Topic: Edelbrock Carb
in Forum: C3 Engines
Lifetime MemberRacing and street performance are two different things. And each design has it's advantages.
For any street application I perfer the Q-jet. For racing on a drag strip or track, I would perfer the Holley.
Racing applications do not worry as much as part throttle opening response.
The Holley has 4 bores the same size. The Q-jet has much smaller primaries. Any carb is most efficient at wide open. Granted this changes when you apply acceleration enrichment. (power valve or similar) The smaller primarys are open more, and therfore more efficient at light throttle applications. This is where most street cars are driven. So throttle response is better from a light opening with smaller primarys. Off the line at less than wide open, or from say 15 or 20 mph, even 45 or 50 mph, immediate response is better when rapid change is used. They also give better fuel mileage in this range, and during highway crusing as long as the secondaries are not open.
The 4 even openings on the Holley are better for an equal control throught out the full opening range. The Q-jet requires more throttle for the same total flow, until the secondaries start to open, the respond quicker. The Holley is more even response through out the total range, with more even throttle for the volume delivered. This is very nice for the track, with a lot of control variations demanded by the driver. At the drag strip only wide open matters, and either can perform evenly. But the you can do jet changes faster with a Holley. So it's easier to change based on temp, air, and track conditions. This works well for racers makeing many changes looking for another .01 second. That's just not pratical or necessary for a street car. No matter how wicked it is.
One more thing. The uneven holes on the Q-jet means a slight difference fuel deliverly to the cylinders at wide open. The even holes on the Holley eliminate this, and the deliverly is more equal, and therefore slightly more even cylinder power. Keep in mind this difference is quite small. You will never feel it on a street car. But again on a track where .01 second matters, it can help.
The Demon carb is basically a hole fuel dumps into. While fantastic for a drag racer, getting part throttle response or idle quality is a joke. Fantastic for flat out bang, but terrible on the street.
So is the Holley the "Race Carb"? perhaps so. No arguement from me. But even with a Big Block street terror machine, I would still perfer the Qudra-Jet.
Q-jets have some tricks to setting them up. They can be a little trickier than some other carbs. But for anyone who knows what they are doing, the are fairly easy to adjust. The "Qudra-Bog" name came from folks who don't know how to adjust them. And they hold their adjustments well, just as good, and perhaps better than others.
so then perhaps fuel economy will show up ! 
I have few performance goodies on mine as well. Nothing radical, but not stock.
If you are always running the car hard, the Holley is fine. It's okay even if you are not. There is nothing wrong with a Holley on a street car. But the benefits go to the Q-jet on the street. Now if you treat the street like a track, that may be another story. Just watch out for the locally sponsored cars with those colorfull lights on top!
[/QUOTE] #1. Mine is an L46, like your Lt1 hood. What's a BB hood? (no laughing!)[/QUOTE]
BB hood = big block hood ,,, gives a couple more inches clearance. Or you can move up to an L-88 style aftermarket hood. With that you can fit a larger intake manifold to go along with the edelbrock carb.
On those drop based air filters, some bases dont clear the choke mechinism. Edelbrock makes one that should fit (choke). but it doesn't look to deep (base drop). So use a shorter air filter & maybe one of those k&n airfilter tops. You'll probably have to saw off some of the aircleaner stud so it wont poke a hole in original hood