Fuel System
Hot rodders are a picky lot; some want their rides to look as if they stepped out of a time warp, but they also want them to be equipped with the latest of mechanical improvements. Disc brakes, power steering, air conditioning and even full surround-sound stereos and videos are the norm. So it should come as no surprise that the benefits of electronic fuel injection have been fully embraced by those who drive vintage trucks. But with notable exceptions, the look of the fuel injections systems was mostly unpleasing to the eye.
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The showroom is what every auto parts store dreams of being: diced in checkerboard black and yellow tile with a heap of pegboard. Up front, the sales counter is the hub of business, fueled by eager customers that keep the phone ringing off the hook. Bob, Sam and Robin deal one-on-one with customers, keeping all 50 states Moon-equipped.
There are many reasons why the icon cars have achieved the lofty status they now enjoy, but one of the more obvious reasons is the simple fact that they were finished. Their existence and subsequent high-level exposure have inspired many a young lad to undertake similar projects, and for every famous car built in the early years, probably two others were started in an attempt to either copy or outdo it, but they never saw the light of day.
While the factory cast-iron four-barrel Q-Jet intake manifolds have performed admirably on literally thousands of GM applications—and if you are picking your engine from a used lot to use in a swap, it will likely be so equipped—every last one of them should be torn off the car and thrown in the dumpster.
Okay, okay! After listening to oh so many of you, we are providing information you have been requesting, and perhaps searching for, for some time. That information is carburetor data, information that we used to take for granted but that has become more and more difficult to find of late. It seems that much of this data for numerous models and years has somehow slipped through the cracks. This could be mostly due to the age of the information, plus the fact that many of those applications are more rare today. We suppose there are numerous other reasons as to why this information has virtually dried up, so we present a basic listing here for the correct carburetor number for the respective engine application.
When it comes to performance, the devil really is in the details. Ever wonder why one engine makes more power than another, when both are seemingly identical? The answer to this very common performance question lies in the attention to detail. Basic performance elements such as engine tuning, spark timing curves, and, yes, even oil selection all come into play when you attempt to extract the maximum amount of power from your existing combination.
What makes more power: carburetors or computers? While the ultimate answer is that a sophisticated electronic fuel-injection system will virtually always outpower a carburetor, the real question may be whether the power gains are worth the extra expense and complexity of installing an EFI system.
With tech and how-tos that might benefit you for both street and/or strip application. Sometimes those elements are major, other times they are far less significant, but nonetheless helpful. We also pay particular attention to things that are of interest, up to and including the reasons why an owner did not win at a car show. There are 55 photos here, each with a bit of info. Many may pay dividends for you sometime in the future, so sit back, learn, laugh and enjoy.