I just put on a Edelbrock 500. It seems like the secondaries are not opening. Is there any way to check & fix this?
My engine is stock except for headers with dual exhaust.

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"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

The Edelbrock is a mechanical secondary carb. This means that when the choke is open the secondaries will always open. What might not be happening is the air door above the secondaries might not be opening. To check if the secondaries work just go out, hold the choke plat eopen and open the throttle all the way. You should see the secondaries open up (if you hold the air door open). I gues you could run the motor wih the air cleaner off and hold it at near wideopen throttle and check that the air door is opening.

Reed

I just got the carb, but I think it is vacuum secondary (#1405).

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"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

Nope, Edelbrock performer carbs are mechanical secondaries, with an air valve door above them to hepl reduce the bog normally associated with mechanical secondary carbs. Works kinda like a vacuum secondary carb does, but is not a vacuum secondary carb. If the secondaries aren't opening up, the choke may not be fully off. They wont open with the choke on. If its the air door you aren't seeing open, thats normal. They usually wont open up until a heavy load is sensed during normal operation. If it does open when you rev it in neutral then be careful, rpm's are getting pretty high. Don't want to break it....

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"That thing gotta HEMI in it??"

That is a rather large carberator with a stock cam and no head work. It could be the engine is only taking what it can handle which is the reasoning behind the counterweights attached to the air door. hate to say it but even if your engine is fresh you need to fork out for porting and oversized valves and a aftermarket cam to get those babys to open up so you can feel it . I have a 600, I've overcome thru time and $ the problems with the stock head (with ports that often look like boulder fields) Doc and his Hot Rod Mag. Slant Sickness artical was a start for me but I also have a head done with SBC and SBF valves I do my own port work (self tought) and have the shop put in the valves but it seem to me some one from LA county said he got the whole shebang done for under a grand? I'd do some searches of old posts on this sight and see what you think. Personally I think you got a good carb, Its easyer to adjust than the Holly cause those metering rods are so easy to change and for street you may notice a differance in mileage using an Edelbrock. Bruce J.

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78b4ramSnortbed/6

Thank you all for the info. I got an e-mail from edelbrock and they said it was mech. with a vacuum door. I kinda knew going in that it may be too big 'til I did some head work and a new cam. Would the one work more than the other?That is, if I could only do one (head work or cam), which one would help more? I was thinking .264 on the cam.
Also, can I hurt the engine by driving it stock? Or is it like driving a 2bbl?

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"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."