New air intake and carb

If I decide to rebuild the 360 rather than replace it I need to put a new air intake and carb on it. I have toyed with an air gap intake but not sure about a carb yet. What has you used and liked or disliked?

On my 340. I'm running a 600 CFM,Holley carb, on a Edelbrock Performance RPM, Air Gap, Dual Plane Aluminum intake. I'm Very satisfied with this set up.

I am also running on my 360 an RPM Air Gap intake like Dan(number 7576 on intake) but I am running an Edelbrock thunder series carb with 650 CFM. I have heard of people running nearly stock 360's with as much as a 750 double pumper carb or a really modified 360 with as much as 850 or higher. My 360 has about 350 HP, I was running a Holley 600 up to last year and the difference is negligible. From what I heard a 340 or 360 with planed heads and a 750 works real well and then if you add a cam to the mix, well...

These are some of the modifications made to my drive train, and it performs great.
Factory H-Code 340 car.
1970-340 bored out to .30 over, with a Street Thumper Camshaft, Melling, oil pump. Rebuilt J heads with2.02 intake valves and 1.94 exhaust valves. Fuel is feed through a 600 cfm Holley four barrel carb mounted to a Edelbrock, performer RPM Air Gap dual plane aluminum intake.  Headmen Headers and a 3" exhaust. Behind the engine is a 727 with B&M 2800 stall torque. The differential is an 8 3/4 with a "742" casing that has been upgraded with Richmond gears and a Auburn brand limited slip unit

Here is the list of what makes my car tick:


Original color “caramel tan metallic” + 3 coats clear coat
White: sides & over the roof stripe
White 74 Dart Sport tail stripe
1979 360 cu in V8 from Ramcharger
Bored 30 over (365.32 cu in)
9.0 to 1 compression
Automatic 904 transmission
1.88 intake 1.60 exhaust valves
1.6 rockers instead of stock 1.5 (this has the same effect as having a high lift cam)
RPM Air Gap intake manifold
650 CFM Edelbrock carburetor
cam came from rebuild kit and was said to be ''High performance'' no info beside that
Shortie headers with 2 ½” dual exhaust
Polished aluminum valve covers
4 American Racing Ventura wheels (2-15x7, 2-15X8)
8 ¼ rear end / 2.76 gears soon to be 3.55 gears
Welded-in sub frame connectors & torque boxes
255/60R15 rear, 205/70R15 front
This combo gives approx. 350 HP
This vehicle had a slant 6
I am the original owner, I ordered it

There are also some good performance carbs out there, but they are not cheap. When you consider that you can get a "Holley, manufacture rebuilt" 600 CFM for 300-400 dollars and the performance ones can range between $1000-$2000. Something like this can drain a budget in a hurry.
I heard a guy yesterday say that when he rebuilds his cars he starts from the back and moves forward, if he has money for the engine, he spends accordingly. When I built mine 10 years ago, I started with the engine and did the rest when I could afford it. That is why most of our builds are works in progress.
One example is that for the first 7 years I was running my 360 sort of carefully because all I could afford was the stock 7 1/4 rear end.

JGL wrote:When I built mine 10 years ago, I started with the engine and did the rest when I could afford it. That is why most of our builds are works in progress.
One example is that for the first 7 years I was running my 360 sort of carefully because all I could afford was the stock 7 1/4 rear end.

This is why we consider our cars never finished, because just when we think we are done, we decide it needs something else.

How right you are!

Some great ideas there for me. I am pretty much settled on the air gap intake i think but the carb is up in the air. Tomorrow we are doing an oil pressure test and if theres sufficient pressure I will get the intake and carb if theres low or no pressure then out she comes tear it down and make a decision. If the motor is pooched I may just buy a crate motor but we will see.

I hope you know that the right way to have the correct way to get the right readings is with a warm engine.

JGL yes but what we are trying to determine was if there was any pressure at all. The report from the previous owner was the engine was noisey like it had solid lifters which it doesn`t so we needed to determine if oil was making its way to the top which it was. We found out a few things today, the push rods are a little shy of being the right length leading us to believe the the cam has been ground but new rods not installed which would account for a noisey motor. Someone had taken the oil breather off the valve cover and punched some holes in the deflector which broke a spot weld and pushed the deflector down a bit which caused what I think was a rocker hitting the deflector (small dents)which would also would cause some noise. Having learned all this we are going to reassemble the motor and drive it and see what happens.

If most of the problems have been addressed, then there should be no more issues. lets hope you found the culprit.

Boy thats for sure we are hoping that we got it. I am ordering the intake and carb tomorrow so time to start getting forward progress going. I just did the door panels today and will start the back seat tomorrow. The front buckets are good so i will make the back seat look like the fronts.

Too bad the US exchange is so darn high, that part is not going to help. Unless you can get the parts from Canada at a descent price.

Most of the parts sold in Canada, come from the US. so for the most part, the price will still reflect the exchange rate. Just a part of being Canadian, I guess.

A good friend of mine owns the local NAPA store however they are not direct suppliers and have to order in the carb and manifold that should be two weeks or so

Hello,good luck with your motor.What carb did you decide on?

I wound up ordering the Edelbrock thunder series 650 with endurashine finish. I will have it Monday but of course the intake is backordered 3 weeks.

Same carb as I have, they look good with chrome air cleaner and aluminum or chrome valve covers, that is if you like chrome.

I am a big fan of chrome ,in the right places.

This is a picture of J-Gs engine, taken last summer.

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A thing of beauty!

Mine looked like that, but after a couple of years of use it's not quite as nice anymore. Unfortunatly I don't have any good pictures of my engine bay. I thinks this is the only one.

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Ragtacker wrote:A thing of beauty!

That was taken with my old Holley, Edurashine carb makes it look even better.

Is this a newer picture ?
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