Reply to "Please educate this former Chevy guy!"

Ford's Autolite/Motorcrtaft 4300D spread bore carburetor is unlike any other spead bore carburetor (i.e. Thermoquads & Quadrajets). The bolt pattern is standard square bore Holley, and the primary bores are on center with square bore Holley primaries, but the secondaries are off center. However rebuild kits are readily available, its a good carb & once rebuilt will run just fine with your standard motor. It flows about 700 to 750 cfm.

If you want to run a square bore carburetor like the Holley / Demon / Edelbrock, you'll need to replace the intake manifold. There are several choices in square bore dual plane intakes, like a Ford cast iron intake from an earlier '70 - '71 motor (the bores will need to be opened up a bit, as it is designed for a 600 cfm carb), a hard to locate and often expensive alloy Ford intake casting number D1ZX-9425-DA, Edelbrock's Performer 4V, and the Blue Thunder intake. One thing to point out, the stock Cleveland intakes flow pretty good, and below 5000 rpm nothing can really best them.

The Cleveland motor is unlike a small block Chevy, all the rules are different. Its good you realize there's a learning curve.

cowboy from hell