Ready to throw my holley out..

Zooted_plus · Mar 1, 2004

I'm still having problems with this friggin holley.. I've rebuilt it twice, can't seem to figure out what the heck the problem is.... Other than I'm running way too rich and fouling my oil. I changed from 64 to 62 jets during the last rebuild, thinking I was stepping down, but now I think I'm wrong. Should I just buy an edelbrock?

65fastback2+2 · Mar 1, 2004

if you do buy the edelbrock, lemme know how it goes, my stinkin holley always has the floats stuck, makes it run like crap.

splinterddt · Mar 1, 2004

I had problems fine tuning the Holley I had. Finally it started leaking fuel from the shaft that connects to the butterflies. I found out this is a common problem for Holly carbs. I finnally bought a Carter AFB-no problems!

Zooted_plus · Mar 1, 2004

splinterddt said:
I had problems fine tuning the Holley I had. Finally it started leaking fuel from the shaft that connects to the butterflies. I found out this is a common problem for Holly carbs. I finnally bought a Carter AFB-no problems!

Mine's leaking extra fuel from somewhere. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but since this car is my daily driver, I have to have a reliable carb. Guess I'll price the carter vs the edelbrock and go with the cheaper.

Anyone have a good carb suggestion with my combo? My cam LCA is 114*.
Was thinking a #1406 edelbrock.

bnickel · Mar 1, 2004

the carter and e'brocks are great carbs and run pretty good right of the box, and with some tuning they can be great carbs, right now i have a 625 road demon and i'm in love with that carb, you can tune everything just the way you want it, but i'll always have a place in my heart for the carters too. i'll also always have a place on my shelf or in my trash can for a holley

2nd Mustang · Mar 2, 2004

Gee that's strange, my old ugly looking Holley 600 with vacuum secondaries just runs and runs on my 302. Rebuilt it once when I had an idling problem. I even took out the choke mechanism!

my66coupe · Mar 2, 2004

I think holley carbs are the kind of carb that you really need to know what your doing to rebuild and tune. I kept tuning and tuning my engine, couldnt get it right, rebuilt the carb, and made it worse, rebuilt it again, still the same, got a edelbrock performer and ran great.

Mike

bnickel · Mar 2, 2004

holley carbs are great for the strip, and even a stock car if you know how to tune them right and extract every last little bit of power there is from it, but i'd much rather have a carb that is easier to tune, dependable every day, that i don;t have to jack with al the time, so i can spend my time doing other stuff i would rather do, like suspension tuning, detailing, driving, etc. etc. the thing about my demon, is that is pretty much a holley design but is much easier to tune, and holds the tune better, and is, so far anyway, much more dependable. if i was building a race car i would probably go with a holley or another demon, definitely not a carter or e'brock, although they can be just as fast as holley but it takes a lot more tuning to get them there than a holley would take, but for the street they are dead nuts reliable and once they are tuned right they will stay that way. i don't have any hands on experience with the new street avenger carbs but i have heard they take some of that in to account are a much better street carb thatn the other holleys, but my old neighbor who converted from EFI on his 95 GT, was still having a lot of the same old holley porblems with his. anyway this is just totally my opinion, but for a street carb i would go with the carter or e'brock over a holley any day.

bud4660 · Mar 2, 2004

Holleys aren't that bad once you understand them. The biggest problem with running rich seems to come from having one backfire. It can (most of the time) blow the power valve. Then it will run unwanted fuel in. Since the power valve lets fuel in when you stomp the throttle. If it is blown then fuel runs in all the time. If I remember right its worth two jet sizes. You also need to have the right power valve in according to engine vacuum. That causes poor run conditions. Holleys are made to work on. Once you have figured out what everything is in it for, they are not bad. Since holley was sold a few years ago the company has made some great and improved changes it needed. The new ones are far better then what has been marketed for the last 30 ?? years.
But if you want a real carb. Buy a Predator and play with that thing....
I have never run one on the street, but raced one for a few years. lol

slapper · Mar 2, 2004

I know it sounds pretty basic, but make sure the correct metering block gasket is used. There are very subtle differences between many of them, and if the incorrect one is used fuel will be channeled to the wrong areas.
Also on some of the older holleys, 2 metering block gaskets will take up any possible irregularities in the metering block to main body surface, i.e. warpage.

Zooted_plus · Mar 2, 2004

bud4660 said:
Holleys aren't that bad once you understand them. The biggest problem with running rich seems to come from having one backfire. It can (most of the time) blow the power valve. Then it will run unwanted fuel in. Since the power valve lets fuel in when you stomp the throttle. If it is blown then fuel runs in all the time. If I remember right its worth two jet sizes. You also need to have the right power valve in according to engine vacuum. That causes poor run conditions. Holleys are made to work on. Once you have figured out what everything is in it for, they are not bad. Since holley was sold a few years ago the company has made some great and improved changes it needed. The new ones are far better then what has been marketed for the last 30 ?? years.
But if you want a real carb. Buy a Predator and play with that thing....
I have never run one on the street, but raced one for a few years. lol

No way would I ever... EVER run a predator. Not only would I be overcarbing my little 289, but that's got to be the ugliest carb ever made. Looks like a toilet bowl to me.

I'll probably keep my holley and play around with it until I get it right. I have a feeling because I got it used maybe slapper's right I have warpage issues.

1320stang · Mar 2, 2004

Funny thing is, everyone gripes about their Holley, which is most often either a used Holley, or one that came with the car and who knows how many people have messed with it. Then they buy a new Edelbrock/Carter carb and it works great with it's conservative tune. Well, DUH!!!

I know squat about carbs and I've rebuilt my 1850 Holley 600 countless times (mainly due to it sitting and drying out/varnishing up) and have really never had a problem with it. I'm also not always messing with it either. Contrary to popular belief, you don't always have to mess with it all the time, I treat it like Ron Popeil's Roaster Oven, I "SET IT AND FORGET IT". Heck, even my dual 660's (built much like a 600) on my race motor were easy to tune and the most I do is change jets, and I don't even do that very often.

Either I'm a VERY lucky idiot (and believe me, I'm not lucky at all, everything that can, will go wrong) or its really not that hard. Now if you're starting out with a worn out POS, I don't care what brand carb it is, you'll have problems. If anyone is ready to toss their Holley, email me and I'll give you my address and you can ship them to me (you're dime). If I run across any Carters or E'bock's, I'll do the same for anyone that sends me one. I don't really have anything against either of those carbs, other than the basic design was for GM products originally (as I understand) and I cringe at the thought of putting something GM on my Ford. Plus I just like the look of the Holleys better anyway.

67GTA-FB429 · Mar 2, 2004

There are some really good books available about tuning your holley. A little reading goes a long ways...but then again it is easier to just buy bolt-on equipment and go.

holleys are nice because they are so rebuildable and adjustable.

bud4660 · Mar 2, 2004

Zooted_plus said:
No way would I ever... EVER run a predator. Not only would I be overcarbing my little 289, but that's got to be the ugliest carb ever made. Looks like a toilet bowl to me.

I'll probably keep my holley and play around with it until I get it right. I have a feeling because I got it used maybe slapper's right I have warpage issues.

LOL...Dont hate what you dont understand...You cannot over carb with a predator. I didnt know anything about them till I bought one to play with. I swore I would never use a holley again. And yes its a ugly carb. Its also hard to make the linkage fit. Its tall so getting the hood to close is a problem. But next time you see BigFoot run. Look whats sitting on top of that BDS blower. I dont know that I would run one on the street, even though they make a street version now. But they are a neat carb for racing. People over carb with holleys. They are like cams. If a little is good, then more is better. lol

zookeeper · Mar 2, 2004

1320 took my answer! Seriously, Holley's are great carbs. The problem lies in the simple fact that there are a zillion of them out there, and almost all of them have been subjected to lots of abuse, lots of high-tech ,owner-done modificationsand lots of rebuilds, most likely none of which were ever done correctly. So indesperation, people get fed up with the carb problems, blame the brand (easy when you don't know what else to do), buy a brand-new (un-screwed-with) carb of another brand, and declare it to be the BEST CARB EVER!!!! Yeah, right. That's no different than buying a screwed up, hacked-together '65 coupe from a high school senior, then when you have problems, saying that Mustangs are total crap! Holley isn't the most popular carb for nothing. Personally, I'd shell out a couple bucks (ok, a couple hundred), buy a NEW model 1850 vacuum secondary 600cfm Holley, carefully take it out of the box, (don't drop it) bolt it on your car, and close the hood. Your car will now run better than you ever thought possible, for as long as you keep your hands off the carb. Bet on it...

Pakrat · Mar 2, 2004

2nd Mustang said:
Gee that's strange, my old ugly looking Holley 600 with vacuum secondaries just runs and runs on my 302. Rebuilt it once when I had an idling problem. I even took out the choke mechanism!

Exactly my same situation right down to the very last letter and I have zero issues also, just runs and runs. I did have to play with it a tad when I first brought it to New England and also when I brought it to Texas and then one last time back to New England, but that is it, and it was all just picky fine tuning anyway. It still ran fine in different climates without the tinkering.

Sir TWIG · Mar 2, 2004

Sorry, but I have to say I don't have enough experience messing with Holleys, and the ones I have run like crap and are a pain in the rear to get started. I have to say that I don't have much experience in tuning Edelbrock/ Carter AFBs either, but that's because the ones I have had run great, start easy and have not required anything. I'll stick with the Edelbrock and swap all my Holleys for Edelbrock because I feel they are better out of the box and you can change settings, (jets, etc.) without having to take the freaking thing apart. My example, my Grande has an edelbrock 1406 on it, never been touched in the 7 years I've had it. Still starts on the first try, choke still works, still runs smooth, and I raced this car in SCCA Autocross all last year.

streetgrande69 · Mar 2, 2004

my 351w has a 625 road demon on it, put it on 3 years ago. i have never had any kind of problem with it, at all! just basic tuning, thats it(and not real often either) i would go with a smaller cfm if i were you on the 289, 550 if you
could.
i believe hollys are good carbs(with proper tuning and experiance), demons are better, and afb's, are for the 60's.........

the reasons i like my BG Demon over my old AFB..........

its really easy yo set the float level(afb has to be disassembled to set float levels)

has a vaccuum secondary, smoother getup and go(non to be found on a afb)

4 corrner idel richness setting(2 corrner on a afb)

all the holly brackets and kickdown goodies fit!(not true on a afb)

i could never get it to run anything other then rich, even after 2 rebuilds??

Zooted_plus · Mar 2, 2004

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to slam any brands here... I'm not gonna go out and buy a brand new edelbrock throw it on and rejoice. And I'm not gonna slam holley, I went with a holley because I heard good things about the carbs, besides they could be kind tough to tune.

I'm gonna buy a new carb, so I know it will be at least close to where I want it to be calibrated, and I don't have to adjust too much to get a good mixture through the rpm range. I'm not gonna throw the holley out by any means, and when I have enough experience maybe I'll be able to figure out what the problem is.

LanceMach · Mar 2, 2004

I had an Edelbrock on my 67 and loved it. Right out of the box it ran great!

I went back to my Holley only because the Edelbrock was experiencing fuel starvation on lond hard turns on the track (I never had this problem on the street, but with race rubber and a long turn, like the Carousel at Sears Point, it became an issue). Never had a leak or any other problem and it was a darn good looking carb too!

Ready to throw my holley out..

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