Bad Combo? 360 Intake, Carb, Cam

So I'm getting a barely used Holley Street Avenger 770 for a really good price off of Craigslist. I've always run Edelbrocks, Carter AFBs, and Quadrajets, so I'm excited to become a Holley guru and add that skill set to my toolbox. This will be going on my .060 over 360 with a new Edelbrock Performer Plus Cam and lifters I got for free and stock heads with mild port work and roller rockers.

Here's the issue I'm not liking: the intake I have for this motor is the SP2P. Those runners are tiny. Dialing in this carb on top of that baby intake is going to be interesting. I'm not so sure I like that Eddy cam for this either. I have the same cam in the 360 in my J20 with the Performer intake and Eddy 1406 carb and it's great for the truck. It just seems I'm gonna be missing out on so much potential with this mismatched setup in the Javelin.

The thing is, I'm really on a tight budget after finalizing an adoption recently and am in a time crunch to get this car on the road in time to move back to the mainland from Hawaii. I want to get it running and driving but don't want to do the work only to be unhappy and be redoing it again in the next year or two.

I want the impossible: Best performance in no time with next to no money. And in Hawaii where shipping is high and AMC parts support is low.

Suggestions???

My mind says get a big solid roller cam, Indy heads, and Torker intake, but my wallet and practical side just laughs...

I think using free parts that you have no idea what the specifications are when it comes to the cam and parts that may or may not be important depending what the parts are spec'ed for a rear axle ratio you do not know what it is and an unknown Holly carburetor that you have never used before and for what ever it is worth I personally would not use in the first place with no clearly stated objective of what you want out of the engine, it is going to be quite hard to suggest anything that might be compatible with your unspecified  use for the thing.
If you are building a low budget street engine it is hard to go wrong with the following.
Something like an Iskenderian 270HL or it's equivalent with a lift under 1/2 inch which pretty much works with OEM AMC valve train with out a problem, an air gap type manifold which gets the heat out of the intake and makes the tune more stable unless you will be driving where it gets a lot colder than it is in Hawaii and maybe the manifold you have is going to be just fine for a street driven car and as the Edelbrock performer manifold according to stories heard for years was basically designed for a 304 OEM replacement application with the primary objective to get the weight off of the engine, that is the last manifold I would ever want to spend money on to the point where I sold a brand new one that I picked up on a deal to help pay for an "Air Gap" which I have no complaints with at all and for Street use any of the Edelrbock/ Carter AFB's at about 650 cfm work out of the box with no problems.  They are almost a bullet proof recipe for motoring.
But! Your car, your money and your choices. I have two engines built that way and getting ready to build a third.  You will like the versatility of the 2200 rpm stall torque converter. I like it even better when the transmission is new enough to be a lock up torque converter. I have a 904 set up that way and a 700R4 and it works quite well.




Edited by uncljohn - Mar/07/2014 at 8:47am

My motto is, if it's for free, it's for me.

I'd run what I have. If you lived close, I'd trade you a Performer intake for the SP2P. Then you'd "step up" for free.

The Eddy cam you have is of better quality than the scummit atleast. I own both brands in Chebby versions.

I'm done racing and don't care to break the speed limit by much anymore, so a SP2P would fit my needs.

The SP2P might be adequate on a 304, but I think you're gonna be disappointed with it on a 360...unless your carb and cam are matched to it.