New Carb for the 258

[Hafness]

Ok, I talked to 4wd about getting a setup for a carb a manifold and the guy said the best bet and what most people do is to get a holly 390 with intake. Just wanted to see what you guys thought about it. He also wants me to get some exhaust manafold. Would that make a big difference.

[tgreese]

Originally Posted by Hafness

Ok, I talked to 4wd about getting a setup for a carb a manifold and the guy said the best bet and what most people do is to get a holly 390 with intake. Just wanted to see what you guys thought about it. He also wants me to get some exhaust manafold. Would that make a big difference.

Oh no, I'd avoid a Holley 4150-style carb like the plague. A terrible off-road carb without a lot of add-on parts. Plus you have to buy an expensive aftermarket manifold.

You want a Motorcraft 2100 or 2150. There's a guy on eBay that will sell you the whole setup for less than just the new Holley carb. Use the 21xx on an '81-on 2V 258 Jeep manifold. Combine that with the stock '81-on exhaust manifold or aftermarket headers.

There's lots you can do for the 258 on the cheap. 2V carb (either Motorcraft or Weber), better ignition (GM HEI or Motorcraft with the TFI upgrade), a less restrictive exhaust, a cam, plane the head for more compression... lots of junkyard or inexpensive upgrades.

Read everything you can find on the internet about the 258, 4.0L conversions and stroker engines. That will give you a lot of ideas.

[Hafness]

I am trying to find all the info out that I can. I took your advice and am going with small upgrade. Doing the ignition and carb first. So the holley Is a real dog. The motorcraft is a lot better.? why is the motorcraft better. What about the weber?

[tgreese]

Originally Posted by Hafness

I am trying to find all the info out that I can. I took your advice and am going with small upgrade. Doing the ignition and carb first. So the holley Is a real dog. The motorcraft is a lot better.? why is the motorcraft better. What about the weber?

The Motorcraft carb is cheap, widely available, simple, and is an excellent off-road carb. Jeep used them as original equipment for 2V V8 applications. I have one on my truck, on an '85 Jeep aluminum 2V manifold.

The Holley Truck Avenger (TA) carbs are popular for V8 Jeeps. They also work well off the pavement. You might consider the smallest TA if you really want a 4V carb.

The Holley street carbs (4150 style), like the 390 cfm model, work very well on level pavement. In my experience (and I'm not the only one with this experience), these carbs just will not run on hills and over bumps. You can make them much better, but IMO there's no reason to start with one of these carbs. They are very popular with the hot rod crowd because they can be easily tuned, hop-up and tuning parts are widely available, and there's a lot of information out there about them for street applications.

The Weber is a popular replacement carburetor for the factory Carter BBD on these Jeeps. The Weber will bolt on in place of the BBD, and is imported and sold as a kit by Redline. They sell two carbs: the 32/36 DGEV progressive carb and the 38/38 DGES for performance applications. The kit is not cheap, but is said to work well.

[tgreese]

Here's the guy on eBay selling these carbs: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motor...d=p3911.c0.m14

[Hafness]

I just saw the ebay site. You are the man. I am planning on buying a motercraft2100. I am following your lead. Would you go with his efi dist upgrade also

[tgreese]

Originally Posted by Hafness

I just saw the ebay site. You are the man. I am planning on buying a motercraft2100. I am following your lead. Would you go with his efi dist upgrade also

I'd probably follow the "Team Rush" recipe and use an MSD box clone with the Motorcraft Duraspark distributor and TFI parts.

The author (known as Junkyard genius, JeepHammer, TeamRush) has an uneven history here, but knows this stuff very well IMO.

Here's some good reading for you: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/i-...nitive-669495/

[joe]

Originally Posted by Hafness

I just saw the ebay site. You are the man. I am planning on buying a motercraft2100.

Good call. I've used the Weber on 258's and it worked very well, but.. if I did it again I'd go 2150 just for the cost factor(webers are stupid expensive for a 2v carb). The 2150 is an excellent carb .

[Hafness]

should I stay electric or go to the manual

[Hafness]

Tim as always thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Great write up on what I need