Any 12 second combos with 3.23s?

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I took it as if he was saying that you can throw a 200 hp nitrous can at a junkyard motor
and hit 12's. No knowledge, no skill, not much time, thought, or money.
You don't have to school me on nitrous. We installed many systems and used to keep a
54 lb. bottle in our motorcycle dealership at all times. I'm not a rookie and I know what
it can do. I used to keep a "Sneaky Pete" in my toolbox but I never used the stuff.
 
You don't have to school me on nitrous. We installed many systems and used to keep a
54 lb. bottle in our motorcycle dealership at all times. I'm not a rookie and I know what
it can do. I used to keep a "Sneaky Pete" in my toolbox but I never used the stuff.
Not schooling ya, just agreeing with ya. I was actually responding to flyfish
 
Back to the Holley vs thermoquad. Anyone have actual experience with switching these carbs?

No nitrous is not an option for me...
 
I think on carb's it is the old saying and my experience. The track is going to be the gauge. I would go for best mph.
I have always preferred Holley over TQ. I think it is a lot easier to tune and the parts to adjust them are a lot more accessible.
 
Back to the Holley vs thermoquad. Anyone have actual experience with switching these carbs?

No nitrous is not an option for me...
Yep! The thermoquad on a spread bore intake works extremely well (Weiand action plus or the factory cast iron intake). Here is the catch: The TQ is much harder to "tweak" in, and jet properly. I actually filed down the metering rods to richen it up. There is many adjustments on the TQ, and the back "flap" on top of the secondaries is at the top of the list. However, I've seen the TQ on a cast intake go high 10's on a 340. The Holley works very well also. The Holley is much easier to tune. But if the Holley is going to run with a properly tuned TQ, it must have dual feed and dual metering bodies. I personally like the double pumpers when is comes to all out performance. In the end, both carbs can and will perform very well.
 
One of my most successful street cars was a '74 Cuda. I ran 275/60/15 Dunlop Qualifiers, 3.23s with a Sure Grip, factory springs, factory shocks, and the snubber. Had the 4sp, Centerforce II clutch. Engine was a '68 340 longblock (stock) with a Crane hydraulic, '71 Thermoquad intake and carb, small tube headers, and 175hp plate. That car would hook like no radial car of the time (late 80s). Hold it at 3200, slide my foot sideways off the clutch, and Bang - off it went. Wihtout the notrous it was a low13s car but would get out on most anything that didn't have slicks. I used the bottle in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Car would go 12.60s that way. I also destroyed 3 driveshafts, many Ujoints, ripped the center out of a clutch disc, broke engine mounts, dimpled the hood (up), cracked the floor pan around the driver's seat mounts, and cracked the A pillar seam on the driver's side. That driveline in an A body would be high 12s easy - BUT YOU HAVE TO GET IT TO STICK WHEN YOU LAUNCH. Science out the rear suspension, with a big eye on shocks on all 4 corners, and get some wrinkle wall slicks (that will help the damage).

edit - that car beat everything I raced it against until a drunk kid hit me and totalled it. 383s, 440s, autos, manuals, big block chevies - anything. Some were closer tahn a car length but I never ran them down - I always jumped out on them.
 
Back to the Holley vs thermoquad. Anyone have actual experience with switching these carbs?

Yea, here here. I've gone both ways. TQ to Holley and Holley to TQ.
If your asking my opinion, before I give it, no matter what carb YOU choose, learn the carb!

I like the TQ better. More flexable and forgiving than a Holley.
While there are less parts to modify, adjust, tune and tweak than a Holley, (there draw back as well as available parts that can be hard or impossible to find) once it is set up correctly and the carb itself is a good & early one, IMO, *I think* you'll like it better/best.

The things I like best about the TQ are;

Being a spreadbore carb, small high velocity primaries. This makes driving around a greater pleasure. Very good throttle response, better for driving around town. Possible for more mileage.

The secondaries are huge for biggest performance gains possible.
The butterflies are mechanical in nature but the spring loaded air velocity door above it helps control when the effect of the open barrels come in. More tention equals later opening and more smoothly. Weaker spring load allows it to come in sooner and more violently.

They can be mildly modified easy enough. Heavily modified TQ pros are out there.
They are capable.

There draw backs as mentioned above are what keep most people out of them.
Tuning parts, race parts, replacement parts can be hard to locate.
Also, the only models that have an electric choke are the smaller 800's. On the smaller 800 carbs, the primary size is reduced. You can feel the differance on larger mills or more powerful mills.

If you decide to use a TQ, just make sure you use a thick base, carb to intake gasket to keep heat away.
 
Back when I was in college, my Barracuda was my daily driver with a mild 318, 360 heads, 650dp, and a "RV cam". The car was 3275 lbs, had a 727 and 3.23 gears. At Bandimere Speedway in Colorado (5800') the car ran 16.5-16.8 in the 1/4, the density altitude was usually 9000+ feet like it always is in the summer. I put a nitrous kit on the car and hit it with a 150 shot somewhere after the 60' mark, because with my stock converter it took a while to get the car above 3000 RPM (I only turned on the juice above 3000 RPM). The car ran 13.9 on the bottle....to give you a better idea for those that don't live at high altitude, at that time the new Covettes ran ~ 14.5 and new Vipers ran ~ 13.6....If I had just put a decent converter in the car with some sticky tires it would have been in the 12's easy...and that's at high altitude :D. Trap speeds were 105-108 mph for this combo most of the time.
 
You could also switch to an overdrive trans and run more gear like 4.10s. I built a 440 Duster and made the leap of installing an A-518 overdrive. Go to my picture gallery and see the work involved. I have 4.57 rear gears and with the .69 O/D ratio it makes the final drive 3.15. The car is an animal around town and drives very nice on the highway also. Check my videos on my YouTube channel Doosterfy.
 
You could also switch to an overdrive trans and run more gear like 4.10s. I built a 440 Duster and made the leap of installing an A-518 overdrive. Go to my picture gallery and see the work involved. I have 4.57 rear gears and with the .69 O/D ratio it makes the final drive 3.15. The car is an animal around town and drives very nice on the highway also. Check my videos on my YouTube channel Doosterfy.

I forgot to mention it runs 11s with a best of 11.68@114 and its very streetable.
 
i went 12.9's a few weeks back with 3.23's open gear.
 
Wow...this is a blast from the past thread resurrection....Looks like I really pissed off some folks 7 years ago by mentioning the word "nitrous" lol. Man how time flies...
 
to go 103 with 80" tires, say at 5500, requires an overall gear ratio of 4.045. If you have 3.23s in the back then you would need; 4.045/3.23=1.25 ratio in the trans, which Mopar does not have. The closest is a 1.40 in Third gear,, in the regular box, making 103=6150 rpm. With the stock 340, this is waaaay off the powerband. But in direct-Fourth, the rpm drops to 4400 (with 80s), way too low for a good ET.
With 84" tires, the rpm comes down to 5850 in Third/ 4180 in Fourth, still wrong for the stocker.

But be of good cheer, to trap at 5400 with the stock cam would take 2.94s in Third gear or 4.10s to trap in Fourth...... and you are not likely to run either for very long.

103 is actually pretty good for your combo.
 
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