Mechanical fans will move a lot more air that electric fans, but that being said in most cases electric fans will provide enough airflow for cooling. In my car I tried electric fans with no success, I had two puller fans and one pusher and it was still boarderline for overheating, plus the electrical draw was excessive. I installed a single 16" mechanical flex fan and have never had a cooling problem since.
As for your carb, my experience with Edelbrock carbs is that they are jetted on the rich side from the factory. There is a very detailed jetting procedure on my website that will take you through the art of fine tuning the Edelbrock carb and getting maximum HP and economy.
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gi...delbrock_1.htm
The biggest factor limiting the 302W is the airflow restriction in the heads, both intake and exhaust, aftermarket heads are the real answer but even some minor porting on stock heads can show impressive improvements. Opening up the exhaust with larger pipes and headers will help a little but the main restriction is in the head itself. Addition of a good cam will help a lot also, take a look at my spec's, this engine dyno'ed out at:
290 HP {350 hp} @ 5500
311 Lbs/ft {370+lbs/ft.} @ 4500
Ford 302
Forged Pistons 10.5 : 1
Total Seal rings
Roller Rockers
Comp Cam Magnum 280H {230 deg @ .050", .512" lift}
Ported/Reshaped Heads (extensive)
Performer RPM intake
Edelbrock 600 CFM carb.
MSD-6AL ignition
Blackjack Long branch headers
2 ฝ" Dual Exhaust
Custom 3 core Radiator
Your current single plane manifold works best at higher rpm's, with your combination a dual plane manifold will provide better performance throughout, the Edelbrock Performer RPM is one of the best manifolds for the 302W.
Linear Mode
