JUST READ THE THREAD NEW CARB NEW CAR AND I WOULD LIKE SOME ADVICE.  MY 77 HAS AN ALL ORIGINAL MOTOR--AND I DON'T FEEL LIKE I GET ANY KICK WHEN GET ON IT--NOT TO SAY IT'S SLOW JUST NOT WHAT I EXPECT.  I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE EDELBROCK PARTS CATALOG AND I AM WONDERING HOW MUCH KICK I'LL GET FROM JUST CHANGING THE INTAKE MANIFOLD (EDL # 2101 PERFORMER MODEL) AND THE CARB (EDL # 1405 600 CFM).  HOW MUCH WILL THIS HELP OR DO I NEED TO ,THINK ABOUT THE CAM SHAFT AND HEADS?  ALSO HOW MUCH HELP WOULD A MSD DIST BE AND WHICH ONE WOULD WORK WITH THE REST?  I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY HELP.

I'm quite certain there's a lot more to making it run then just a manifold and carb. You need to work around all the performance robbing features typical of mid 70's Chevys, like exhaust, cat converter, smog, low compression, etc. If your motor is original it's likely getting tired anyway. I'm sure others will chime in here, but have you given any thoughts to a crate motor?

I was having a problem with the Q-Jet not up to par on my '78 L82 so I had it professionally rebuilt and replaced the stock intake with an Edelbrock Performer #2101. I also dispensed with the EGR and its related parts (the AIR pump was gone when I bought the car), and the car runs so much better than before, plus its appearance is much cleaner without the EGR and parts. The carb does sit back slightly further than with the stock intake, so the stock air cleaner touches the distributor shroud slightly.

I don't know if the Edelbrock 600 CFM carb would run any better than the Q-Jet, but it is an excellent carb to use. You will have to modify the linkages and the fuel line for the Edelbrock, plus if you have a/c, you'll need Edelbrock's idle kick-up solenoid as it's proprietary to their carb...the stock GM won't work with it. That's an extra $80 or so for the solenoid and mounting. If you decide to go with the Edelbrock carb, you might want an Edelbrock Performer EPS intake...it's designed specifically for their square-bore carburetors and has somewhat better horsepower and torque numbers. The Permormer #2101 fits both square and spread bore carbs, so it's design is somewhat of a compromise.

With the Edelbrock Performer, it says you need to used their bracket to hook up your cruise control if you have it. Don't bother with that...you can easily modify the stock cruise control bracket.

I did away with the stock exhaust and went with a true dual system without the catalytic converter...the car ran much stronger. Whether it was reduced back pressure or possibly the cat was partially clogged from age and miles I don't know, but I'm happy with the results.

I kept my same HEI distributor but installed a Pertronix module kit including cap and rotor, advance weights and adjustable vacuum advance. That also was made an improvement. MSD makes a similar kit, but I went with Pertronix simply because it was less expensive. If you change the intake you have to pull the distributor anyway, so it's just as easy to replace the distributor if you like. I installed the Pertronix kit sometime after the intake change and really didn't want to pull the distributor again.

I'm quite happy with the way my car runs...excellent. It only has slightly more than 50k miles, so I see no reason to do major engine work to it.

Edelbrock makes excellent stuff. The Performer intake is a good one though other members here have reported excellent results with Holley or Weiand intakes as well.

I had added an Edelbrock 600 cfm carb and Edelbrock Performer intake (forget the exact part numbers) to my remanufactured Jasper engine which was built to the blistering L-48 specs..haha.  At the time I also had a 1" tall air filter element.  Did it give it more kick?  Definitely, and sounded a bit nicer too.  I'm not talking about a ton more kick but it definitely was better off.  And since you're starting off with the L-82, it would definitely be better than what I had.  I had also previously upgraded to true dual exhaust, kept the cats and used Flowmaster 40s.  (Wish I had a picture of my face when I pulled away from the exhaust shop.)  I also decided to see if the 3" K&N filter element would fit under the hood without a drop base assembly and it did, so I used that and I could instantly feel that the motor was getting air easier (unless it was just in my head, but it did feel different).  I think if you want a little more kick without breaking the bank you'd be happy with the Edelbrock carb, performer intake, dual exhaust, and give it some more air!!

If you wanted even more kick though, I would consider a crate motor as mentioned above.  Since your car is mostly original you could pull out the original motor, put it on a stand in the garage, drop in a ZZ4 or something like that.  I think a new ZZ4 (355 hp version) is going for around $3,800 now.  I hear its a really nice motor too.

Richard, I just put a ZZ4 crate engine in my 76. Cant' wait to get it out on the road..Here take a look..Terry..http://www.C3VR.com/member_pages/6601_6700/6665/DSC01965.JPG