New 74 CJ-5...some advice?

Want to change out the stock 2bbl carb on my 74 CJ-5 it has a 304. What is a good intake and carb to replace. Looking for a 4bbl. Any suggestions? I had an edelbrock performer series intake and a 600cfm carb on my 78 and loved the power but got tired of it bogging when off road. Any help would be much appreciated.

Brian

 

I seem to remember people installing Quadrajets on their 304's. They are a good all-around performer, small primaries and large secondaries. That off-road 4 bbl carb someone used to sell looked interesting, and had a design similar to a quadrajet. But I can't remember what it was called. Someone should remember. It was definately cheaper than fuel injection, but I never knew anybody to use one.

 

Holley builds one but I don't remember a PN

 

Holley Truck Avenger Series. A few different models/cfm to choose from.

 

The Truck Avenger is a good off road carb, its going to run you a tad over $400.00 from most places.. Hard to beat the Eld Performer intake.

 

Thanks for the suggestions... I found an edelbrock off-road carb with spring loaded needles. Anyone know anything about this one?

 

The Edelbrock is fine. Maybe too many CFM for a 304 though. Holley has a 470CFM Truck Avenger that would likely be a better all-around carb for a 304. If you want a junkyard carb, either the original Motorcraft or a Quadrajet would be the best choice. Avoid street Holleys unless you have experience with setting them up for off-road.

The original carburetor, the Motorcraft 2100, is an excellent off-road carb and very simple to service. The 304s from this era have plenty of pop, and unless you want to race, I'd advise you stay with the stock setup.

If it were mine, I'd only consider EFI as a replacement for the stock 2100. GM TBI on a stock manifold can be done with junk parts and would be a fine upgrade - better economy, drivability, and unequalled by any carburetor off the pavement. (Dump that carburetor - crude, inefficient, fiddly devices!)

 

Look in the tech forum at www.ifsja.org for more comments about the Edelbrock carbs. Quite a few members there have them on 360s. My impression is that they are fine off-road, but that setup can have its problems. The Edelbrock is a warmed-over Carter AFB IIRC, so you crack the books about AFBs if you're serious about an Edelbrock.

Recall that the more CFM you have, the poorer the fuel control is at low intake air velocities. If you want to go slow, you need small primaries and/or low CFM rating. Also, I did not see a carburetor specifically set up for off-raod when I went to the Edelbrock site, so I expect you'll have to add stuff to your new carb to achieve the kind off off-angle, hill and bump performance that you want. Is there more besides the spring-loaded needles?

 

I've been running the Edel intake (non- egr) for 10 yrs, works good for me. I have ran a Holly 600cfm standard bowl, a Quadrajet and lastly a Carter. For me, the Carter works the best. I did find the Quadrajet's overall perfomce really good. I never was fond of Hollys power valve set up. But the Carter is more easy to tune for later modifications (cams etc.) or in my case altiude. My Carter has the spring loaded needle and seats I also blocked the fuel bowl cross over passage to prevent off camber flooding. EFI is the best, I have accuired 2 GM ECM's some misc sensors and a holly 670cfm throttle body for my future 360 install. Good luck on your quest !