Ready to throw my holley out..

[10secgoal]

Bud4660 was right that the power valve adds the extra gas when you step on it. Although he was a little off on the jet size. A power valve is good for 6-8 jet sizes depending on you metering block. And that is why you see it smokes when you blow one. Hence the difference of jet sizes from front to back. Did you change back to the original paper holley gasket grasshopper ? Man you have the easy part down. You know it has extra gas coming from somewhere. You need to pressurize the carb with full bowls,ie electric fuel pump or other means. take your carb off. put the nuts back on down a few threads. put your carb back on. Look for gas leaking from underneathe the carb. Where's it coming from,front,back,left,right ? I would even set your floats low for now. You won't need them to be set normal for idle.

 

[pabear89]

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?

It sounds like you have an internal leak.
My 600 Holley has been on the car for 3+ yrs without touching it except for a clean out with carb spray ocne in a while.

Try going to CarCraft.com and read their write up on rebuilding Holley's.
It was a good basic easy to follow and full of tips.
I have found most peoples problems with them are the float levels are incorrect, the pump lever out of adjustment[causes flat spots or bog]
and they move the mixture screws to much when trying to set it up.
But that's jmo

PB

 

[1320stang]

Here's a Ford Carb Forum on Network54.

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/88781

 

[65fastback2+2]

well my holley is like 2 years old, and it still looks like i just took it outta the box, and my stang has died twice at redlights, its a piece of junk...

 

[D.Hearne]

Funny thing is, everyone 'Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me'es 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.

I was going to make the same offer, Larry, but I've got too many Holleys taking up space now. I just bought a used 600 the other day ( someone else's problem LOL ) swapped the bowls for a dual feed set from a 750, changed the sec. spring to a purple one and once I bolted it on the 5.0 in my Ranger, it ran fine, zero problems, didn't even put a kit in it. Oh And I also did what I do with all my Holleys-- removed the choke assembly and threw it into the box of Holley choke parts--- anyone ever need any Holley choke parts, just holler, I'll ship you the whole box.

 

[Jonstantine]

a 600 edelbrock is to big for a mildly modded automatic transmission stock stall 289

i didnt read everyone's post, i just saw how someone might buy a 600 edelbrock
please head my warning;

 

[bnickel]

if it is tuned right a 600 should be fine. a friend of mine had a mild 289 with a 4speed and a 750 holley DP, that ran high 12's in the 1/4. they tried a 600 and spent a lot of time trying to get it tuned right and they could never get out of the low 13's, it just depends on the combo. but i do agree that on a mostly stock 302 a 600 would be a bit large, i'd go with a 500 or 525 if it is close to stock, if it is modded a bit more a 600 would be fine. like i have said before holeys are good carbs if you have the patience to tune them and tweak them until you have it set just right, but in my experience even when you get it there you still have to play with it from time to time because they are just finicky, for reliable street driving i prefer an e'brock or carter, or if you have the money a demon. for racing a holley is the way to go, and someone said that the carter was designed for GM's, actually i think it was originally designed for mopars, not GM's. if it mopar thought enough of them to equip every factory hemi ever built with them, then that's good enough for me.

 

[1320stang]

My little race 289 had a tunnel ram with dual, unmodified stock 660's on it (yes kiddies, that's 1320 cfm) and ran low 11's and it loved those carbs. Now it has a Funnel Web with a Pro Systems DP on it (I think it's about 830 cfm, it was a 750) and it's running mid to high 11's. Despite that, you can still overcarb a motor.

 

[splinterddt]

All my experience with Holley has been working on older carbs. Most people who have had them for a few years do not have problems. When these newer carbs get more years on them, then the "typical" Holley problems will start to happen. If you have someone who knows what they are doing, Holley carbs are awsome when properly tuned. Personally, I don't have the experience adjusting jets and power valves. I like the "out-of-the-box" runnig of my Carter AFB. When I happen to be drag racing though, I have a Predator I use. It doesn't have an idle circuit so it sucks trying to drive around town with it. But at the track it runs consistantly and flawless every pass. My Carter tends to run quicker, but tends to "hiccup" when least expected. I haven't run Edlbrock although they are simular to Carter.

 

[ddonaca351]

lol.....
You guys with old holleys might be having problems with the bushings on the butterfly shafts being worn. (news flash kiddies, ALL CARBS suffer from this)
It allows fuel / air to leak in / out above and below the butterflys. Makes getting a good tune almost impossible....
If you have a stock to mild 260-289-302, you pretty much cant go wrong with a vacuum secondary 600 cfm holley.
If you get a used one, then all bets are off (AS WITH ANY CARB) because you never know how screwed up the last guy had it....
Also check your throttle return spring, always have the t.r.s. mounted on the front end of the intake, if you mount the spring to the back of the manifold (pulling on the same side as the throtle linkage) this will trash the bushings on the butterfly shaft, because both the trs and the linkage are both pulling the shaft from the same side.
Wait untill you try to tune a thermoquad thats all warped, or an eddelbrock with a slightly bent metering rod, or...... all carbs have their problems. And if you don't know what you're doing, it makes all the problems seem that much worse.

DD-

 

[BIGJUNE]

if it is tuned right a 600 should be fine. a friend of mine had a mild 289 with a 4speed and a 750 holley DP, that ran high 12's in the 1/4. they tried a 600 and spent a lot of time trying to get it tuned right and they could never get out of the low 13's, it just depends on the combo. but i do agree that on a mostly stock 302 a 600 would be a bit large, i'd go with a 500 or 525 if it is close to stock, if it is modded a bit more a 600 would be fine. like i have said before holeys are good carbs if you have the patience to tune them and tweak them until you have it set just right, but in my experience even when you get it there you still have to play with it from time to time because they are just finicky, for reliable street driving i prefer an e'brock or carter, or if you have the money a demon. for racing a holley is the way to go, and someone said that the carter was designed for GM's, actually i think it was originally designed for mopars, not GM's. if it mopar thought enough of them to equip every factory hemi ever built with them, then that's good enough for me.

right on

 

[Jonstantine]

thats the point... if tuned right...

i have RV type cam, 3 angle valve job, a good intake and stock stall converter and it took me forever to figure out what i needed to do to tune my carb to get it not to bog off the line...

(289 with an edelbrock 600)
now that ive got it tuned... its excellent, well until i smoked my 2nd gear clutch

(also keep in mind i had no tuning experience when i bought the carb [new])

i had to lower the floats and buy high flow needle and seats