[The Gunny]

I am ready to replace the carb on my 1977 TA and need some advice. Currently I have a Holley 650 (used to break in engine) and know I need something bigger. It will be feeding a 455 .060 over with #96 heads with a mild home port, Summit 2802 cam, Performer intake, and Summit headers. Hooked up to a 350 trans with a B&M 2400 stall. I would like to buy a carb that will do well all around, but I am on a budget.

["Puddles the Pontiac"]

hey gunny, i would keep the 650 if you are not planning to spend much time over 5000rpm. i didn't look at the cam but i know summit doesn;t sell anything too wild. in my opinion, stepping up in cfm won't really be worth the few hp up top. the 650 will give you a strong signal and, in turn, great throttle response as long as it is freshly rebuilt and tuned. if you must go bigger i would go with a good q-jet. thats just this "squids" opinion...
iyaoyas!

[Colin]

Originally Posted by Puddles the Pontiac

hey gunny, i would keep the 650 if you are not planning to spend much time over 5000rpm. i didn't look at the cam but i know summit doesn;t sell anything too wild. in my opinion, stepping up in cfm won't really be worth the few hp up top. the 650 will give you a strong signal and, in turn, great throttle response as long as it is freshly rebuilt and tuned. if you must go bigger i would go with a good q-jet. thats just this "squids" opinion...
iyaoyas!

I agree.........better yet, if its gonna be a street car I would go with a Q-Jet

[torqjunki]

Hey Gunny...I see your at New River Air Station. I was there from 1984 to 1987 at HMLA-269 as a flight line mechanic on the Hueys and Cobras. Made my first trip down the drag strip there with my 70 GTO. I agree on the carb advice. The q-jet will give better fuel mileage if you can stay off the runway with it!! Semper Fi Marine

[The Gunny]

Ah the good old days when they let you have fun. They dont let us hit the runway anymore, and you know what thay say "when you stop having fun it is time to get out" 90 days and counting

[66bonne]

Gunny - do you have the specs on that cam ? I think you need a little more carb, something in the 750cfm, many good Holley types to choose from, might be able to pick up a rebuild at a good price. I don't think a Q-Jet will work on your intake tho' a Cliff Ruggles Q-Jet carb would be a great idea.
Sgt J.O. Butcher, USMC, Viet Nam Class of '69, Semper Fi

["Puddles the Pontiac"]

my old performer was the spread bore type. the reason i would keep the 650 is because... well you already own it. a q-jet would be a great idea if you found a good one. buying from a q-jet rebuilder would be safe. if you want to tinker with a q-jet yourself have a book on them to back you up. they are great carbs but can be a pain if you let them get to you. a holley is simple as it gets and parts are at your local parts store. it really depends on what you are looking for. either one is a good choice.

[Superduty65]

Good luck on the outside brotha. I'm a controller at Cherry Point right up the road. 1year, 11months and counting lol. Semper Fi.

[The Gunny]

Thanks for the input but I am still not sure what to do. The current carb I have is a Holly 650 CFM vacuum Spread Bore Electric Choke Carburetor list #9895. It will need a rebuild (that may be the current performance issue) but don’t want to waist my time if it isn’t worth it. I do have the ability to rebuild it if it is a better idea.

[carbking]

Gunny - that 650 Holley is never going to properly feed your 455. The original stock carb was a 800. But I also understand budget.

My suggestion: call Cliff Ruggles (Cliff R on this forum), and have Cliff build a Q-Jet for your application. Cliff has a little backlog, so add a little each week and when the carb is ready, so will be your budget.

Jon.

[shaker455]

The Gunny,
If you decide to stay with the Holley you can send to me your current carb and I can resize it for you and you can save some cash.

[SGTGTO]

I can attest (sp?) to Shaker455HO's ability to redo the carb. He did mine for a great price and it made a world of difference. You will not be dissapointed.

SGTGTO

[Old Goat Racer]

I've got a 78 TA, 455 30 over 96 heads 068 cam 4-tube Hedman, 650 Holley spreadbore, mechanical sec. 4-speed 3.42 gears. 255/60x 15 Radials. I couldn't put any more horsepower to the ground with this combo. Sure is fun on the street.
OGR

[krisr]

I'm running a Carter 625 AFB (comp series) with a 1" spacer on a more than 'angry' 400. Purely street driven and has been a dream! Has easily revved mine out to 6000 on a few occasions now. Will be swapping to EFI in the coming month or 2, after all my issues with holleys in the past, i'd go back to a Carter if needed.

[The Gunny]

Thanks for the advice, I just picked up a 17057274 Rochester Quadrajet carb with a Torker manifold for $100.00. I wont be using the manifold but he carb looks to be in great shape. I belive it is a 800cfm from a 77 T/A and should be better off, and on a budget I should be able to sell the intake and holley carb for a profit (More toys!).

Semper Fi

[Cliff R]

The 17057274 is a nice unit, I run the same carb number on my 455. Mine has been completely recalibrated, with the choke flap/shaft removed, but otherwise the castings are untouched. It has been dragstrip and dyno tested against my 850cfm Holley and a well tuned HP950 carb and runs equally as well as either of them.....Cliff