Posted by T.L. on April 22, 1998 at 23:32:37:
In Reply to: Carburetor replacement posted by D.J. on April 21, 1998 at 12:24:05:
There are many intake manifold/carburetor combinations to choose from but what has really worked well for my '73 is the Edelbrock #2121 Performer dual-plane manifold (non-EGR) with a 600cfm Holley (vacuum secondary) 4-barrel carb sitting on top. I also installed a "purple" secondary spring which opens the secondaries a little faster without "bogging" the engine. The Performer-RPM is also a very good intake manifold. Edelbrock also makes emission-legal versions of these manifolds but IF it does not violate your local emission laws, I reccomend removing as much of the emission crap as possible. Catalytic converters aren't bad as long as you run dual "cats" with dual exhausts. Your air pump robs power and your EGR and vapor recovery canister are pretty worthless. I do recomend keeping the PCV valve however. As for a cam; the stock cam gives pretty good "low end" torque but beyond that, it's not very good. I have a Competition Cams 268-H (hydraulic lifter) cam which has a 0.456-inch lift and duration is 218 degrees @ .050 lift. Only thing is, I haven't installed it yet but it should run sweet with that "bumpstick". The Maverick 302 V-8 is SEVERELY detuned from the factory and usually, simply bolting on a 4-barrel carb and dual exhausts will "wake it up" nicely. Basicly, an engine is an air pump and it has to BREATHE. Some guys hesitate to make the swap for fuel mileage reasons. Well let me just tell you that V-8 Mavericks never got good gas mileage and never will, so you might as well have the power...
: I just picked up a 77 with a 302, unfortunately it was
: a California car with all the smog crap and that weird
: carburetor. Anybody out there have any experience or
: suggestions about replacing this carburetor with a
: slightly larger one of more standard design. Any problems
: with any associated smog equipment ?