Edelbrock chose to copy and use the late style Chevy side inlet carbs. They have the single main airbleeds in the airhorn and use a "teardrop" shaped airhorn gasket at the main boosters. They have labeled the RPM carb an 850cfm unit even though they are no different than any front inlet q-jet made after 1974. This is probably a marketing ploy to steer folks in that direction. I've custom tuned quite a few of them here and ran them at the track. The Edelbrock RPM units have a very generous (rich) idle curcuit, a bit lean on the primary side and WAY rich at full throttle. KRE's dyno testing has confirmed this on a few that have been tested there.
Even so they make a very good foundation for a really nice q-jet if you don't mind the price and that they are side inlet. We have seen quite a few quality control issues ranging from holes not drilled at all to holes drilled and missing the intended target. This was mostly with accl pump holes in the airhorn and the secondary enrichment holes just above the airflaps. All in all they are decent carbs, but no performance advantage whatsoever over a correctly prepared 1975 or newer Pontiac carb......Cliff
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https://cliffshighperformance.com/
73 Ventura, SOLD 455, 3740lbs, 11.30's at 120mph, 1977 Pontiac Q-jet, HO intake, HEI, 10" converter, 3.42 gears, DOT's, 7.20's at 96mph and still WAY under the roll bar rule. Best ET to date 7.18 at 97MPH (1/8th mile),
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