4 barrel carb options

[Thunderchief]

Hi, new member. I had lots of Rover V8s in the late eighties and nineties, then life got in the way and financial prudence dictated that everything was turbo diesel.

Late eighties and nineties it was SU carbs or the old flapper injection, if you were doing it on the cheap.

Now I'm approaching my dotage, I can get back into V8s again, I have a couple of SD1s in my sheds, which aren't in bad condition, so resurrection is viable, I've grown older but I'm still a cheapskate. I've acquired a 4.6 for free which was good but has been stored in a building which caught fire. The short engine seems OK. The plan is 4.0 pistons for some compression, a mild road cam, mid range torque/power is my aim, I have some 3.5 ported heads on a 3.5, Rovercraft? Rovertech or something? I'll have to look. I plan on using a 4 barrel carb, I have an Edelbrock 2198 dual plane inlet manifold.

In the UK nearly everyone seems to use the Carter/Weber/Edelbrock 4 barrel, but having watched loads of Youtube videos of hotrodders in the US building performance V8s with 4 barrels, I don't think I've seen one use an Edelbrock, it's all Holley or Holley copies. Are we missing something?

[paul c]

The Holleys are better suited to larger displacement engines, there is a limited selection of small volume Holleys avaliable and if I remember they were based on the weber design. The Edelbrock does seem to work better on the smaller capacity engines.

[Thunderchief]

I see where you're coming from, what is considered to be a large engine in the UK is deemed to be pitifully small and is rare in the US, there aren't many of them so it's not worth the manufacturers producing carbs to suit.

Your reply is appreciated.

[stevieturbo]

The Holleys are better suited to larger displacement engines, there is a limited selection of small volume Holleys avaliable and if I remember they were based on the weber design. The Edelbrock does seem to work better on the smaller capacity engines.

Holley make a huge range of carbs.

But I'd be buying what locals have used and work well...and there is also support for in terms of parts ( as well as tuning knowledge )

Or just go fuel injection.

[Ian Anderson]

Holley does a 390 and the next size up is 600 cfm.
The 390 would work on a fairly standard 3.5 and be restrictive at higher revs.the 600 is suited to 5.0 and up.

So when you are looking for a 3.9 or 4.6 you are looking for something between the 2 Holley variants and the Weber Edelbrock one at 500 cfm is a better “fit”

Ian

[stevieturbo]

Pretty sure when I had mine I built a hybrid 450 ?

I did use a 600 DP with my turbo setup, but it was troublesome and I figured the 390 would be too small, plus it was only available in vac operated.

I ended up putting together a double pumper 450 from a variety of parts.

TBH, I wouldnt even consider a carb these days, fuel injection is just so much easier and more convenient, especially when tuning.

[Ian Anderson]

That is unless you are forced to have merge slip collectors for the bundle of snakes, and the O2 sensor can sometimes see air drawn in through the merge collector.
PITA in that case!

Ian