More facts.....Not prejudice

Caught some flak from Ford fans saying I'm biased against Fords, and very pro-GM, and Pro-Mopar.  I'm not, and if stating irrefutable facts like the Autolite 4300 is a lousy carburator, or that the 390FE is a heavy truck engine that leaks oil, or that you can't swap engines around as easily as you can with a Chevy, Pontiac or Mopar offends some people, then go ahead and be offended. Good carburators is what made the Mopars and Chevys and Pontiacs such great street performers. The Carter AVS that came on most 383s and 440s from 1966-71 only flowed about 585 cfm. But they had no gaskets below the float level-( no leaking, unlike a Holley, no power valves to blow, unlike a Holley ) and you could adjust the secondary opening infinitely, and change jets without disassembling the carb or removing it from the engine. The design is bulletproof, and gives awesome, reliable performance. That's why Edelbrock resurrected it.  We all know, especially on a stock engine with an automatic transmission ( it's a documented fact that more musclecars are automatics than 4-speeds ) that you can't rev up at the line to clean out- a smaller carb with leaner jetting comes off the line cleanly with no bog and provides crisper acceleration.  As for GM-ditto for the Quadrajets. The small primaries ensure great drivability and throttle response-and the large secondarys let it breathe deep on the top end. That's why they work equally well on a 350 Chevy or a 455 Pontiac. Meanwhile, most Fords were saddled with the Autolite 4300 4bbl that brand-new, was too rich or too lean, blew power valves, the floats sank, the needle and seats stuck-they were horrible, and the cars didn't run well. People replaced them with Holleys-and that didn't really help. The vaccuum secondary Holleys leaked, bled over, blew power valves, and generally didn't do much better. If you had a 4-speed, a mechanical secondary Double-Pumper would work ok, but every time you looked at the gas pedal both accelerator pumps would open and it was like flushing a toilet. Gas mileage would drop from say 13 mpg to 5-8 mpg, and would foul plugs if you weren't "on it" all the time.  Which brings up the next point. Fords had notoriously weak igniton. While GM and Chrysler point-type distributors would be good up to about 6,000 rpm, the points on a Ford would "sign off" about 5 grand, and start bouncing and popping. If you went to the drags in the '60's or '70's, every guy there running a Ford had two extra sets of points in his toolbox and a feeler guage and a dwell meter!!  Or he'd got smart and put in an aftermarket Accel or Mallory distributor!  The performance of the Ignition and carburation are the main reasons why a 396 Camaro or 383 Road Runner would blow the doors off a 390 Mustang or Fairlane in a drag race.  The third thing was axle ratios. Most 396 Chevelles had 3.31 or 3.55 gears. Ditto for Pontiac GTOs. Most Chargers or Road Runners had 3.23 or 3.55 gears. Unless it was a 428 SCJ with the Drag Pak option-( which included 3.91 or 4.30 gears ) Most Mustangs and Fairlane / Torinos had 3.00:1 gears with a 4-speed, and 2.80:1 with automatics, which certainly wasn't conducive to blistering acceleration.  After 1970 Ford Made the 351C their "Performance" engine. The 429 and 460s were strictly "big car" engines. This left the 351C to carry the Ford performance banner. With ports and valves literally the size of a 427 Chevy-these heads-originally designed for 302 Trans-Am racers who had a power band between 5 and 8 grand really sucked on the street. They made very little power below 3 grand, and with Ford's weak ignition and crappy carbs-were all done in by 5,800. In a Boss 351 with 11.3:1 compression, ( which only came with a 4-speed and 3.91 or 4.30 gears ) or a Pantera ( which had a 5-speed and 4.22:1 gearing ) this flaw was masked by the stiff gearing. But in 99% of  the other Mustangs and Torinos out there that had automatics and 3.00:1 or 3.25:1 gears, they were a dog. Never mind a 440 Charger, a 340 'Cuda would outrun a 351 Mustang in a drag race. And as for GM- a 454 Chevelle, 455 Olds 442, or 455HO  Trans-Am?  Come on, a heavy, 7.9:1 compression, 351 Mustang or Torino tugging on Superman's cape?  I stand ready to apologize for anything I said that wasn't true. Mastermind