New Carb replacement choice

My Motorcraft 4300 D carb died on my 1973 Q code vert. I thinking it may be time to replace it with a Holley or a Edelbrock. Which would be the best choice. This is a weekend cruiser so I am looking at performance, cost and reliability. All opinions are welcome.

Thanks

John J

I just swapped a 680 CFM Quickfuel HR on my '73 Q Mach 1 and am very pleased. It replaced a Holley 750 DP.

Holley's are great, but a little pricey. And you must know how to "fiddle" with them from time to time to keep them running optimally.

A new "reman" Edelbrock from Summit is the deal of deals. The Edelbrocks are basically new and updated Carter AFBs from the 60s/70s.

They bolt right on and run excellent right out of the box. Very durable and consistent. For a trouble-free and "fiddle-free" carb for a great price, its hard to beat.

I replaced my 4300 D with a Edelbrock Thunder AVS, 650 cfm, Square Bore, Electric Choke, 4-Barrel. Bolted right on out of the box, fired right up, no adjustments were needed and MUCH more responsive and reliable than my Autolite 4300 D. I have a 71 M Code with 4V closed chambered heads and the 650cfm is more than enough carb for the street.

No more flooding, no more adjustments, no more hard starts, no more leaks, no more carb issues, no regrets.

Jim

Best bang for the buck I've seen. Very tunable and very steerable. Chuck

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-m08750vs/overview/

EDIT: I think this is the adaptor you will need (or different intake). It is 1" tall, may or may not be a problem.


Another option may be this guy. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/trd-2199

I've not used him before however, everything I read on class racing forums indicates he is very good.

Same with this guy. http://www.precisionperformance.org/contact-us.html

Chuck

Ok, I'm in the UK and did it the hard way. I sent my 4300D from my '73 Q Code back to the guy who advertises on eBay as being the ex-Pony carbs expert Kurt of KP Carbs AKA 'Carbontooters1' and has many thousands of 100% feedback. The money side of the deal was reasonable,.. the shipping (to and from the UK was expensive).

The Carb came back looking quite pretty apart from the 12 or so? main body screws which had been changed for bright Chrome and looked very out of place.

When I enquired the rebuilder Carbontooters1 comment was, it was a great condition carb to start with and no issues with the build!

However, I re-fitted it and started my car. It fired instantly then pissed out fuel everywhere, lots & lots!...lucky not to have a fire...No Way was this bench tested before being returned to me...

Long story, cut short. I had my car trailered to a well respected American Car specialist here in the UK and he found....

...A twisted new main body gasket actually protruding into the venturis (I have photos to prove) and wrong size Float (yes, the one that was in the carb when carbontooters1 received it but it had not been not found by Carbontooters1 even though I'd phoned him and he'd assured me he would 'check it all out') ....Once the Float was changed out, other issues sorted and another new main body Gasket fitted and the carb correctly adjusted it has run like a dream, starts within half a turn of the key and runs/ticks over and revs out perfectly!

Carbontooters1, the USA rebuilder suggested I send it back to them for remedial work (From the UK)...Yeah, right! Anyway, eventually quite a lot of money spent but am now happy! Carbontooters1 seems to have a good eBay/online reputation but his mechanical work left a lot to be desired...All they basically did was clean the Carb and make it look externally pretty!

I'm now happy with my original 4300D FoMoCo Carb but it seems to be a slightly tricky beast that not many are prepared to deal with or know how to?

My Q code vert had one of those rebuilt Edlebrock carbs on it when I got it (original in the box) and ran fine until one day, while on a club run the car started playing up. Got the car home, went through it all and ended up being the carb. I went through the invoices from my car, to discover the carb was only two years old. I was quite disappointed, as Kit said they were rebuilt Carter AFB's, and I used to think they were great carbs, as I had an AFB on a fairly worked motor years ago and the car worked really well. Anyway I ended up putting on a 750 V/S Holley (one of the new alloy bodied ones) and it runs heaps better than it ever did with the Edlebrock carb. But as Chuck said you will need one of those spacers if you're going to keep your original intake, as mine already had one on it.

When John Enyeart was in his prime at "Pony Carburetors" he did good work and had a great reputation. I believe Mr, Enyeart passed away, and others ( his son, maybe?) tried to carry on.

I have heard many, many horror stories about those that have dealt with the "remains" of "Pony Carbs".

I hope those are just anomolies, though.

Best bang for the buck I've seen. Very tunable and very steerable. Chuck

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-m08750vs/overview/

Click to expand...

I 2nd this comment - I have the 600 CFM version on a very mild 351C with 2V heads and it just runs nice - no drama - no constant adjustments.

Ran perfect right out of the box.

Basically an Edelbrock that looks like a Holly.

- Paul

I vote for Holley.

mike

Thanks for the feed back everone.

John J

Stock replacement carbs work pretty well with stockish engines. If you start modding things, take it into account that you will be doing some carb tuning no matter what brand you choose.

I'm partial to Holleys because they have better throttle response than Edelbrocks; but I must admit, the Summit Racing 600 vs is a great runner. I have one on my F-100 and really like it.

John - first question before anything else (particularly if you are adding this up to figure out the cost):

What intake are you running?

If it's the stock '73 intake, it's 4300D-specific - and unless you're set on the 4300D, it is not worth keeping. '71 M-code intakes are made for the 4300A (almost squarebore), and there are aluminum, dual-plane options from Blue Thunder (expensive) or Edelbrock's Performer 351C 4V LB (which has proper 4V ports, unlike some of Edelbrock's restricted 4V intakes).

-Kurt

Best bang for the buck I've seen. Very tunable and very steerable. Chuck

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-m08750vs/overview/

EDIT: I think this is the adaptor you will need (or different intake). It is 1" tall, may or may not be a problem.


Another option may be this guy. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/trd-2199

I've not used him before however, everything I read on class racing forums indicates he is very good.

Same with this guy. http://www.precisionperformance.org/contact-us.html

Chuck

Click to expand...

I've heard good things about the Summt carbs. It seems like I read that are old Holley 4010s which were designs based on the Autolite 4100; meaning this carb is an offshoot from the 4100 design. I could be way wrong so someone speak up if they have additional or better info.

EDIT: I found this discussion on a speedtalk forum which somewhat collaborates my memory. Good read too.

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17812&hilit=summit

EDIT 2: Here is an excellent review of the Summit carbs.

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/induction-articles/482814-summit-carb-review-road-test.html

Don, You are correct. http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-carb-recommendations?highlight=4100 post #3

Has anyone tried to retrofit an original 4100 on their cars? The Autolite 4100 is considered a classic carb (everyone tries to copy it), easy to restore and tune. Is the design of Ford's later carbs such that the intake manifold cannot accommodate a 4100?

I think you'd have to find a large venturi 4100 to make it worth while. Most of the small block versions were 400ish cfm IIRC.

I have a Summit 600 CFM carb on my F-350's 390. It's miles ahead of the edelbrock that was on it when I bought it.

They are basically the love child of a 4100 autolight and a holley 4160. Holley jets, power valves, vacuum secondary diaphragm, accelerator pumps, and center hung floats. 4100 style main body, venturi, and boosters.

I put a Edelbrook 1406 model 600 CFM with electric choke on my car. I am happy with the results so far. The car starts much easier now and is much quicker when I hit the gas petal. I had to buy ford throttle lever adapter and a cable plate adapter to make it work with my 351 cleveland. Its a huge improvement over the 4300 D carb that was on there before.

John J

I think you'd have to find a large venturi 4100 to make it worth while. Most of the small block versions were 400ish cfm IIRC.

I have a Summit 600 CFM carb on my F-350's 390. It's miles ahead of the edelbrock that was on it when I bought it.

Click to expand...

That does it - after hearing all the good things about them, these photos have completely sold me on one.

-Kurt