Do they make a holly 390 CFM carburetor (or equivalent) with a choke? I'm considering dual Holley 390 CFM for a tunnel ram setup but it's going to be driven on the street and I would like it to have a choke. From what I have seen, these do not come with a choke plate. Thank you
There is two Holley #8007 vacuum secondary 390 cfm with choke plates, posted last Tuesday in the Hamb cl***ifieds
I have two 390’s on the Boss 302 in my Cyclone. I bought them in 1989 when they were less expensive, took them out of the box in 2019 to install on this build. After some jetting and tweaks they work very well. And look *****’n!
The front carb is the primary carb so I have a manual choke on it, I removed the choke from the rear carb. If you look close at this picture you will see the cable and choke linkage.
How about a pair of 2 barrel's . This was mild 600 hp sbc DD. I removed chokes , Any reason why you want chokes , Wants you know what engine likes its easy to start ,keeping rpms 1,800 - 2,000. just do not have a fast idle so you can remove foot , after about 30 sec or so most will run as heat build up. I have used Out of box to full race with adjustable Air bleeds & etc. on 434 sbc On street . I ran side saddle for jet change on Vic Ram . Many options in Holley's. I also fell on some carb set up the Ratios need to be adjusted for not to sensitive for foot movement.
The choke ****erfly has a function other than helping with starting on a street driven engine. A carburetor design engineer once explained to me that the choke ****erfly acts as a "straightening vane" to improve the air velocity in the carburetor at lower RPM's by minimizing air "eddy currents". This tends to promote slightly better engine efficiency at lower RPM. For 50 years, I have installed chokes on ALL aftermarket multiple carburetor setups (basically dual quads, but dual deuces would also qualify) that utilize solid linkage. So far, no complaints. We even left the choke ****erfly in place on 2-barrels used on circle racers when still building those. We would narrow the choke shaft to the point there were no threads left to hold the ****erfly, then pop-rivet the ****erfly in place. Wire the choke in the wide-open position. It helped when the car was just coming out of the corner. Jon
@carbking I think alot & donot have Access to all test equipment, Does air clearer design matter Height , diameter, height between choke horn to bottom of air top , base , shape , bells , air straighteners. These are thing's I wonder how much done with on Flow bench then move to Dyno then repeat to see what works with that combo to the best in development, Boosters , throat design etc. Just in air into carb... Not including any thing below carb, spacer ,Intake , heads, cam . I think I go to the Extreme in thinking, I wonder in engine development how In depth research is ,,, Change one thing then out come good or bad improvements. Dyno Not after engine built & sticking on a Dyno Then tunning what you have to parts used ,
This will probably annoy someone but how about checking out those made in China carburetor clones? I see ones listed with 390cfm and manual chokes. I'm using an AFB clone with manual choke and am quite happy with it.
Goldmountain - if you are happy, then it is doing well for you. The Chinese small engine carb clones seem to mostly work; or in the words of one of the better local small engine repair shop owners: "They are much cheaper than the originals, buy them by the case. If the first one doesn't work, throw it away and install one until you find one that works, just don't even think about rebuilding it". As to the clones for larger (car / truck) engines. I have had several sent to me for work; and they are returned untouched COD. Personal opinion from checking them out years ago is that they are useful as weights for a trot line, if you trot line fish for catfish. They can also be useful if one has a strong arm and a rabbit problem in one's garden. To date, no one has shown me a valid reason to even consider buying one; look at the prices of real carburetors on ebay. To be fair, I have not had the interest to check one out recently; possibly the newer ones are better. Jon
Keep in mind the 390 CFM Holleys were designed to work on 4, 6 and small 8 cyl. engines in the '80s, and were available in two models: 0-6299 (B) 4160 was calibrated for 4 cyl. engines and utilized a reverse power valve and float ***embly necessary because of high speed vibrations in 4 cyl. engines, and came with a manual choke. 0-8007 (B) 4160 was also designed and calibrated for small 6 and 8 cyl. engines, is conventional in operation, and featured an electric choke. The 8007 is a very popular 4V on flathead Fords. Bob
I was not aware of the two versions of the 4160. The two I have were originally equipped with electric chokes, I removed one and converted the other to manual. As mentioned previously they work well on my Boss engine, I have progressive linkage and have dialed in the vacuum secondary’s.
It is a Shelby branded manifold, I was once told they made very few of them. I have only seen two others, I bought it in the late ‘80’s. I recently found this:
I worked for a friend who had a 67 Shelby GT350 that had the two 4V setup, he said it took quite a bit of tweeking to get to run smooth around town but it was great on the highway. I never thought of him as a carb guy. lol
19Eddy30 - I also do not have access to a dyno, but when Carter Carburetor Company was still in business, I had a great relationship with their folks in customer service and some of their engineers. A bit of background: in the late 1970's and early 1980's, when Carter was still very much in business, my company was the only source for rebuilding kits for early Carter carburetors. Carter found out about my business and invited me to the main office for discussion, after which Carter started sending me a lot of customers (they didn't make the parts, so it got a disgruntled customer off of their backs). I became good friends with the folks in their Customer Service Dept., as well as a number of engineers. It was one of the Carter engineers who told me about the choke ****erfly as I posted above. At the time, the circle track dirt racers were plugging the power valves and upjetting on 2-barrel carbs. The same engineer told me to USE the power valve. We PROVED (on the race track, not on a dyno) that he was right as we set up the carbs with a choke ****erfly and a power valve. Cars with these carbs would exit the corner a fraction of a second sooner than cars without these items (just enough to get am inside edge on the car in front, and p*** then on the straight). I know of a couple of drag racers who have also proved by improvement of average E.T. that reshaping the air intake on some carburetors help. Perhaps my liking for genuine Carter carburetors, as I have often posted on the H.A.M.B. is a result of having some really expert help in learning to understand them. Dyno's are great tools, but some (many ?) of us do not have access to one; but everyone has a spot where several timed runs from zero to 55 can be averaged, modifications made, and more timed runs made. And while it is easy to ask for advice, and generally receive good advise on the H.A.M.B. and other social forums, the "proof of the pudding" is always in individual testing. Jon
@carbking thanks for reply.. Might be miss under stood what I am curious about.. Not Dyno testing , Before Flow testing first, development and research ,. how air characteristics work what affect On design , shapes , sizes , Air filter base way there made , Filter size , choke horns ect . Just carb its self before intake , carb & above . I guess what I am asking how much testing & prototypes tested before Settling on whats the best , designed to go with Then to dyno , then there 100's of thing's on engine can change & try something out ,,,, On dyno " not tunning a engine" for what you built & parts used , Dyno When testing & development parts I think you would need a warehouse parts to see what works the best Combination.
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