Opinions on the AVS Edelbrock?

[Glennster]

 We're getting ready to finish the build on the stroked 340. This car will be on the street MOST of the time, I'll head to the strip for an occasional Friday Night Test & Tune. Here's the carb that will go on, it's a done deal. BUT, I'm interested in your opinions.......Edelbrock AVS 800CFM

340 motor stroked to 416
Ross Pistons 9.5:1
273 Rods
J Heads (202 Valves)
Edelbrock Air Gap Dual Plain Intake
Comp Cam (Solid Lifter) Dur. @ .050'' 236-242  ~~  Lift  .502-.511

How about that 800 on that motor, you guys have any experience with the AVS?
THANKS!

[71chally416]

That's all been hashed out many times on here. I know on the engine dyno the similar sized ED carbs give away nothing to Holleys and on the street they always get better mileage.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0403phr_edelbrock_avs_carburetor_dyno_tune_specs/index.html

[dodge freak 2]

Tried a Edelbrock 800 AVS on my hot little 318 with 360 heads two summers ago...it suck down low...tried playing with the metering rods..blocking out the secondaries nothing seem to help.

Had a Holley 950 dp carb...that is a  750 with a 1 3/4 baseplate...why holley calls it a 950 I have no idea..flowsabout 810cfm..it ran circles around that 800 Edelbrock.

Seen an 800 AVS on ebay not so long ago..guy said it was on his 383 motor and had no low end power...hmmm...I emailed him and he told me he put a 600 edelbrock on and it works good but runs out of steam at 5000 rpms and wanted a 650 dp holley.

That said I ran one 500 Carter on a rpm intake for a few days before switching to dual 500 Carters...it ran fine..wasn't as powerful as my Demon 650 dp but ran to 6500 rpms no problem just like the Demon carb.

[71chally416]

My 318 Cuda did 12.70's @ 109+ with an 800 TQ with a 1.8 second 60 ft time with a stock convertor.. A carb is only as good as the guy tuning it. 

[Chryco Psycho]

I have always preffered the Holleys for tunability , the AVS is a 40 yer old design , the newest Proforms & Quick fuel carbs are a lot more advanced

[71chally416]

The 4150, Double pumper and Dominator were all born in the 60's over 40 years ago too. All the newer Holley clones are just improved versions of the old Holleys, just as the Thunder AVS is an improved AVS. It's definately a superior carb to the OEM version and not just a shiny clone. 

[dodge freak 2]

I have always preffered the Holleys for tunability , the AVS is a 40 yer old design , the newest Proforms & Quick fuel carbs are a lot more advanced

True I was a holley lover too but these dual Carter AFB's are winning me over. All my carbs never had chokes and I was able to find brand new Carters 9502's with no choke or vacuum ports (for a clean look) My motor idles cold better than ever..power is great and I get 1 mpg more in normal hard driving than before.

Think cause I'm running two Carters is why....just like two hot ladies who are 7's are better than one gal who is a 9, ha ha ha.

[dodge freak 2]

My 318 Cuda did 12.70's @ 109+ with an 800 TQ with a 1.8 second 60 ft time with a stock convertor.. A carb is only as good as the guy tuning it. 

Yeah and that carb has small primaries for great low end power.

Carter never made a 800 AFB or AVS--not with equal size primaries and secondaries...might be a good reason. Those Edelbrock 800's might belong on 500 CI motors.

[71chally416]

Yeah and that carb has small primaries for great low end power.

Carter never made a 800 AFB or AVS--not with equal size primaries and secondaries...might be a good reason. Those Edelbrock 800's might belong on 500 CI motors.

How do you explain this?   
http://www.compcams.com/Community/Articles/Details.asp?ID=-738676943

[dodge freak 2]

Cause the pulls started at 3000 rpms. I am running only a 1800 converter and that Edelbrock 800 stink when I was going 15 mph in 2nd gear and floored it...trans has a manual valve body so it stays in gear until I shift it. In first gear it wasn't bad but I'm used to driving around traffic without screaming the motor many times.

That Edelbrock 800 was great once the rpms were up...3000-3500 rpms and if you are running a 3000 stall converter then go for it. But for some reason the Holley and Demon DP carbs pulled much better at low rpms and were just as good as the Edelbrock 800 on top.

I'm not the only person who has notice a low speed lack of power with the Edelbrock 800. I only tried one carb..maybe it was bad...got it off E-bay of course..but the guy I sold the carb too love it for the feedback he left.

Edit...it may have been when the motor still had the 318 tiny valve heads still on, believe so. Maybe once the 360 heads with 2.02 intake valve were on it would have work better but I never tried it again and sold it for 80% of what I paid for it.

[dodge freak 2]

Notice too how they "claim" the factory avs carb had its jets frozen in place and they could not make the A/F ratio any richer...hmmm. (how do we know that stock avs carb was evewn running right at all, the factory torque rating was 340 foot lbs @ 3200 rpms...they claim they got only 320 lbs and the 800 avs got 338 lbs at 3000 rpms...now most times those factory ratings were on the low side too...but of course they aren't going to put down a big advertiser product like Edelbrock) 

I was doing a caparison between a Holley DP carb jetted right on, to the Edelbrock 800 stock and a few steps richer and leaner and the Holley won hands down at low rpms.

Always raise an eyebrow when you seen tests and something is better than the stock stuff but then they go saying well we rushed and could not fine tune the stock piece.     

[femtnmax]

I have an AVS on my big block work truck.  At my elevation, about 4800 ft the tuning book that came with the carb was useless, even after adjusting for altitude.  Ended up buying the Edel O2 sensor kit ( a little over $100), and was able to tune every circuit in the carb.
Found out the transfer slots were running lean (between idle and main metering), so I hand filed the slots 10% wider and this fixed the slight lean hesitation off-idle prior to main metering circuit.   As I have read, driving around town you spend alot of time on the transfer circuit, not the main metering circuit.
Engine runs very well, and I have no complaints.  There's a guy at a local parts yard that does NOT like edy carbs, but he had to admit my engine ran smooth and strong.
I'm going to use the O2 sensor to tune the TQ carb I'm putting on my challenger.
hope this helps.

[71chally416]

At high altitude carb calibration is always a problem.

Somehow the Super Stock racers manage to get 9's out of low compression 360's using TQ carbs with the same metering rod/jet type calibration the ED carbs have. And this without a whole aftermarket industry like Holleys have. That the current ED AVS can both run great on a stock 340 and be spot on with just a jet and metering rod change on a 550hp BB tell it all.

I've never had a Holley I didn't spend a few weeks sorting out. Then they always have issues like leaks from the 24 places they can leak from. They always require a stiffer throttle return spring as well, especially the DP carbs. Don't seem to hold their idle mixture settings very well either. Great race carbs if you get a good one from a pro like Patrick at Pro Systems, but sometimes they're the suck for a daily driver street car that you want to just leave the hood down on for a month without making love to the carb.

[dodge freak 2]

My Demon 650 DP race carb was fine, week after week. A first it seemed--its just like a Holley carb. I adjusted the idle screws just cause it was going in for winter storage and I drove the car almost everyday for well over a month this spring and didn't see any need to make an adjustment cause it was idling great..once warmed up.

Holley-Demon carbs can have problems with the metering block leaking INTERNALLY, were you can not see it but once leaking will cause a poor to rough idle. You may even think it is the "hot camshaft" Only way to tell is to replace the metering block gasket..or sometimes milling is required on the carb body to make it flat again.

My ride had a too weak battery today and I had to jump start it. Believe it has a slow short were over night is fine and most times two days of no use is ok but 3 or more days drains the battery. (I try to unhook the battery if I know I won't drive it the next day but forgot)

Anyways I used the car in the garage next to mine and once started for 20-30 seconds at 2000 rpms the motor idle--with no choke, these are Carters 9502 carbs at around 700 rpms. Once warm it idles at 900 rpms. My Holley-Demon carbs would never do that...maybe for 10-15 seconds but then stall if you did not rev the motor a bit.

I really see no need to go back to Holley-Demon carbs, not when two Carters are really better in my opinion than one Holley.

Now two Holleys, lol that might be the ticket but my intake won't take them. I hear the 40 year old design 660 center pump Holleys are the best 2 X 4 Holley carbs-they still make them new today. But unless I found-ran Edelbrock ST 12 intake Holleys won't work on a SB Mopar.

I seen one sell last month on Ebay with two old 660 Holleys. BIN price of $4,500 sold in 3 days...too rich for me. Besides my motor would fall apart at 8,000 rpms what what the intake could take it too.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I'm extremely happy with my 650cfm Thunder AVS. Probably not the "max power" carb, but street driving and such..it's a dead nuts reliable carb. I'd run another one without question.