Is there a carb better than a Holley 4bbl?

warrenbh · Mar 30, 2010

Currently have a holley 650 cfm on my 66 gt.

have thought about replacing it. Should i stick to Holley? Or is there possibly a better performing carb out there?

Thanks in advance.

dbfarr · Mar 31, 2010

That's a matter of opinion and a religious issue for many. Stick with what you know.

Learning to tune a carb design you ain't familiar with is a PITA IMHO.

There are some upgraded versions of the standard Holley out there, demon, Barry Grant, etc. The better versions don't come cheap though. However, I'm sure someone will chime in.

tx65coupe · Mar 31, 2010

It depends some on how your car is setup. If it is close to stock or a mild performance setup, the Autolite 4 bbl is a good way to go.

I have an Edelbrock 650 Thunder AVS on mine, and I am happy with it.

D.Hearne · Mar 31, 2010

Only thing better than a Holley 4 bbl, is two of em. (or three in my case) What's you engine made up of ? And what's the list number on the carb's choke horn ?

S-Car-Go · Mar 31, 2010

Define "Better". Better mileage, better performance, better starting, better throttle response, easier to tune?
You may have the wrong 650 for your application and expectations or just a bad tune or a worn out carb that needs to be rebuilt.
On a close to stock motor there is not a lot of difference between properly tuned carbs. Holleys tend to have more things to adjust which will give you more opportunity to get it right or get it way off. Edelbrocks will be easier to tune with less adjustment and tend not to get as close to perfect as a holley.

rbohm · Mar 31, 2010

the 4150/60 series holley is a good carb. the barry grant demon carb, an updated version of the holley, is a better carb, but my issue with these carbs is that they run fuel through a gasketed area. not the best setup. the edelbrock/carter afb is a better carb that is just as easy to tune, and you can get a fuel curve that better matches your engines need than with the holley. summit racing has their own brand carb, made by holley by the way, that is an updated version of the holley 4010 series carb, which is an updated version of the autolite 4100, and uses holley 4150/60 jets, power valves etc. the autolite 4100 is a very good carb also, just getting harder to find. the ultimate carb would be a set of weber ida or idf carbs. these are tunable to a fine edge of performance where you can exactly match the fuel curve your engine wants. these are almost as good as efi.

2+2GT · Mar 31, 2010

Unless your 66 is a wildly modified 289, a 650 is too big. This will be OK at wide open throttle, but give you lousy response and power at low rpm.

As for "best", I had Holleys on my daily driver for about 15 years, and having "done my time" I'm not planning to do any more Holleys. Your best choice would be an Autolite 4100. Simple, easy to set up, and reliable as an anvil.

Even Eldelbrocks usually work well right out of the box.

Summit has their own carb, based on an upgraded version of the Holley 4010. Has excellent features, many of those that make the 4100 so good, but using Holley parts for easy set-up. I have never used one personally, though, I can't comment on how well they drive.

brianj5600 · Mar 31, 2010

The Barry Grant carbs might have some good points, but the rep I have seen on the net is not so good. There have been many people complain about metal shavings, burrs hanging in metering orifices, emulsion hole different on each side of a metering block, etc. If quality control was good, they would be a step up.

I have no complaints with a 4150/60, period. A carb out of the box is only set up for one particular engine. Pick the wrong model and it will not work with out some tweaking, and I don't mean jet and squirter tuning. A double pumper is calibrated for RACING. It should not be a good fit for a street car. That does not mean that they can't be tuned to work great on a street car. There is soooo much info on the web on tuning. Innovate forum has some wiz's that can help you tune any area of the fuel curve under about any condition. A big number of "carb" problem come from other parts. Timing curve or wrong converter can make a double pumper look bad. Too big of a carb will also make a carb look bad. It is the person bolting it on that makes it hard to tune, not the carb.

A WBO2 is the best money I spent on my car, even when it was naturally aspirated. Knowing exactly what is going on is a big piece of tuning. I would never use the bathroom in the middle of the night w/o turning on the light, why tune with out turning on the data logger/light.

blown65 · Mar 31, 2010

Haven't had an issue with their carbs, but the company BG sucks ass and their fuel pumps are leak prone.

TeamEntity · Mar 31, 2010

carbs

edelbrock hands down. performer or thunder series. both excellent carbs, easy to tune and easily modified.

Stang_1973 · Apr 1, 2010

I recently got away from carbs. depending on what your needs are, there are EFI kits available that are relatively easy to install. I recently did the FAST EZ EFI conversion on my '73. It was very straight forward and took me about 8 hours total from strip down to startup. The computer does the work for you and the system with a the single TB handles up to 550 hp. The only drawback is that its for N/A only. But if you dont plan on doing a S/C, turbo, or nitrous its the perfect swap. No more messing around with tuning the carb, and your mileage shoots way up. For the short time i was able to drive the car before my tranny crapped out, i was getting about 22 mpg highway. went up from 15 on my 600 cfm Holley. If you decide to get one, id go with atlantic speed, they are an internet dealer and the least costly that i was able to find, and had speedy delivery.

D.Hearne · Apr 1, 2010

Stang_1973 said:
It was very straight forward and took me about 8 hours total from strip down to startup. No more messing around with tuning the carb, .

You spent 8 hours on the installation I spent three hours tuning the three carbs on my 331 6 years ago...............................They've been touched once since then--- a simple jet change to compensate for the added carb spacers I decided to install 6 months ago. Your arguement there doesn't hold water. If you spent time frequently tuning your carb before the EFI, then you had other problems. Once a carb is tuned, it will stay that way for years. My 331 gets 16 mpg @ 70-80 mph on the highway. That's with a C-4 transmission, 3.50 gears and 26.5" tires.

warrenbh · Apr 1, 2010

WOW,

I never realized carbs were a sensitive topic. I think i got one response on a car cover recommendation.

I also hadn't realized how little i know about carbs.

Thanks to all !

Bluesman · Apr 2, 2010

for me the best carb I ever owned, used and tuned is an autolite 2100. after that a 4100
I find Holleys gum up after the cars been sitting for the winter. I never had one that would fire up after sitting for say 4-6 months or more. I ended up removing the prim metering block and soak it ins solvent over nite and see strings of gunk flaoting around in the morning. after that I blew it out with the air gun and she ran fine for the summer until next spring when I had to soak it al over again.

I never had this prob with the autolites. once the bowl is primed she fires up every time

D.Hearne · Apr 2, 2010

Poor quality gas will gum up a carb and EFI everytime. Never had this problem as I hardly ever buy off branded gas.

mtaqua · Apr 2, 2010

prosystems holley, not much more than a stock one (list $620 on his site), and he'll build it for your motor. good customer service.

blown65 · Apr 2, 2010

mtaqua said:
prosystems holley, not much more than a stock one (list $620 on his site), and he'll build it for your motor. good customer service.

X2, that's what I have on 3 of our rides, all were pretty spot on. Had to make a few changes to one and got great customer service from Patrick.

warrenbh · Apr 2, 2010

Well, I caved in and got a 600 edelbrock, perf series. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

Thanks to all for the input!!

Is there a carb better than a Holley 4bbl?

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