Oldsmobile/Buick: Which Holley Carburetor would work best on this car?, olds cutlass supreme, holley carburetor

Question
Dear Ed, I have been running my 83 Cutlass Supreme 2/dr with the six cylinder Buick A-231 cid, 3.8 eng., and 2b carburetor disconnected from the computer for several years. When I bought this car from a co-worker 7 years ago, it had 50,000 miles on it, and he inherited it from his mother-in-law.  I had the engine rebuilt at 198,000 miles.  Now it's time to replace the carburetor, which has been rebuilt at least once already, and I am considering a new Holley 2300 model, 350 or 500 cfu, instead of the stock Rochester.  Do you think a Holley will improve the performance, and if so, which model do you recommend?  I have a new car that is 1 and a half years old that I alternate the Cutlass with weekly, driving 30 miles round trip each day on the Interstate at 70mph and then an occasional weekend road trip of 200 miles round trip.  I am 49 years old and I consider myself a pretty good driver, and I try to take care of my cars as best I know how.  Do you have any advice for me?  Thanks in advance for your reply. Jim  

Answer
Jim ,

I two own a 1983 Olds Cutlass Supreme . I can tell you right now its extremely tricky business . My car had a completely fouled out Carb , so I opted for a new rebuilt Buick 231 (the same one that was in the car) . I threw a Edelbrock 4 Cylinder 600 CFM carb on it !

My advice is make absolute sure that you don't get a carb that is too large . My problem was these V6's can only take soo much . If you really want to step the performance up opt for a really good carb rebuild with good parts . Also its only a V6 , my only small exception is the Grand National, those engines only put out some much horses . I put a roof on a elderly women's house and decided I would buy her 83' that had 74,000 original miles , (still had the window sticker sitting on the backseat). Couple years later the engine lost all compression and the carb went kaput .

Jim if you have any more questions please feel free to send another e-mail . This answer was more of a opinion on my part , since I haven't done a whole lot of "upgrading " to this vehicle . Don't forget to rate my response to you ,

Cheers ,

Ed McKenna