66 289 Carb/Head/Intake combo question?

[PuPster28]

Hey Everyone...I am looking for some Carb/Head/Intake advice from people that have had good and bad results with their set-up. I am in the final stages of completing a resto on a 66 convertible. It's actually on the road now but I am getting ready to take it down for the "final" (I use that term loosely because R U every done?) step in my resto. I have done the whole lower-end, chassis, tranny (auto 3 speed w/shift kit), conv top, suspension (Everything) , rims and tires. The last thing I am looking at doing is to get a new Carb, intake manifold and heads. I'll list what I have done to the lower end and would LOVE to get some advice as to what I should do with the 3 items mentioned above. I am a Motocross racer and not very knowledgeable when it comes to car motors, more specifically from the hi-po standpoint. Any advice from anyone that has had dealings with the above mentioned would be greatly appreciated. Here's the stats: 289 bored 30 over--trued & balanced crank--crane cam 280dur 520/515 lift comes to mind, but I lost the card with the info, was told it was a good cam, not wild but not mild--New pistons, rings, rods, bearings and all that good stuff--Hooker Headers, shorties with dual flow masters--Hi-flow oil pump...everything in the whole motor is brand new. I have a set or roller rockers that are ready to go on the new heads. I kept all of the stock components, that's why I don't want to do any machine work to the heads.

*What's the best Carb, intake and heads you would suggest. Money is not really an option, however, I don't want to kill my wallet either
*Any advice on any other bolt on performance options: Ignition, windage tray, wide gap distributor cap....etc
*currently I have the stock heads with a borrowed 600 CFM holly Braswell SP?(does that mean anything to anyone?) and a stock 4bbl intake. Can the stock-style fuel pump keep up with what I've done. Should it be running a certain Pressure from a fuel perspective?

I will be sure to read each and everyone's response as I am really looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.

Thanks for your time...Much appreciation!!
PuPster,
Ft. Lauderale

[hobgoblin351]

sounds like you've got a good combo going there.What compression are you running? Off hte top of my head, that cam is 280* advertised, probably running around 220*-230* at .050 As far as heads go there are alot of new castings that will flow much better than the stock old ones. TFS and Edelbrock come to mind. Nice big valves, and can handle roller rockers. Intake, check out the good old Edelbrock Performer, but it might not flow up at the high end. Try the Weiand Stealth, it'll go up to the 6500/7000 rpm range. It is a 289 so you probably wont need a carb bigger than a 650. Try the one you've got and see how it runs. Bolt it together with ARP just to be sure. A windage tray will give you a few more ponies in the high RPM range. If you plan on running up there look into a main stud brace. It will keep you rock solid, but you'll have to use different main bolts, meaning tearing down the short block and retorqueing the mains. Good luck

[rbohm]

the cam you have is probably a bit big, but quite useable. for heads i would recomend the windsor jr heads, less expensive than the tfs or edelbrock ones, and the larger than stock but slightly smaller than other aftermarket head, ports will keep intake velocity up, with out restricting flow. intake, i agree the weiand stealth is a good one. for a carb i would use either a 575 road demon, or a 600 edelbrock, or even a 600 holley. stick with vacuum secondaries. try to keep your fuel pressure around 3-5 psi as you really dont need any more than that. for an ignition system you can go with either the davis unified ignition or the msd drop in system. the dui system is custom built for you by performance distributors. you call them and tell them your combination and build and curve the dist for you. a cool thing is it is a one wire hook up, and you can replace the igntion modules at any parts store as they are gom style modules. the msd is a billet dist with a three wire hook up. it can be used as a stand alone system, or in conjunction with the msd 6a. braswell is one of the best holley builders around. that is one good carb you have there. if you can use it.

[PuPster28]

Thanks a million for your posts hobgoblin & rbohm...great information, just what I was hoping for. As far as the compression is concerned, we checked it when we completed the motor but I don't recal what the number was. I will try to get that information and post it in the next day or so. Not sure if I will be able to keep the braswell...any idea where I can get information on the road demon? Anyone else with a carb/head/intake combo idea...I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks again!!

[Dark Knight]

if it's a braswell carb, KEEP IT!! he does some good work.. alot of NASCAR stuff.. he did the 660's on my 289..

http://braswell.com/

a set of AFR 165's with a stealth and that carb would scream..
I'm running afr's,a port matched performer on my 84 with a holley 600 and it pulls to 6k before the power drops off... with the stock cam and 1.7 rockers...

oh yeah, you might want to go with a high volume fuel pump too..holley or carter.. and a good coil.. like and MSD blaster 2..

[71grande]

Barry Grant..... I have the Road Demon JR. (wife talked me into saving money...) Nice carb. Easy to set up. Easy to tune. the oly problemI had was the vac secondaries wouldnt open untill about 4500. I dropped in a Holly yello short spring and it opens up now about 10 secs after I go WOT.

Any way, good luck with whatever you get.

Mike

[PuPster28]

Thanks Grande and Darknight...especially for the link!! Wow...braswell is getting good money for those carbs. My friend said I could have that carb for $400, so maybe that's not such a bad deal....but tuning that thing, it's a pain in the *** getting the right mains with all of the air-bleads on the top dialed in correctly. I'm seeing mech VS vac secondaries....which is the best way to go?? Not sure what you meant by 'afr 165' ...where those the heads? It appears that the weiand stealth intake is the way to go...your like the second or third person to recommend that.

Thanks for your input!!!

[rbohm]

for the street you want vacuum secondaries they are more efficient. afr 165 stands for Air Flow Research with intake runners of 165cc. you should be able to pick up a set from jegs or summit racing. the weiand stealth is an excelent intake for the street and bracket racing. it has a rpm range of idle to 6500 rpm which is wider than either the edelbrock performer or performer rpm. as for the carb, pony up the $400 for the carb you wont regret it.

[Dark Knight]

DONT go with jegs or summit for AFR heads.. to much $$$..
try http://adperformance.com/

for info, got to http://www.airflowresearch.com/

[Dark Knight]

BTW, once you get everything setup, you could probably e-mail braswell's tech suport ... they could probably reccomend a good baseline setup based on cam/heads/intake/altitude etc for the carb...

[PuPster28]

Thanks DK and Rbohn...props for the links as well!! My friend is wavering on me about the carb...now he's not sure if he want's to let it go. If I can't keep the braswell, which would be the next carb in line from that from a performance standpoint...demon, holly, edle or something else?? Thanks for the AFR info, not sure if i'm willing to spend $1,300 beans on those heads...is it really worth it? What would be the next level below AFR....good to high perf at a moderate price...lets say under 1,000...and if I didn't go with the AFR's, would I really notice that much of a difference? You guys are really helping me out...can't thank you enough!!

[rbohm]

you can get windsor jr's, 1.94in/1.60ex and 171cc intake runners, ready to bolt on for $300 ea from jegs and summit.

[PuPster28]

Thanks Rbohn...before you had said edle,holly or demon for a carb. Any preference if I can't land the braswell deal...is the road demon any better than lets say the holly street avenger? Thanks!

[rbohm]

at this point my preference would be either the 525 road demon or the 500 edelbrock. both are good carbs.

[PuPster28]

Thanks rbohm...I'll keep that in mind when I make my final decision! Anyone else with their 2-cents, feel free to chime in on head or carb! If not, I really appreciate everyone's help!!!!

[Dark Knight]

with the better flowing heads and the cam.. I'd go a little bigger..650-700... maybe the 670 street avenger...

[PuPster28]

Thanks DK...you like the Avenger over the demon? Do you know of/or has anyone had any kind of bad luck and/or good luck with the demon. I don't know anyone that has a demon, (except 71gande) so from a quality and performace perspective, I was leaning towards the avenger as well (at this point I am really not into the edle). Thoughts? Thanks guys!

[Dark Knight]

I have a friend that has a race demon... likes it alot..
both are basically the same thing... either one would work good..
for a street car, I like the vac. secondary ones myself...

[PuPster28]

Thanks DK...appreciate you trying to get me up to speed on everything!! If anyone else has $0.02 feel free to post your thoughts...I'll keep checking on this topic. If not, Thanks to everyone that replied!!