Performance Carburetors by CFM

A performance carburetor is sized in CFM - the cubic feet of air per minute it can flow at full throttle - and CFM is only the first of three choices. The other two are printed in every listing on this page: the choke (electric, manual, or none) and the secondaries (vacuum, mechanical, or the Demon design its listing names). This page pulls together 24 in-stock complete carburetors from Edelbrock, Holley, Quick Fuel Technology, Demon Fuel Systems and Proform, from $460.85 to $1,075.95, sorted by CFM the way the choice is actually made: 500-625 CFM (7 carbs), 650-670 CFM (5), 750 CFM (5), 800-850 CFM (4) and 950-1,050 CFM race carbs (3). Every CFM, choke and secondary figure below comes from that carburetor’s own listing. Every order over $200 ships free.

OUR PERFORMANCE CARBURETOR PICKS

Product	Spec (from the product listing)	Price	Why it is here
650CFM AVS2 Carburetor w/Annular Boosters	650 CFM, AVS2, square bore, manual choke, mechanical secondary, annular boosters, Edelbrock (per listing)	$460.85	The value hero and the cheapest complete carburetor on this page: a 650 is the size most mild small-blocks actually need, and this one states annular boosters in its own listing. Manual choke and mechanical secondaries - you work both, it does not work them for you.
600CFM Carburetor - Slayer Series	600 CFM, Slayer Series, square bore, electric choke, vacuum secondary, dual inlet, Quick Fuel Technology (per listing)	$499.95	The set-and-drive street pick at 600 CFM: electric choke for cold starts and vacuum secondaries that open with engine demand rather than your right foot. Dual fuel inlets, where most of the Edelbrock shelf here is single-inlet.
750CFM Carburetor - Slayer Series	750 CFM, Slayer Series, square bore, electric choke, vacuum secondary, dual inlet, Quick Fuel Technology (per listing)	$562.95	The same street recipe one size up: 750 CFM with an electric choke and vacuum secondaries is the combination most warmed-over street V8s land on, and this is the lowest-priced electric-choke 750 on the page.
Performance Carburetor 850CFM 4150 Series	850 CFM, Double Pumper, model 4150, square bore, manual choke, mechanical secondary, dual inlet, Holley (per listing)	$799.95	The classic double-pumper at 850: mechanical secondaries and a manual choke, built for a driver who wants the secondaries when the pedal says so, not when vacuum does. The listing carries the California emissions notice printed on its page.
1050CFM Carburetor Brawler Q-Series	1050 CFM, Brawler Q-Series race, model 4150, square bore, no choke, mechanical secondary, dual inlet, Quick Fuel Technology (per listing)	$1,075.95	The ceiling of this page: 1,050 CFM, no choke at all, mechanical secondaries - a race carburetor in the listing’s own words (Brawler Race). If your engine does not need four figures of airflow, everything below this row is the honest buy.

STEP ONE: THE CFM LADDER

The small end is not one carb three ways. At 500 CFM this page carries an Edelbrock AVS2 with a manual choke and mechanical secondaries ($480.72), an Edelbrock Performer with an electric choke ($539.87), and the page’s only 2-barrel: Holley’s 500 CFM model 2300 on a Holley flange with a manual choke ($561.30) - it does not bolt to a square-bore 4-barrel intake, and its listing says so by naming the flange. At 600 CFM the split is choke and secondaries: the Quick Fuel Slayer (electric, vacuum, $499.95), the Edelbrock Performer (electric, mechanical, $502.18) and Holley’s 4160 Street Warrior (manual, vacuum, $506.33). Demon’s 625 Street Demon ($487.83) sits between the bands: its listing states Triple-Stack boosters and Goggle Valve secondaries and states no choke type, so none is claimed here. Questions before you order? Call 213-549-4279 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm PT) and we will read the listing with you.

STEP TWO: 650-750, WHERE MOST STREET ENGINES LAND

At 650 CFM: the Edelbrock AVS2 hero above, Quick Fuel’s Brawler HR (electric choke, mechanical secondaries, $599.95) and Holley’s 4150 Double Pumper (manual choke, mechanical secondaries, $699.95) - the same airflow with the choke and secondary choices reversed, which is exactly why the CFM number alone does not pick the carb. At 670 CFM both carbs here are vacuum-secondary: the Brawler HR with an electric choke ($599.95) and Holley’s Street Avenger, also electric choke ($717.28). The 750 CFM shelf is the deepest on the page, five ways: Edelbrock Performer (manual, mechanical, $505.14), Demon Street Demon (Triple-Stack boosters and Goggle Valve secondaries per its listing, $548.81), Quick Fuel Slayer (electric, vacuum, $562.95), Holley 4160 Classic (manual, vacuum, gold chromate finish per its listing, $690.57) and Proform’s Race Series (no choke, mechanical, $635.95) - the first no-choke carb on the page, and the bridge to the race shelf.

STEP THREE: 800 AND UP - AND THE RACE SHELF

One carb sits at 800 CFM: Edelbrock’s AVS2 Thunder Series, manual choke and mechanical secondaries ($539.95). At 850 CFM the three-way split repeats at race intent: Quick Fuel’s Brawler SSR keeps an electric choke with mechanical secondaries ($699.95), Holley’s 4150 Double Pumper is manual choke and mechanical ($799.95), and Proform’s Race Series drops the choke entirely ($661.58). The top shelf - Proform 950 ($715.49), Quick Fuel Brawler Q 950 ($921.95) and Brawler Q 1050 ($1,075.95) - is no-choke, mechanical-secondary, dual-inlet throughout, and both Quick Fuel listings name themselves Brawler Race. A carb with no choke is a warm-engine carburetor; that is a statement about cold starts, not a defect.

AN HONEST NOTE ON SIZING

No listing on this page publishes an engine-size chart, so this page does not print one either. The long-standing rule of thumb - engine cubic inches times maximum rpm times volumetric efficiency, divided by 3,456 - gives a starting point, and a street engine’s volumetric efficiency is well under the 100 percent the biggest number assumes, which is why the formula so often points one size smaller than the carb a buyer first reaches for. Vacuum secondaries forgive an oversize carb by opening only as the engine demands air; mechanical secondaries do not - they open when your foot says so, ready or not, which is why the vacuum-versus-mechanical choice matters more on the street than the last 50 CFM. Also deliberately not here: carburetor main bodies, rebuild kits, spacers and stud kits, the remanufactured 600, and the marine, blower, E85, alcohol, circle-track and 4500 Dominator listings in the wider range - they live in the parent collection below; this page is new, complete, gasoline street and race carburetors only. Many listings here carry a California emissions notice printed on their own product pages - that this product is not legal for sale or use in California on pollution-controlled motor vehicles - so check the notice on the carb you pick if that applies to your car.

QUESTIONS BUYERS ASK US

How much CFM does my engine need? Start with the rule of thumb above, then be honest about rpm and use: a 350 that never passes 5,500 rpm does not need the airflow of a 383 that lives at 6,500. If you tell us the engine, cam and gearing on the phone, we will run the arithmetic with you against the makers’ own sizing guidance - the listings themselves publish no per-engine chart, and this page will not invent one.

Vacuum or mechanical secondaries? Vacuum secondaries open with engine demand and suit street cars, heavier vehicles and automatic transmissions; mechanical secondaries (the double pumpers) open with the pedal and suit lighter, manually shifted or race cars that can use the airflow immediately. Every carb on this page is labelled with the type its own listing states.

Electric or manual choke? Electric chokes work off a power feed and suit a street car that starts cold and drives off; a manual choke is a cable you control, common on simpler or older installs; no choke at all - the whole race shelf here - means the engine needs warmth and throttle to idle cold. The listings state the choke plainly, and this page repeats it carb by carb.

Will a square-bore carb fit my intake? Twenty-three of the 24 carbs here state square bore in their listings. The exception is Holley’s 500 CFM 2300: it is a 2-barrel on a Holley flange. Spread-bore intakes need an adapter or a spread-bore carb, neither of which is on this page - check your intake flange before ordering, or call us and we will check it with you.

Is bigger always faster? No. An oversized carburetor loses air velocity through its venturis at low rpm, which softens throttle response and makes the low-speed circuits harder to tune; the right size at full song beats the biggest size everywhere else. That is the whole reason this page is sorted by CFM instead of by price.

Shopping the wider range? Browse the full Carburetors and Components collection, read our guides on the News & Builds blog, or see the page that came before this one: Electric Fuel Pumps by Flow Rate.

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