Carburetor recommendation for a 283

[Ed S.]

A friend has a 61 driver and needs help. Engine is not original, It is a 283 with 9.5 compression heads - numbers on it indicate that originally it was a 245 hp engine. This engine was installed by a previous owner - a long time ago. It has an Edelbrock aluminum (slightly) high rise manifold with a single 4 barrel carb. The carb is some off the wall brand that I never heard of. My friend's research indicates it is a very cheap, made in China, carb - it doesn't work worth a hoot. He wants to get a new reliable carb - originality is not important and he doesn't need something that is designed for a high performance engine, such as a large capacity double pump unit. The car has a 4 speed trans.

The question is, what brand & model carb should he consider, Holley, Edelbrock, original style Carter .....something else? Suggestions would be appreciated. I am pretty sure he would prefer something new that does not need to be rebuilt before it can be used.

[Mike M.]

Re: Carburetor recommendation for a 283

ED: I've had noting but trouble from"eldebrock" carbs. i doubt the ones available from eldebrock are made in use but rather arrived on a boat from the orient. i rebuild holley and carter carbs that were made in the USA back in the 60's or 70's. good luck, mike

[Frank D.]

Re: Carburetor recommendation for a 283

ED: I've had noting but trouble from"eldebrock" carbs. i doubt the ones available from eldebrock are made in use but rather arrived on a boat from the orient. i rebuild holley and carter carbs that were made in the USA back in the 60's or 70's. good luck, mike

Amen. The Edelbrocks are a shortcut to just getting a car running; they are made for the shade-tree mechanic to bolt on and go, not optimized for a specific application...

283 intake manifolds aren't that much and then an appropriate WCFB that will look right and run right can be installed...

[David H.]

Re: Carburetor recommendation for a 283

A friend has a 61 driver and needs help. Engine is not original, It is a 283 with 9.5 compression heads - numbers on it indicate that originally it was a 245 hp engine. This engine was installed by a previous owner - a long time ago. It has an Edelbrock aluminum (slightly) high rise manifold with a single 4 barrel carb. The carb is some off the wall brand that I never heard of. My friend's research indicates it is a very cheap, made in China, carb - it doesn't work worth a hoot. He wants to get a new reliable carb - originality is not important and he doesn't need something that is designed for a high performance engine, such as a large capacity double pump unit. The car has a 4 speed trans.

The question is, what brand & model carb should he consider, Holley, Edelbrock, original style Carter .....something else? Suggestions would be appreciated. I am pretty sure he would prefer something new that does not need to be rebuilt before it can be used.

Ed,

Along the lines of new - recent thread (just below) has several respondent satisfied with new Holley carburetors.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...ghlight=holley


Holley's website (link below) has a "carburetor selector" application towards page bottom. Input engine displacement, max rpm, motor characteristics, etc and a list of recommendations is generated. A place to start in any case.

https://www.holley.com/support/carburetor/


Hope this helps.

Dave

[Duke W.]

Re: Carburetor recommendation for a 283

It depends on the manifold bolt pattern. Assuming it's for a Holley, if they still offer a 390 CFM vacuum secondary carb, that would be a good choice, but it's also a "generic" carb and may require a lot of tuning to make it work properly.

If the cam is OE or equivalent, an OE 230 HP manifold with a companion OE WCFB would be a good choice, and should work fine if it's still to OE spec and in proper working order.

Duke

[Mark E.]

Re: Carburetor recommendation for a 283

I would also lean towards an OE WCFB. Some say nothing performs better than a new carburetor... my experience is it's hard to beat an original carburetor restored by someone who knows what they're doing.

Going original also makes the installation cleaner: the original throttle linkage, fuel line, and air cleaner can be used without modification or unexpected problems.

As a bonus, an original looking set up will probably add the most market value to the car overall.