I just bought a 67 Mustang and it is bogging down like it getting to much gas. It has a Holly 600 and a Edelbrock Torker intake manifold. My guess is the carb needs to be re-done but wondering if the 600 is too big for the 289. I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

 

For a stock 289 yes, especially with that intake.

 

The 600 is maybe a little big but I think the biggest problem is the intake. You're running a single plane intake that is basically designed for engines that are pretty hopped up. Get a Performer intake or any other dual plane (maybe a Weiand or a Summit knock-off) and I think you will see a huge difference. The Torker is set up to drop a LOT of fuel/air VERY quickly. A dual plane is better for what you have. You can keep the 600 if you get a dual plane.

 

Yeah, single planes are a totally different animal when it comes to carb'd setups. And daul planes can make a ton of power, plus they get better mileage, throttle response and drivability. There are applications where a single plane is nice, but a stock small block ain't it. Not only that, the Torker isn't even a good single plane design as single plane designs go.

 

I agree completely. The Torker is a left over from the mid-80's. It was the hot ticket when I was a teenager until the Performer and the other "new" dual planes came out.

For a street only application there is just no reason for a single plane...just like there is no reason to run a double pumper on anything but a strip only car. If you drive it anywhere but the strip you just don't need THAT MUCH fuel THAT FAST.

For some reason folks get hung up on the idea that more fuel means more power. It's not how much fuel...it's how well you use it. I think of it as cooking the Thanksgiving turkey in a blast furnace...there's no way it's going to be raw, but you won't want to eat it either!

 

BSFC, make more power with less fuel, something all race engines strive for. And there are times when a single plane would work well in a street application, but only on a large stroker where the same intake is designed for a smaller engine and will work better at lower rpm with the larger displacement. Even so, the new daul planes available today can still make huge power. I've seen dyno runs where the RPM Air Gap made peak power on a stroker at around 7,500rpm, obviously it doesn't suffer breathing problems at very high rpm, even on a larger engine, and will always run better at low rpm than a single plane.

 

I see what you're saying regarding a single plane on a stroker but I wouldn't feel good about trying to build one without some desktop dyno software to make sure it's going to perform before I bought stuff. I just think from a practical stand point 99% of street machine builders will be better off with a good dual plane (heck even the Summit knock-offs are pretty good). Most streeters are never going to get above 6,000 rpm anyway so build your power at the rpm band you are going to run in.

This is a good thread though. It's always fun to hear how others think. Everyone has their own approach and there's always things to learn.

 

I prefer daul planes even on strokers myself. Yeah, a single plane can work, but the reality is that the right dual plane on the street, will work better like you said, 99% of the time. I suppose a single plane is nice for someone that wants the highest peak hp number on a dyno, but most street setups make broader power with a good dual plane, especially the newer ones designed with computer flow modeling.

 

And who cares what it does on a dyno? I care what it does when I'm driving it!

What are your thoughts on heads? I am planning on stroking my 302 to a 347, Crower roller cam & rockers w/ guide plates, air gap style intake, MSD or similar ignition, replace the timing chain with a gear drive, & keep my Hooker long tubes. The Trick Flows look pretty good on paper but I don't know anyone who has tried them. I'm not planning on running pop-ups so I wouldn't have to use their pistons. Any thoughts?

 

Trickflow makes good heads, and there's a tech from there that posts in the 5.0 section occasionally. TEA also has some good ported TF heads. AFR 185s work really well on a 347, as do Canfields. Mjr just ran his 347 with the Comp XE282 and AFR 185's(out of the box untouched) and it went high 11's at like 117mph, and it's not even dialed in yet. Edelbrock also has some new heads not listed on their site yet(but they do show in the flow data table) the Pro Port CNC RPM heads, and if the flow #'s and ports sizes mean anything, they should make monster power. The regular Performer heads flow about the same and produce about the same power as AFR 165's with similar port sizes.

And definately how it runs maters way more than what it dynos. Most people don't want to accept either that how a car runs on a dyno is NOT the same as how it runs in the real world. 9/10 times track tuning results in a faster car than dyno tuning....all dynos are good for is a baseline.