Edelbrock vs. Trick flow vs. Holley?

I'd take the Holley....highest flowing top end kit.

At least it was a while ago.

I could just be biased though.

Mine has the full Holley Systemax kit....heads, cam and upper/lower. I can't tell you how much power the kit is worth....Holley "claims" 350hp with some supporting mods...but who knows. You can click on my profile and see my other mods. No dyno numbers but I'm guessing I'm running at least 300 rwhp.

I got it on mine because it was on it when I bought the car. Not a very popular combination, but from what I've researched its underrated by many Stang fans.

Rick 91GT said:

Out of all the kits available the TFS kit is hard to beat....

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im going with him b/c the builds engines for a living and doesn't depend 100% on interweb forums

Engineers build combinations and dyno-prove them.

On a stock 302 with a stock rev limit stick with a smaller runner.


Here's what I put together all the way back in 2000.

Edel 300 hp package. performer heads, intake, E cam 70 throttle body EGR and 75 pro M mass air. Now since then, there have been major improvements. Most Edel heads that I have seen have had crappy valve to seat contact.

AFR makes a great head along with TFS.

Andersons N-41 cam is a solid bump stick to roll with.

Anyways, a few people on the street talked sht on how slow my car would be with just a measily 300 hundred crank horse.

Well, my car with me weighted in at 3360, not light by any means and with a lousy 1.771 60ft the car ran a 12.501 @ 109 mph: with my slow 3.55 rear gear and a 2.95 first ratio. Now, if I would have made more than 2 passes and really actually tried to dial the combo in, I'm sure there was a high 12.2 or low 12.3 in her with my slow crappy combo.

Oh, the guy who was trying to beat me. The idiot had a 2930 lbs stripped out notch 87 model year with roll up windows, cheap seats, welds, you name it.

Big stage two brodex heads and whatever cam he had was choked off by the same intake I was using... Mis-match parts will leave you with nothing but dissatisfaction. As soon as his heads were getting into their A game, his intake was out of the A game where as all my stuff--- my slow stuff, worked together.

Now there are 347 kits out there, with proper heads, came, intake combo that net over 400 rwhp on nuts. My car realistically ran 270 to the rear tire and easily knocked off a mid 12, I would assume that with much more advance technology, one should be able to bang a similar car into the mid 11's.

there are so many combo's available, pick one and look at what their rwhp is, where it comes in, average hp at torque at the rear wheel.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd throw a hellion kit at the car with a stock bump stick. Awesome driveability and plenty of power.

There are guys over on the power adder forum making 450+ rwhp with just a hellion kit.

as for kits ide personally go with the systemax, but thats just me.

i have afrs and an rpm ii, love it so far but no numbers yet

No intake beats the Holley Systemax, which is the same as the earlier Saleen/Vortech intakes. I really don't know much about the Holley heads. I went with the Trick Flow heads, because they were recommended to me by a well-respected engine builder. Specifically what he said was there are no better flowing heads than the AFR, but they are a ***** company to deal with, and they don't stand behind their products! The difference in flow between the TFS and the AFR heads is negligible, at best. If I was going to buy a complet kit, I would go with the TFS. Why the heck doesn't Edelbrock make a complete top end kit?! They make all the parts, it would just be a matter of piecing them together and some better pricing...wtf?

The Holley kit issues were resolved many, many years ago, it is a very nice kit. I ran it on my OWN car for years with excellent results. I suggested the TFS because you get more parts for your dollar and the results are very good. The Holley kit cam still leaves room for improvement.

FWIW... My stock 302 8.8:1 comp, Holley kit, AFM N-61 cam, 75mm TB, 80MAF, 4" powerpipe, full exhaust and suspension, 3:73 on ET STREETS @ 3300lbs went 11.7 @ 117mph all motor with some more gear I think it would have went 11.4's

I had a customers 331 8.5:1 comp (built around a turbo in the future) with the TFS kit (stage II cam) make 340RWHP, tuned with a PMS

Rick 91GT said:

The Holley kit issues were resolved many, many years ago, it is a very nice kit. I ran it on my OWN car for years with excellent results. I suggested the TFS because you get more parts for your dollar and the results are very good. The Holley kit cam still leaves room for improvement.

FWIW... My stock 302 8.8:1 comp, Holley kit, AFM N-61 cam, 75mm TB, 80MAF, 4" powerpipe, full exhaust and suspension, 3:73 on ET STREETS @ 3300lbs went 11.7 @ 117mph all motor with some more gear I think it would have went 11.4's

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Yeah I was thinking the Holley issues were resolved as well. I was told mine has about 15k miles on the rebuild and doesn't have any smoking issues.

I forget which cam comes with it.....the brand that is....since Holley doesn't make cams. The cam is somewhat aggressive, but still streetable IMO. I get a nice lope out of it, but its not too bad on the streets. It does like to be in the higher rpm's though.

The tfs kit is hard to beat. Only thing I hear is the tfs stage 1 cam it comes with is a little small for the package. I hear of a lot of people ditching it for the stage 2 or something else completely. Like notchbck93 and rick said, the afm cams are great and the n-41 or n-412 (the one I run on my car) would work great with the kit.

Btw, edelbrock DOES make an efi top end kit for our cars

cenok is family said:

Btw, edelbrock DOES make an efi top end kit for our cars

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Link? This is new to me, I'd like to see it.

NikwoaC said:

Link? This is new to me, I'd like to see it.

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well shoot, i could have SWORN i saw an eddy top end kit on lmr, but i just looked and i think i mistook the typhoon/patriot top end kit for it. NEVERMIND!