I have a '66 SS (original 396, 360 HP)
A friend told me he believes the carb that is on it has too low of a cfm rating, and it would do much better with the more original Holley.
The present carburetor (it was on when I purchased car) :
Carter AFB Competition Series
97555 2905
Would I do better with a different one??

Thanks,

gerald

Gerald,
I'm not 100% positive on this (it's been a while since I've looked it up) but I believe that the 360hp 396 used a cast iron intake with a Q-jet carb. Like I said I could be wrong here. But if it is the orginial intake (cast iron) then you probably have an adapter plate under it to put a square bore carb on a spread bore manifold....do you know for sure?
Anyways the Carter AFB 9755 is a 750 CFM carb (same as the Edelbrock 750).
The biggest holley put on the 396 was a 780 CFM, so that carb isn't much different. And when tuned properly can be a very good carb.

What does it flow? Your 396 probably needs 700-750cfm. Your 360hp came with a Holley and not a Q-jet? Too bad, the Q would make a nice street carb for your 396.

If I remember right those 66-67 350-360hp 396
have a 585 square bore holley from the factory. I would much rather have the Q-JET.

That carb should work quite well if it is matched up with the intake. These carbs are usually jetted pretty lean so you might want to get a "strip kit" with all the needles and jets and experiment some. I kind of like the old Q-jet myself for the all around street, but there's nothing wrong the the AFB.