Stock '69 318, t-quad vs q-jet vs holley vs edelbrock?
there's a 360 in a dodge van at the sun valley pick your part. stock 4bbl intake with a TQ on top and it even has electronic ignition. swipe all that and you've got some good building blocks for cheap.
however, a 360 manifold is going to have larger ports leading to a mismatch at the head. stick with the 318 stocker (they're out there) or port your heads to match.
that punch up from 30 to 80 is where you're really going to want a cam and some gears. but a 4bbl manifold and a carb even with the 2bbl cam in there is a worth while upgrade.
Diplomat cop cars had 360 intakes on 318's. Not a big deal.
I'm not familiar with the AFB metering rod swaps on TQ's. Sounds interesting. I have a shitpile of TQ's for metering rods and jets if I ever need them, plus I have an original Carter Strip Kit for them.
Nice thing on the TQ, and Q-jets is the air valve secondaries is properly adjusted they will only deliver what the engine demands of it. I am sure that is true of the Thunder series Edelbrocks. They are a basic copy of the Carter AVS (air valve secondaries)
I have ran TQ's and a Mopar factory Q-jet on my van as an everyday driver work horse on a 360 RV cam 2200 stall converter. The Q-jet had a slight advantage in mileage, and off idle acceleration to a point. Any old Carter or Q will need the primary throttle shaft bore bushed to take care of the slop/vacuum leak. This includes rebuilt ones from parts stores.
Print out a copy of the Vaanth TQ list. "Federal" spec 318 truck carbs are probably your best bet. Not a big deal if you can't locate one. However my bet is any TQ you drop on will be tuneable without metering rod swaps. Finding someone that knows how to work on them might be tough. If you want a big challenge and like aggravation go for it. If not a Eddie AVS clone is expensive but worth it. I got my brother to put one on his bone stock 302 in his '56 F100. He's happy with it.
The basic Eddie performer will give up power VS a stock iron intake.
Getting an extra set of heads and doing a very basic home port job/chamber cleanup and polish would be a good thing. Opening up the intake ports to the gasket size will create a mild anti-reversion effect if you don't touch the intake.
The less gizmos on the TQ's the better.
