New Carb?
 

My van is running like crap, on the weekend me and my Dad checked the plug wires, plugs, cap and rotor, and they are all fine. Also check fuel filters, air filter, so my dad thinks its the carb, it was rebuilt 6 years ago, and this van has a lot of miles on it, the carb is a Holly 650 signal pump.

So im going to a garage on firday to see if these guy smight know whats wrong. But if I need a new carb what type should I get?

Its for a 5.7 liter 350 chevy small block.

The only thing is its the old style one, the choke is manual, I want a new carb.
I will check hoses....THANKS MAN!

Yup check for vacuum leaks. If not rebuild the original carb. Or just get a nice new aftermarket carb which is around $230 in price range.

Well all the vac lines are only a year old and there are no cracks. I was thinking maybe one could be plugged?


Where would be a good place to get a after market carb??

Just a hint, spray around the base of the carb, intake, hoses, etc with starter fluid or carb spray. If you here the idle pick up, you found your vaccum leak. If you're a smoker, you could also exhale and keep an eye on the smoke.

Aside from the typical holley, you could also get one of the Edelbrock carbs. I bought a 750 Edelbrock VS with electric choke and love it. Very easy to tune and set up, and was about on par cost wise with a Holley 600cfm that came on a 350 that was in my wagon when I bought it. That thing was and still is the biggest piece of crap I've EVER used. The choke was horrible, idle was ridiculously high, and the tolerances were so bad that the throttle arm would never return completely unless you forcibly pushed against it.

Can't find em much cheaper than through Summit.

Ok for a carb I would recommend an edelbrock performer. 600cfm would probably be the size that would work the best for you. Also since you have a manual choke already get the model 1405. Any checker or napa autoparts can get those carbs for you for a decent price (about as cheap as a catalog). I just love my edelbrock carb I just put on my mustang......easy to tune and no bs. Holley's are nice but they are a bitch to tune but you can crank out some hp with them. But like I said, if you want a carb with less hassles and decent hp go with an edelbrock. You might have to buy some throttle linkage and kickdown linkage adapter but they are easily worth the money.....

Well I'm going to the shop on friday to see if it is the carb. If it is I'm going to get a after market one put on. But if it is a valve its going to cost some money to have it fixed.


P.S. is the electric chock easy to hook up?

You never said what year your van was. Since it has a manual choke, im going to assume it is exepmt from emissions testing (i dont know what the rules are up there in canada). That being the case, get yourself a nice Edelbrock 600 performer carb. Thats what i run in my truck and in 3 years i have never had to tune it (except for minor idle adjustment).

one of the things I learned from my days in the parts biz is that 90% of the time people (ie NOT mechanics) think a carb is bad, it is something else. now, Im not saying your carb is not bad, it just might need an adjustment/tuning/cleaning. or, as others have said, a vacuum leak could be the culprit. or bad gas/water in the gas, clogged air filter, etc, etc.

but, if your carb does end up needing replacement, remember this: stick with whatever cfm (cubic feet per minute) of gas flow as was stock on the engine. going from say, 600 cfm to 750 cfm, in and of itself will NOT give you more power. in fact, it is likely to make things worse, by flowing too much gas and flooding the engine. you should only increase carb flow IF you have beefed up the engine so as to require more gas.

good luck.


btw, both Holley and Edelbrock make good quality aftermarket carbs.

The van is a 82, but the engine was put in after like 8 or so years


I think the eninge is a 88.

Hmm, well the reason i asked was because of possible emmissions limitations that you might have on the vehicle. For example, here in california, your van would be required to pass an emmissions test and it would be illegal to use any old aftermarket carb (i.e. the edelbrock performer 600).
However, Edelbrock does make an emmissions legal 600 as well as a direct replacement 750 cfm quadrajet so you cold look into those as well.
good luck!

Well in Ontario any over 20 years old doesn't need to go. So I can use any carb I want.


I take the Van to my local garage on Wednesday to see what wrong with it.

well, it looks like youre in the clear then!
I have a 350 in my truck and the edelbrock 600 gives it plenty of power.

Nice now all I need to find out is if its the carb.:rolleyes:

Well I got it fixed but its not the carb, it was a vac advance, but it also needs a camshaft:(

"Well I got it fixed but its not the carb, it was a vac advance"




trying not to break my arm patting myself on the back. lol

LMAO