intake question

[turbinesurgeon]

Ive just got a 79 mercury from a relative that has a 302 ford replaced about a year ago.The tranny is dead and my uncle just got fed up and bought a new car. It runs excellent but it has a variable venturi carb. Ive never seen one of these.Is this thing computer contolled? Anyway I want to put the motor into my 66 Mustang for a daily driver. I looked up that year 302 in my book and it said it only has 130 hp! Kinda tame.
Well I do have a new edelbrock 2121 intake and matching 600 cfm carb but Im sorta hesitant to mess with since it runs so good.Would the edelbrock intake and carb give me any gains over this venturi thing? Is the hp so low on the 79 model due to the heads mostly? There is no smog laws here so stripping the smog pump and cat converters off is ok if that what might be choking this engine down.