Holley 4160 Style carb advice needed

[DJCarbine]

I purchased a 600cfm 4160 type carb off ebay a year or so ago and just slapped it onto my stock 289 with an edelbrock performer intake manifold. The carb was used on a ford truck, and thats basically all I knew about it. It was in very good shape, and I rebuilt it myself just as a precaution before I put it on.

I never got a really good idle, and the engine would not die if you turned the mixture screws all the way in to lean it out completely. In fact, the idle mixture screws never really did much of anything, as I was completely missing one and ran it for several months no problem

I always got bogs on acceleration, and it seemed to run perfectly fine at WOT, but at part throttle it was a little finiky as far as it sometimes wanted to buck and bog.


The car is is storage and I cant really run out to change jets and drive it around to test driveability, I was wondering if anyone knew a good jet size that I should be running on a stock 289? I believe it has a stockish 80 size jet, and secondaries kick in at around 2600 rpm.

Looking for helpful hints as far as my jet sizing/secondaries tuning, as well as any other tips like "throw it away and buy an edelbrock"

 

[malcons66]

i had that same problem with my holley. it also leaked alot. I would suggest trying the edelbrock performer carb. i have had two (one before the H) and i love them. very reliable. you dont have to readjust so often, and runs great. but yeah if thats not in your budget then fix the holley.

 

[10secgoal]

Oh we get these once a week here. If you want a better carb, buy a book and learn how to correctly tune your holley. Re-tune and re-tune is a myth. If you have to do it more than once, you did it wrong the first time. If it bogs with that carb. It probably just has the wrong secondary spring.

 

[DJCarbine]

I did borrow such a book from my friend, who has several classic cars and recommended the book to me. The carb is tuned to run the best on the car, with the exception that I did no jet changes. Secondaries don't bog at all, and the accelerator squirt is tuned properly. Just looking for a little advice such as "Try XX jet sizing with your stock 289" to get me on the right track

 

[10secgoal]

Eh, just a guess would be 70-80

 

[2nd Mustang]

Having rebuilt two "used" Holley 600, vacuum secondaries for my 302, my best advice is, there is a reason someone sold them in the first place. The Holley that came with my car had a leaking throttle shaft, the second used one I bought was a really old cruddy looking thing. I experimented with it and it ran great at mostly wide open throttle. I bought a brand new 600 vacuum secondary, bolted it on, adjusted the idle and mixture screws and haven't touched it in over a year now. Yeah, I could change jets, etc. for maximum performance, but if it isn't broken, why fix it. JMO.

 

[10secgoal]

Having rebuilt two "used" Holley 600, vacuum secondaries for my 302, my best advice is, there is a reason someone sold them in the first place.

Yeah, this is when you get a deal on a Holley. Generally it is someone who can't tune them and blames it on the carb. But occasionally they are worn.

 

[Max Power]

Boy, I couldn't agree more. I am done trying to save swap meet holleys that "just need a kit". Many, if not most, used Holleys for sale have internal problems that are very difficult to figure out.

I purchased a new 600 for my Maverick 4 years ago and a new 750 for my Mustang 8 years ago and they have been working great all along.

 

[Realmongo]

If the Holley was a factory part, it may have a reverese idle system. Is so turning the screws in richen it and backing them out leans it. Those carbs idle circuits adjust air vice fuel. If it is lean at idle, it can be lean during normal driving until the main jets come fully online. Also you have to be sure all passages are blown out with air before rebuilding after it has soaked in solvent.

 

[Dark Knight]

FWIW, there are 4 idle screws on the stock 80's holleys.. if it's the one that uses allen wrenches to adjust the mixture

 

[thehueypilot]

I have noticed a trend in rebuild kits in that they come with 90% of parts you don't need and the ones you will need are not an exact match. I rebuilt (freshened up) a 650 vac sec that worked good before I rebuilt it and afterward would not idle. Come to find out I put the wrong base plate to throttle body gasket on it. (missed it by one little hole) The correct one was not in the kit and I had to call the mfg to get the correct one. It's all in the details....