Ok....I know a lot of different people who absolutely hate or love one or the other, but I am not sure I have heard anyone say specifically why they love or hate either particular carb. I am trying to decide between a Edelbrock 1404 500cfm, and a Holley 1850 600cfm for a basically stock 302.
Either one will be perfectly fine. You should notice little, if any, difference between the two on a stocker. The E-brocks tend to be more forgiving for those that do not know how or do not want to bother dialing in the carb....because they are pretty close out of the box. I've had the same luck with new Holleys as well. The 500cfm carb is more suited to your stock 302 and may give you a bit better mileage but the motor certainly will not complain about the 600 Holley either. At this power/modification level its purely a cost/preference issue rather than a performance issue. Get a new one of your choice, slap it on, adjust the idle mixture and forget about it. -Bigchief.
Me niether. I have a rochester. Did hear that if u go for the edelbrock stay away from the ones that have vacuum secondaries
Holley's are prettier. And they perform better. I'd only use an E brick if I had to on a dual quad combo.
For what its worth, just spoke with a long time engine builder last week about same issue - he told me if you want the most reliable carb: bolt it on and go, the choose a Demon Carb. A bit pricey he agreed, 2nd choice is the Holley. 3rd choice Edelbrock. Must tune/retune Edelbrocks frequently, not so with the Holley
every time the weather changed my holly would change. Went with the 500 edelbrock on a pretty stock 302. I get lazy in my old age.
My experience has been exactly the opposite. I just gave away 2, 600 CFM Holleys. I'm just fed up with 'em. Edelbrock's are my choice for bolt and go. If you're gonna run a Holley, keep a screwdriver in your back pocket. my $.02
Same here. I have given away every Holley I've had and will never use another. My experience is that not only do the constantly need attn, I have had to replace leaking gaskets anytime they sit for 6 mos. or more. PITA. Every Edelbrock I have used has given me nice golded brown plugs right out of the box. Only the idle needs to be adjusted.
I ran a Holley on a stock 302 for about 4 years. Zero problems once it was set up correctly. It ran great and I got 18 mpg on the highway, while the stock 2 bbl would give me 20.
Me too. I've run many of both..Carter/Edelbrock's for all the dual quad set up's i've done and a few single's as well. And Holley's when i have a motor that's not so stock. I've just had better luck getting the throttle response and performance i'm looking for out of the Holley vs the Edelbrocks. As Big Chief said, out of the box they will run, and normally run pretty good. Some slight tuning and you should be fine. The Holley's are more finicky and need a bit more tuning depending on the application...BUT, in my own opinion, offer better performance.. For your need's, i'd go with the 500.. It'll feed your 302 just fine,and it's a plug and play type carb. I have run into issues with fuel pressure with the Edelbrock's though. Just a little too much and they act up..and that's with stock mechanical pump's besides, so you *may* need a pressure regulator. Tony
Had em both. The Holley is cheaper and I think it looks better. Have'nt had an issue with either one.
The Demon is a Holley in pretty cloths. They do work well but I can hardly say that the entry level StreetDemon is anything approaching 'most reliable'. I've had several issues with my Demon on my stock 289 and its still not right.....and I sorta know what I'm doing. The Holleys do need some attention on some motors although I havn't had to touch mine in years so I don't think they're that bad. The E-brocks have a tendency to be good out of the box and more or less stay that way unless you feed them dirty fuel, then your screwed. We've put a ton of marine E-brocks on boats and have had nearly zero complaints. -Bigchief.
Personaly im a holley man even thogh you do have to tinker alittle. But ive used edlebrocks that you have to tinker with i say different strokes for different folks. Use what ya want if you dont like it sell it an get the other.
I hate Holley 4bbl's . Just too much fiddling with all the time to get it right . Eldelbrock if you are tight on funds , but work pretty good . BUT I really prefer Barry grant carbs . Price is fair and a great carb . They perform very well and don't have to tinker with all the time . The Demons and Jr's are very nice . But You can ask a dozen hotrodders and they will all be different . It's really on what you have to put the carb or multi carbs on . 2bbl you have holley and the best is Stromburg ! Carter were a good choice on a small CFM , but the Holley 4100 line was a good Ford carb . It's really up to you and what you can afford and most of all want .
Not true anymore. The new Holley 4160 is equipped with Holley's new Tru-Set needle and seats, which have eliminated the need for external adjustments. This allows for easier "Bolt on and Go" performance. The floats have been factory-set for optimum fuel levels at 3 to 6 psi of fuel pressure, and should never need adjustment, and at $275.95 out of the box, you won't find a better deal. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HLY%2D0%2D80457S&N=700+115&autoview=sku
Day late and a dollar short for me. They shoulda done it 20 years ago. Now let me say, if I were building a car for the track I'd probably run a holley.
Holleys have great throttle response as Edelbrocks have felt lazy to me off the line. I had one on my Pontiac and it hardley would chirp the tires. I tried an old Holley I had sitting on my shelf and it would fry the tires. My friends actually thought I changed my engine.
I've had good luck with Carters and Edelbrocks as well as Holleys. I think the biggest reason why was that they were all purchased new . . . except for one Edelbrock 750 that was a couple of weeks old when I got it for $125. Kid bought it new, started dinking around with it before he ever put it on the car. I think he was following his loud-mouthed buddy's advice that he had to rejet the carb for his engine. Used it for a trade-in on a Holley. All it needed was the stock rods and jets for the 350' altitude I used to live at. It's been on my 32 for quite a while, now jetted & rodded for the altitude (3300') and it's a good runner.
Maybe but....be prepared to disassemble the carb and get all the chips/shavings (by-product of the manufacturing process and overlooked by their QC dept.) out of the carb. Work great after that.
Hmmmm , explain this? I have been running an 800 DP Holley on a Pontiac 400 with stock heads, stock bottom end with intake, Holley, and headers as the only aftermarket parts and have had the carb on this combo for over 8 years and it has been the most reliable carb and has never been apart. I drive it on the steet 99% of the time and 2 times a year to the track. 12.5 second 1/4 mile time slips and many street miles. Before this I ran a 650 DP on the street in another car for years also. I would say Holley is a street strip carb and if you want strickly a street carb, go Q-jet for the small primaries for good milage.
This discussion has come up several times before, and I think the response has always been (effectively) the same - Holleys perform better once you get them dialed in, while Edelbrocks seemed to be the 'just bolt it on' choice. My suggestion is to simply think about the kinda driving you are gonna do - if you want to squeak every .01 second from your quarter-mile ETs, learn to tune a Holley. If you just want it to run well, to idle and accelerate smoothly, without a lot of fuss, get an Edelbrock. I've used them both several times, and most recently installed a Holley 770 Street Avenger on a mild 350. Right off the bat I had an off-idle stumble that required upping the size of the squirters, and (per a good friend's advice) I changed the vac secondary springs from silver to yellow to get them open a little earlier. These are easy things to do, but they do require diagnosing, changing, testing, re-changing, etc... which can either be frustrating as hell or a fun challenge, depending on your mindset. For grins, google 'street avenger squirters' and then check out the discussion groups suggesting how best to determine what may/not be the best way to tune your new Holley for your specific motor... gives you an idea of what to expect just in case your new Holley does not behave like you expected it to... then decide if you'd be frustrated by what you read, or if it sounds like fun to you.
Yeah I used to run a Holley too, after ten years of yearly rebuilds to rid myself of internal vacuum leaks, it now is used as a door stop in my garage!. Works great as a door stop but sucks as a carb.
Holley: easy to work on, easy to burn through a tank of gas, easy to remove and replace with a quadrajet.
After reading all the replies, I am thinking I might go find a QuadraJet in a junkyard and rebuild it. I already have some Rochester tuning manuals laying around the house. I figure for under 100 bucks I can get a good core, a rebuild kit, an adapter plate to put it on a square-bore manifold, and an assortments of jets, rods, and springs to tune it to my app.
I own both kinds of Holleys... those that leak fuel all over the place and those that are gonna. They DEFINITELY require more frequent tuning and adjusting than an Edelbrock.. (which I also own) but work ok when they are working ok... if that makes sense!
If you have an automatic trans, go with the Holley. Lot less dinking around to get the kickdown hooked up. I like the edelbrock when I want a perfect idle, mileage and a good reliable carb. Holley is good if you want to go fast. Spend the 275 bucks and get one new, don't screw around with a worn out used rebuilt piece of junk.
Have run both, on Drag cars and street....the holley is a fine carb, untill it sits un used for a while...bowl leaks, gasket shrinkage...the Carter/ Edelbrock carb is better looking(IMHO), less prone to leakage,pretty much plug and play.....
Don't like Edelbrocks. They Suck. They're a bit closer right out of the box, but if you know how to tune a carb even in the slightest, the Holleys are by far the better choice. Try and rebuild an Edelbrock and then get it to run right again, hope your not busy for a few hours. As opposed to the Holley on my 56, rebuilt it two years ago, set it up in 10 minutes MAX, haven't had to touch it since. My 50 has an Edelbrock on it(came with the car), and it'll be in the classifieds as soon as I get a Holley. Oh, and last but not least, I think Edelbrock carbs look like total shit. Drew
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