Holley or Edelbrock?

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Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby my79monza » Sun Aug 18, 2013 12:29 am

The ZZ4 is in, getting ready for the 2004R so the next high dollar item is the carb.
Choices are either a 600 Edelbrock or a 750 Holley.
The 750 is what comes with a turn key ZZ4 but I've heard that a 600 is all that's really needed for this engine.
I just want whatever works best without a bunch of screwing around,
Thoughts?

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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby cjbiagi » Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:22 am

I have had a Carter AFB for many years and recently switched to the Edelbrock version (basically same carb). I have been very happy with both. One thing to maybe consider is height, as hood clearance can be an issue. I don't know if they are the same height or not.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby gerbsinmd » Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:24 am

I really like the Edelbrock I have in my car, super easy to tune. The gasket is on the top of the carb, so no leaking gaskets when changing jets and fine tuning.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby T-FATTY » Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:04 am

Holley and stick with the 750, it's on there for a reason. Just my .02 cents, your combo it going to be a fun ride. I want to do the same [200r4 and 3:73 gears] great all around combo. I had a '86 Monte Carlo SS with a mild 355 and the stock 200r4 and 3:73 gears and the thing plain moved for such a simple combo. It was great around town and on the highway with the overdrive.

Looking forward to your results/opinon after you get it together.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby chevyart » Sun Aug 18, 2013 2:08 pm

im a holley guy, but for a nice street car like yours, i would go with the edelbrock(with electric choke if in cold climates).they probably make the edelbrocks in 600, 650, and probably into the 700 cfms(if needed). your motor probably will never see above 6000 rpms, so the 6oo cfm should be perfect for your combo. art
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby marco_1978_spyder » Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:45 pm

Merle, you mentioned easy, so go with an edelbrock. YouTube bids make it easy to tune right.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby dadhad1 » Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:43 pm

Not to throw a 3rd option at you, but I'll do it anyway...
I'm a big fan of Quick Fuels.
I've had them on a few cars, including the Vega.
Awesome carb for the money, reliable, easy to tune, and great Tech Service dept.
They are a big time knock off of the Holley (like the Demons).

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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby chevyart » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:54 am

im a holley guy, but i always call the quick fuel guys for tech info on my holley carb. art
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby cosvega76 » Mon Aug 19, 2013 9:54 am

What cam is in that ZZ4? In my experience Edelbrocks don't like cams with a lot of overlap, or at least I'm not familiar with the passages that need massaging to help it out.

I have a pretty mild cam in mine and just switched from a 600 DP Holley to an Edelbrock 650 Thunder Series. I'm very happy with the switch.


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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby spencerforhire » Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:13 am

If fuel mileage is a major concern, the 600 would be the obvious choice. Edelbrock(Carter AFB to us old guys) carbs in general are also simpler to deal with on the street; no leaking bowl and metering plate gaskets! If performance is your #1 priority, the car would probably make more power with the 750 Holley, but it probably is a bit big. On ther dragstrip, there's really no such thing as "too much carb", but on the street it's no fun. A bigger Edelbrock or a smaller Holley might be a better choice either way.
Just to muddy the waters, if it were mine I'd even consider a Quadrajet!
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby Monza Harry » Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:26 pm

spencerforhire wrote "if it were mine I'd even consider a Quadrajet!" I have always loved the "Quadrajet" if only for the sound and when they are right, my experience is "Set It and Forget It" I want to drive my car not adjust my "put other carb here". I will probably pay to have it set up just to make sure that my lucky Qjet experience continues (plus fuel mileage is where it will out shine the others hands down!) Harry
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby Bullet » Mon Aug 19, 2013 9:39 pm

Edelbrocks are tuning friendly, if you know Holleys and want to go that route, I'd go with the recommended 750. Also be aware there are different models in the Edelbrock, one tuned from factory for mileage and one factory tuned for performance. I put a 500cfm elec. choke Edelbrock on the 4.3 in my 85 GMC van, turns out it was calibrated from factory for two fours application and it sucked the gas so I bought the tuning kit and tamed it down. It's a switch on, one pump, and running carb and has been for two years without issue summer and winter. If you buy the Edelbrock, go ahead and spring for the right tuning kit and a few extra top gaskets. The tuning kit has a guide that makes it super easy to get as right as you can without an O2 sensor and computer. Given all that, make mine Quadrajet, of course to get the most out of one, you also need to know how to tune and modify them. I highly recommend the book by Doug Roe. I have run Quads exclusively on my hot rods for a long time and once you get an understanding of them, you can build them to feed anything from the stock Vega 140 to a screaming solid cammed big block. Wonderful bit of engineering in those carbs.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby ROB » Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:32 pm

How about the Edelbrock 1806. Its 650cfm and calibrated for performance, where as the 1406 is 600cfm and calibrated for economy.

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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby Bullet » Tue Aug 20, 2013 4:26 pm

That's the performance version, here's the thing and I'm sure I'm about to stir the pot, I know all the literature about sizing carbs and how you can run a motor like the ZZ4 just fine on 600cfm's, if it were me, I'd pony up to the 1411 750cfm with electric choke factory set for mileage and performance. You can always tune it down if you need to but if you need more air, the 600 will never go beyond full saturation of 600cfm's of air. The ZZ4 is a strong motor and can flow the volume of the 750 easily. If it isn't breathing well, that means you have to apply more throttle to get the same results so it is quite possible it will use more fuel than the 750. In the mid 80's, Chevy went to a 800cfm Quad on their 305's because it got better mileage than the 750. They have a whole team of engineers up there with a lot more smarts than me so if bigger is better, more tunable anyway, I'll have to give a nod toward size over all the formulas found in magazines and such. Every time I hear how Hot Rod dynoed a 383 stroker with a 600 and it fed it perfectly fine, I always wonder how quickly it revved and would a strong 350 smoke it light to light with a larger carb. If you should decide you want it a little hotter, the hot cam kit from GM is supposed to add 30 hp to the ZZ4, already having a carb that can handle it would save some bucks too. Anyway, that's my 2, cudos to Edelbrock on their carbs for sure, they do work well and I don't think you will go wrong with the 600, I just think you may be a little happier with the 750.
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Re: Holley or Edelbrock?

Postby megavega » Wed Aug 21, 2013 10:51 am

One thing about the carbs mentioned here is they are vac. sec. carbs so,really its hard to over carb a engine with one, because the engine only opens the secondaries as much as it needs. if you ran say for example a 750 vac sec. carb on a 305, the engine more then likely will never be able to flow 750cfm, therefore the rear secondaries would never fully open because the engine will only pull them open as much as it can take.
Its going to run good with a 600cfm carb, snappy engine response because the primarys are smaller, and increase the speed in which the air enters the engine, it will work fine in a street car thats street driven.. no doubt. A 750 will also work just fine in street driving, its just it will provide more topend hp output,because it can flow more air if the engine requires it. There would be a small bit of low speed differance in the 2 carb sizes due to the differance in the primary butterfly sizes, but would be hardly noticeable and likely easily tuned out if wanted, you can change the metering rods and jetting to accomodate the engines set up , which needs to be done anyways as no 2 engines are the same and they dont require/need the same carb specs. I will leave the actual carb tuning out of this for now as it will just muddy up the water.

A mechanical sec. carb will show you a over carburation mistake quite clearly as youll just get served with a bog or the engine will lay down from too much air introduced too early from the mechanical linkage operating the rear secondaries,and not the engine load pulling the sec. open. You can tune out a bit of it with squirter size and such but never get rid of it and make it run like it should.

the mention of a quadrajet is not a bad one either, the reason they were used for so long by GM is they provided excellant engine response and lower speed fuel economy. The very small primarys providfed fast engine response and great low speed around town fuel economy from the small butterflys. The large vac.secondaries provided good topend power out put, it was kinda like running around with a small 2 barrel engine,but also having a great topend output.

so after that, it basicly boils down to what and how your going to use your zz4 engine, mild street cruising only,daily transportation, your likely better off to the smaller sized 600-650cfm carb and tune it in to the engines needs as far as jetting and such. If your a weekend warrior/hot rodder type with cruising the car, a occasional street race from light to light, trip to the strip for fun, whatever, you might be better off with a larger carb for the better peak hp output, it again will need tailored to your engines needs,jetting,metering rods if edelbrock,etc..
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