I said Im a newb so I need guidance.

Thanks in advance for help!:o

First thing i should have said along with what are you looking to do with it is, what is your budget and experience level?

There's one more thing you can do and it's pretty much just bolt on and that's putting 305 heads on your 350. This will boost your compression and if I'm not mistaken no other engine mods are necessary. I know people have done this mod before and it seems to be pretty popular. I personally have never had the chance to do this because I was young and inexperienced at driving and wrecked my first car. I still wish I had that '88 Camaro.

There's one more thing you can do and it's pretty much just bolt on and that's putting 305 heads on your 350. This will boost your compression and if I'm not mistaken no other engine mods are necessary. I know people have done this mod before and it seems to be pretty popular. I personally have never had the chance to do this because I was young and inexperienced at driving and wrecked my first car. I still wish I had that '88 Camaro.


I thought the flow rate was way low on those? At least the exhaust from what i heard.

Good point but as I said I never got the chance to test the theory.

Lotsa good advice here. I went with a weiand intake which I found on craigslist for a reasonable price and asked the guy to ship it which he did. As for headers Im diggin the flowtechs from summit .If I ever decide to replace mine.