Help! Noob here! I've been reading posts from here for a long time but this is my first post. I have a Ford 223 with the stock Holley single barrel carb. It's been freshly rebuilt and runs great! Actually, it starts a whole lot better than my 06 Nissan. The problem is, it makes a really annoying whistle when I'm driving at a steady pace. It doesn't do it when I'm accelerating or decellerating but man it's annoying. I've tried all the vacuum leak tests and I can't find a vaccuum leak anywhere and it runs too good for me to suspect that. I tried a spare carb and it did the same thing. I can't figure it out. Any ideas would be great? Thanks Daniel
Hey Daniel, welcome aboard. I've got a Willys pickup with the 1v 226 engine in it. It makes that same stupid whistle and I haven't been able to find the source either. Mine does it at about half throttle while cruising. If I floor it, or let all the way off it doesn't do it. I was starting to think it's just the way the air flows past the throttle plate... My 1 barrel is a Carter YF. Hopefully someone who has fixed this will chime in. This whistle drives me nuts too.
Ummmmm...... Can you hear it with an air cleaner installed?.........As in, have you tried, make that RAN it both ways?
I had a whistle last summer on my 292 right after I had the manifolds off. No performance problems, idle adjust screw worked, both rich and lean. I, just experimenting, loosened the manifold attach bolts a bit and retigntened them and it stopped. I attributed the apparent "no leak" symptoms to the possibility that a leak so small it would whistle might not show up as a leak. ??
haha.... find me a 4V intake for a 226 Willys/Continental flatty and i'll solve that whistle problem reeeeaaaal quick!
Ive got the same issue with an OT fuel injected Ford F-700 Truck engine at where I work..cant seem to find it
Try having 3 in your ear at all times! Mine whistle in sync. It's kind of neat. I like it. ******Knuckles
Funny you mention that. My TR6 had twin Strombergs... I used to synch them by ear and listen to the whistle. I did the same thing when I converted it over to triple Webers. I could get them dead on, but used to always double check it with a synch gauge.
So I guess what you're saying is it's normal? I can't imagine it being normal because it's just too damn loud. I mean, at 60mph down the highway, I can still here it over everything else. I guess I'll start looking around the intake, but I'm about 99% sure it's coming from the carb itself. Thanks for the quick response!!! Daniel
Yep the old 1bbl carbs could make a racket . Pulled the stock A/C off my 54 Chev,back in 61, and put a little chrome hot rod A/c on it. Whisled like mad ,had the mesh in it for a filter. Ya know the did call the stock filters " Filter/silencers" .
I too had that really annoying whistle with the carb on my 235...thought it was the little chrome air cleaner that was on it, got louder when I took it off... drove me nuts,bought a stock ac from a fellow HAMBer and figured out if I kept it a little loose on the carb the noise got quieter... keep it just snug now and no more whistleing... Brian.
Does anyone know if a newer "cold air" intake system, basically piping to move the cleaner in a different spot, would make a difference in the sound? I'm willing to try anything. oh, and I don't have the original air cleaner/silencer.
Take a look at the gasket between middle casting and throttle blade casting. The gasket is narrow and could fail there if the carb screws are a little loose and sometimes when they're not loose. You may find about a 1/2" of gasket missing. It may idle rough as well.
This is an easy one. It's caused by a sharp (possibly new) throttle blade. Air rushing past that edge is whistling. If you can take the ****erfly loose from the throttle shaft, lightly polish the edges of it, just enough to knock the edge off. It will reduce or eliminate the whistle...
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