63' Chrysler 300 tuneup (gaskets, plugs, best, MPG)

[McGowdog]

I want to take out the 2bbl and intake out, put in an Edelbrock Performer dual-plane square bore intake and a 4bbl carb. I was told by one guy that a Holley 600 would be nice, but my mechanic friend from Canon City told me that Edelbrock (same as Carter) is more user friendly.

While he's in there doing the carb and intake, he recommends an RV cam which will move the power curve from the high end down to about 2000 rpm.

So... it's my job to find the forums, parts places, etc., to put together a package deal and get the best parts for this 383 engine.

Any opinions/recommendations? This guy has done work for me before and his labor is quality and affordable.

I guess I'll drop a pic of the old car. It's got two too many doors for most folks, but I'm partial to this model and I like the car.

Thanks in advance for checking in here.

[M3 Mitch]

Keep all the original parts. If you pick a good "spread bore" type 4-bbl you can get better cruise MPG as well as more WOT power. Holley and Eldebrock both build this type of carb.

Keep in mind that a carb that's a little smaller than what would make the most all out power will work great in all other aspects, but one that's too big will not work right at any throttle position or RPM.

Depending on what cam is in the block right now, you might want to leave well enough alone, I'd mess with the distributor instead. I don't remember if you have to take it out on this engine to swap the intake or not, but if you do, this would be an ideal time to get it rebuilt at least, maybe put in a pointless ignition system (do they still make the Mallory Unilite?) and maybe mess around with the vacuum and centrifugal advance. I see a lot of advice floating around about the glories of getting advance "all in" by some way low RPM like 2500 - if you plan to run avgas, OK, go for it - if you want to run pump gas you probably don't want to be that aggressive.

The Eldebrock intake will save you some weight and assuming you get the right one for what you are trying to do, (and I can't answer that question for you, except to say for street use I lean towards the more low-RPM oriented hot rod parts in general) it should improve things for you from soup to nuts.

[McGowdog]

Thx Mitch. Btw, I think you helped me out with my harley sportster. It's been running great since I changed out my voltage regulator.

I recently put in an electronic pointless ignition and a flamethrower II coil. It helped.

I'm looking at going through Summit. They offer a package deal for a Performer Edelbrock intake, and the guy at the parts counter talked me into going with a 600 Edelbrock carb. He found out I'm at 4600 altitude and he's got a Chrysler with a 340 and he lives at a similar altitude... in the Reno Nevada area... and he says that at altitude you're better off with that size rather than something like a 750.

He set me up with a Performer Plus cam with timing chain which he says is a good street performer.

$828.54 later, and we'll see what we can do with those parts. It includes the 4bbl and intake, the cam and timing chain, the bolts, gaskets, polished bolts for the intake, pipe plugs, Necessary hardware... a XXL Summit teeshirt.

I may get the labor done for a few hundred bucks. So, I'll be a bit over my 1000 dollar budget. Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I have no current car payment. I hope to keep it that way for a while. I also got a truck and my sportster to drive. I don't think this will hurt my gas mileage too bad if any. Thankfully, my drive to work isn't too bad.

[sunsprit]

'dog ...

you might want to talk with the guys at Greeley Automotive Machine in Greeley.

They've done a lot of this type of work for the street and track, and are some of the most knowledgeable guys I've talked to about performance mods ....

[Mac_Muz]

Doing this may well get you better MPG's than it was. Letting an engine breath better can lend to better MPG's. The other guys have said more than I could.

[McGowdog]

Thanks. I'll give them a call.

[McGowdog]

Coming along... slowly but surely...













I've found a very good mechanic in Canon City that does good work and affordable. His name is Mark, and there's a muffler guy right next to him in the same shop. This is right by Ricks Pumps and near the Merlino's Belvedere.

[McGowdog]

Giddy up.

It still needs a little smoothing out. Got a little miss we need to take care of. It still runs like a graped-ape.

[M3 Mitch]

Tell me you just took the air filter housing off to show the engine, tell me you are not running around without an air filter. Tell me you don't believe the BS about changing the oil and filter every 2 or 3K miles will undo effects of the dirt getting into your engine...

[McGowdog]

I DO have a nice big Chrome shiny air cleaner that says Edlebrock on it and I DO drive with it on.

Do you want to see that, or my new 1406 carb and intake?

I also put on some new Accel 8mm straight boot plug wires... cut to fit the distributor cap.

Flashforward to Mitch: thanks.

I did have to get a new one though as my K&M doesn't fit anymore.