When did holley 4 barrel carbs become 'The carb to use?'. When were they cost effective in speed shops? I guess they started to appear on Muscle cars late 60's early seventies maybe. But I was wondering when started to appear on race cars, circuit or drag race. As much as its not my first preference, I am going to fit 2 600 holley 1850 vac sec carbs, on my 6/71 blown 327. For cost reliability and practicality reasons. I have gone to a fair bit of effort to make the engine look as traditionally styled as I can, to match my 34 pickup. Satin finish blower, Isky/Cragar drive, script steel rocker covers, fuelly heads, hunt magneto, 327, hairpins, reverse chromies, whitewall rags etc. Obviously, I wasnt at Fremont in 67', cos I wasnt born, and I cant figure out from all the pics in the 'drag cars in motion' thread, what the cars running blown gas, ran for induction. It seems like every car running a blower, either had an injector hat of some description, or strombergs. Did anyone ever run holley carbs on thier blowers back then (67)? More American Graffitti (i know, its not exactly a great historical reference, but its all i have) showed a few aspirated cars running holley carbs, from memory, that was supposed to be NYE 65'? Is my engine going to look funny? Nostalgic, but with Holley's on it.... All opinions very welcome.
I had one stock on a 57 ford 312 motor. I started seeing the 4160 around I think it was around 64 or close to.
The Holley four barrel that everyone thinks of when someone says "holley" debuted in 1957, and they first appeared on the higher horsepower Corvette engines in '64. My 1966 Honest Charley catalog sold both new factory performance Holleys and AFBs for the performance minded. How about a new pair of factory numbered 409 AFBs for $60.00?
The first Holley 4V carbs were the infamous "Teapots" AKA Towering Inferno jobs on Y-block Fords in the early '50's. The first "Sprawley Holleys" appeared in '57, by '60 they were quite common, both factory and aftermarket.
One thing you might consider- look for older 1850s, or use the older float bowls, with the "Holley" block letters that reduce in height from left to right. The newer "straight" letters, or the modern "rounded" style letters, stick out like a sore thumb, IMHO. Here's (sort of) an example of how they look: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories You can get an idea of the appearance. I'll go out & scrounge one up in the garage later. I dunno about their availability in OZ- probably not worth importing them from the USA- but a thought.
I dont have much experience with AFB's. I suppose though, I can easily image how a pair like that could have been used in a blown application. How much do those 66 prices blow you away huh. Am I off in thinking that most who ran blowers, ran injected on methanol or pop?
There were lots of injected blown engines, but there were also a fair amount of blowers with carbs on top. Most of the pictures I remember from the late '50s through mid '60s had AFBs on them.
Sweet, well this all sounds fairly cool. I think I can make this work, have my Holley simplicity and tune-ability, yet still look reasonably period for 67.
How much do those 66 prices blow you away huh. I took a swing shift job in '64 because it paid an extra 15 cents an hour, giving me $2.15 an hour. Navy paid $177 a month. so it was good money. and best part was when someone asked what I did. I was a "Tail Stretcher" at a extrusion plant.
First appearance of various 4 barrels: Carter: WCFB - 1952 AFB - 1957 AVS - 1966 TQ - 1969 Holley: 2140 - 1953 4000 - 1955 4150 - 1957 4160 - 1958 Rochester: 4GC - 1952 Q-Jet - 1965 Stromberg: 4A - 1952 Jon
And a good tip is to get the universal carb converted by a good carb shop forsupercharger use by having the air bleed jets and the metering block emulsion tubes converted for specific duty as well as having the power valve signal route changed to manifold index. Small things to prevent the otherwise embarrasing POP of leaness and ring life extended.
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