I have a 1978 f150 with a 400m I am look at getting a holley carb for it but I would like to know if there is any thing that I might need to know. It has been cam port and polished and it has headers. It also has a edlebrock intake manifold on it. Now a buddy of mine told me that a holley carb and edlebrock intake is the best comb.

600 to 650 Vac. secondary would be a good size for that engine. You mentioned polished?...can you elaborate?...."polishing" generally doesn't do much unless you are turning high rpm's and in fact can be detrimental to atomizing the fuel at lower rpm's. As far as the brand, you will get many opinions, usually based on what that person is familiar with...Holley, Edelbrock, Demon etc all make good carbs. Also the "M" designation is applied to the 351 engines, not the 400's.

Well I dont know if it's "the best" but every engine builder out there uses that combo, I'd go with a Holley, 650 should be all you need.

I'll offer a different opinion here, but before doing so will preface my comment by saying I have had good success with a Holley/Edelbrock combination. However....I have have had my best success with my recent experience at using an Autolite 4100 four barrel carburetor and factory intake manifold. NOT because there was a problem with my former Holley combo, but because there are many (and I'm one of them) who firmly believes there is NO better four barrel carb than the Autolite 4100. Simple, easy, stone relilable and a great performer !! Here's my suggestion. Check out "ponycarbs.com". Read what a true FORD carb/tuning master has to say. I listened for many years, but stuck to my Holley combo. When my brother made the decision to try them two years ago the results of Pony Carburetors rebuild on his Autolite 4300 were astonishing. John knows these carbs inside and out...which includes ALL the tricks from years and years and thousands upon thousands of rebuilds/testing. When he attends a Mustang rally/show the man is like EF Hutton...when he speaks everyone within earshot listens !! I also learned long ago that 'out of the box' carburetors are NOT set up for YOUR engine. They'll work because they're new, but they generally do not perform REAL well until they're "tuned." I fully realize that not everyone wants to, or can, spend the $$ to do so, but you sound like you've dumped some dough into this beast, so you owe it to yourself to get the most out of it....and that is simply an Autolite 4100.

I've been running the eddlebrock performer 2v/4v manifold and performer 650 carb on my stang for 6 years/summers and have not had to adjust the carb once, along with a pertronix set up it's been smooth sailing.

75hiboy said:

....I have have had my best success with my recent experience at using an Autolite 4100 four barrel carburetor and factory intake manifold.

Click to expand...

Doubtfull you're talking about a 400 here. Ford never built a factory 4 barrel 400 or 351m. You can get a 351c intake to fit with adaptors, but as I said no factory 4 barrel 400 intake.









Personally I use an Edelbrock Performer intake with a 670cfm Holley Truck Avenger Carb (set up from the factory for off-road use). It's been on the truck for about 4 years and I can't complain one bit.