Stock 360 build - What carb?

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Daniel Pickar

Daniel Pickar

WYDuster
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Jun 13, 2018
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Wyoming
I'm rebuilding a LA 360 out of 1991 Dodge Van to put in my Duster. A buddy gave me an Edelbrock Performer intake so now I need to decide on a carb. I want a little more power than the stock 2 barrel will provide I'm looking at 4 barrels. I have 276 gears in the back and plan on running this car as a daily driver so drivability and gas mileage is more important than the drag strip. I was looking at the Edelbrock 600 cfm Performer carb 1405 as a go to. Anything better out there? Thanks for the advice!
 
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Better?!?! LMAO!

The reason I type the above is basically due to driver choice in carb style/manufacturer. The important thing is :

1: You select the right size carb for what your doing.

And IMO, you nailed it at 600cfm’s.
Been there done that many times.

2: There is nothing wrong with any style carb you use BUT you have to tune it. Everybody has a favorite carb they can tune.

Oh! Also, there is NO PERFORMANCE GAIN with a manual choke.
An electric choke just makes life a little easier.
I happen to like the Carter/Edelbrock carbs a lot.
 
Daniel Pickar said:
I'm rebuilding a LA 360 out of 1991 Dodge Van to put in my Duster. A buddy gave me an Edelbrock Performer intake so now I need to decide on a carb. I want a little more power than the stock 2 barrel will provide I'm looking at 4 barrels. I have 276 gears in the back and plan on running this car as a daily driver so drivability and gas mileage is more important than the drag strip. I was looking at the Edelbrock 600 cfm Performer carb 1405 as a go to. Anything better out there? Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

I like the Holley 80457, it's the 600 vacuum secondary with electric choke calibrated for a late 60's engine and is very reasonably priced....

Holley 4160 Aluminum Street Carburetor

and use this gasket to help keep the heat from boiling the fuel...

Edelbrock Heat Insulator Gasket
 
There ya go! Option number two! And it has been a go to Holley carb for many years. Not a danm thing wrong with ether one.

There are “other players” in the market.
Just keep the cfm amount at 650 and down and it will be fine. Easy to tune. The carb will have good throttle response and deliver favorable mileage.

Focus on the state of tune in the carb and
Ignition and you will do well.
 
Thanks for the great responses guys, I am a newb at this so I appreciate the insight. I believe the choke on my Duster's 318 thats in the car is manual. Is there a process to convert it to electric?
 
I doubt that it is a manual choke if it is stock.

To use an electric choke, you just need to run 1 wire and splice into a wire that is turned on & off by the key. The ground wire is supplied in the Edelbrock kit. I also think it comes with the positive wire, but how much there is I am not sure. It’s been a while.
LOL
It is VERY ez to do.
 
Yes on both accounts for the gasket though if your going to use the car in the cold, DONT block the heat crossover.
It’ll take the car a long time to warm up and when it gets really cold (winter) the choke won’t warm up.
 
I can’t tell you how valuable that gasket is.
Ma MoPar used a thick gasket as stock on there carbs. The aftermarket gives you a paper thick gasket. There about 1/16 thick vs the stock thickness of about 1/3.

Aluminum carbs heat up and boil away the fuel. Sometimes even running engines suffer from to much heat and the fuel starts to boil in the carb as soon as it gets there. This makes the engine run very lean. And tuning a royal pain because it keeps you guessing.
 
Daniel Pickar said:
Thanks for the great responses guys, I am a newb at this so I appreciate the insight. I believe the choke on my Duster's 318 thats in the car is manual. Is there a process to convert it to electric?
Click to expand...

To convert it to electric is easy... Just run a wire from a 12 volt source that's keyed on with the ignition...

I like to run a piggyback flat terminal to the input side of the ballast resistor on the two prong ballast... To find out which one it is, just disconnect both wires from the ballast resistor and then turn the key to the "on" position, then probe each wire with a test light... Whichever one makes the light go on is the input - use that one... The piggyback will allow you to stack flat terminals together and then connect the stock wire to the same side also... Then if you ever decide to remove it, you just take it off and reconnect the stock wire as it was....

Then just don't hook up the manual choke cable...

When adjusted correctly with the electric choke, it will start up and run fine cold... I ran this carb on my daily driver in the winter (0° - 32° F typically) and when adjusted properly will start up fine when cold and after the oil pressure comes up put it in gear and drive away with no stumbles.... No need to let it run for a few minutes to warm up...

Don't hook up the positive choke wire to the coil positive - it is not 12 volts and won't work right...
 
Between Carl and myself, I hope we pass the audition!

Oh! Welcome aboard!
 
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