Technical More Carberator opinions - Holley as a daily driver

How 'bout a Holley? Maybe a 4160 , 600 cfm on a daily driver 350 chevy
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/street/

I've only run Holleys , dual Holley 660s on a tunnel ram 427 big block chevy drag boat, And had a 750 double pumper on a 396 chevy BB street truck, mucho years ago

Are Holleys like the 4160 600cfm gonna be good choice for no fuss reliable, no leaky, once you get it set up on daily driver .

In other words Holley or Edelbrock/Carter type carb best for a no fuss daily driver?

Weee !!!

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Buy a Holley #80457-S and be done with it.

https://www.holley.com/products/fue...bDSb2JTXXVICH2WMzN1Li2-qLFEUEQb_7mA4Af8sC8aI_

 

I schedule a carb overhaul every 5 years for Holleys used as daily drivers. If you're OK with that, then yeah, they're fine.

If you can get an AFB type carb working right, then it'll run forever without maintenance. Notice that Holleys have gaskets holding in the fuel, the Carter design does not.

Maybe the new gasket materials last longer? Maybe the new fuels eat them up too? I don't know

 

A relationship with a Holley carb is either a love them deal or hate them deal. I got along with them great and could get them dialed in just the way I wanted pretty easy. My buddy hated them and if he got something with a Holley it came off and he stuck it in the back of my truck when I stopped there sometimes to be found later.
If you like them and know how to get them dialed in they are great, If you are one of those bolt it on, set the idle speed and mixture and never touch it guys with a stock or mild engine go Edelbrock. I've got one that I had on my 71 C20 with the 350 in it that was just what Squirrel said, Bolted on, set and forgotten until the truck sat for a while and the carb needed a kit. That same carb will go on my 292 in the 48 when I get it going simply because I have it and it shouldn't be too much for a 292.

 

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Classic 4160 is zinc finish and manual choke. 80457-S is shiny finish and electric choke.

 

U like road shoulders?

 

I have many of both, and I like both. However, for a daily I would go with the Edelbrock.

 

I have a Holley 570 Street Avenger on a mostly stock driver 350 (mild cam, dual exhaust, Edelbrock dual plane) and it works great. My dad has 3 of them on various engines (SBC, BBC, SBF), and likes them on all. The Street Avenger is a great carb for a typical driven street car.

I've never been an Edelbrock carb fan, but I can make Holleys do what I need.

 

I've had that same Holley 4160 600cfm carb on my daily driver '69 Suburban for 15 years now, and never touched it after setting it up. If it needs a rebuild kit I sure can't tell as it runs great, and until it doesn't I wont touch it. My engine is a stock 350 with just an Edelbrock Performer intake and headers added.
I love Holley carbs, and don't mind messing with them, and tuning them. I have enough spare parts to rebuild one without buying any kits. I have a Quick Fuel 650 cfm double pumper on my '39 chev coupe with 350, and double 450 cfm Holleys on the tunnel ram on my '37 Austin with a 350. No problems with any of those either after initial tuning and setup.

 

I have had Holley's and I burnt the hood on a 40 sedan when the carb caught fire, I remember vividly Randy Nash's '32 roadster burning in the middle of the street in rush hour traffic, holley carburetor,

I don't like fooling around with carburetors, I believe Hollys are great for racing and people that like to tinker with a carburetor but for me I like the simplicity of a Edelbrock, put it on and drive. HRP

 

The blue gaskets , if handled carefully , are reusable , plus they seldom if ever leak , far different than the old cork gaskets .IME .

 

I know these were not options in your original post; however:

(1) Carter thermoquad (TQ) part number 9800 (no PCV) or 9810 (with PCV)
(2) Original (DEFINITELY not the clone sold by e a few years ago) Rochester Q-Jet. (many numbers)
(3) Genuine Carter AFB (3720sb for A/T, 3721sb for S/T)

The two AFB's on my shop truck lasted 22 years with no maintenance until I retired it from daily use, and sent it to a shop for A/C addition. It sat long enough that one of the floats stuck. Don't you just love modern fuel?

I have a TQ on my personal 350 (and I have a LOT of carbs to pick from )

Jon

 

I thought you had a spread bore intake manifold on your 350?

 

My personal experience with carbs is generally any carb outside a motorcraft or thermoquad will daily just fine if correctly sized and dialed if engine is in good shape. My opinion is pick the one you're the most familiar with and run it

 

I've had and do still have both AFBs of just about every ilk and Holleys in vacuum secondary and double pumper variety on many, many different cars/trucks. My daily driver has a Holley 750 cfm 3310 on a 425 hp FE, and it works great here in Montana from -30 to 110 above, and 2000 ft. to 7000+ ft. elevation on the old pile, and has been on for 80k miles or more. Only adjustments I make is to the idle mixture when it's winter vs summer time.... As someone else stated, if you're not into doing the initial tune and set-up, get an AFB, they generally run good right out of the box. If you like to mess around a little to get things "just right", a Holley is the way to go. And when a Holley is "just right", it's "righter" than any AFB.

 

I would suggest there is no "perfect carburetor" and that (in alphabetic order) Carter AFB and TQ, Holley 4150, 4160, and maybe some Holleys of which I am not familiar, and Rochester Q-Jets can all be set up to run well by someone who understands them.

This would be true for both street use and racing, as long as a carburetor in the appropriate CFM range for the engine is available. But even the same carburetor would have a different calibration for street than race.

Probably the "best" carburetor for any individual is the one with which they are the most familiar.

Jon

 

I used Holley's on Y-blocks, FE's, SBF's and RB Mopar's daily for 40+ years; they all ran well and gave me no problems. Easy to tune... including the 950 cfm 3-barrel that I used on the FE when racing it.

 

I have a 3310 on my 327 with a 4.5 power valve ( idle vacuum around 9.5-10 ) at 750 rpm. The throttle response is good with IIRC silver diaphragm spring. I use a manual choke on carbs. The only issue I have is if the car sits for a couple of weeks or longer, I have to fill the float bowls because they are empty from evaporation of pump premium. ( 10% ethanol).
To the OP, 1450/1460 doesn't matter as long as it has vacuum secondary's.

 

Dat not wa da Holley Sales Rep Expurt told me over da phone. It gotz more different stuffs than dat

 

I have an OT truck with a mostly stock sbc 350 that I drive daily. It has had Quadrajets, edelbrocks of various types, and a Holley 670 “street warrior” or something similarly stupid from around 2010.

The Holley very counterintuitively got the best gas mileage out of all of them, and that includes the current edelbrock AVS II that is on it now.

The Holley was also the fussiest, due to this model featuring a shorter float valve that would stick open somewhat frequently. Holley guy said, “Yes, that is a common issue with those.” As if that’s an acceptable circumstance… It didn’t stay long, but if I were to go with a Holley it would be a regular 4160, nothing with the word “street” in it ever again.

My experience has been that no matter what carb you pick, it will have to be tinkered with occasionally, and gone through about every other year. I attribute this to the crappy gas we get in CA.

 

There is no such thing as a "bolt on and drive" carburetor. The engine will probably run, but if you want it to run as good as it can you'll need to do some tuning on the carburetor. So then the question is which carb are you more comfortable working on and tuning?

 

I'm not too hip on new carbs (meaning I haven't run them). I do remember not liking Holleys because of the constant weeping and poor fuel mileage (I drive my cars as dailys) on others cars I helped with. I came to the conclusion that Holleys were great for racing or high hp motors and modified or stock carbs for stock to mild motors. I really just got into old AFBs a few years ago and I really like them. I also have a couple of shelves in a cabinet full of stock Rochester 2 jets and Quadrajets from the junkyard in the 90s when they were cheap. I was really a Quad guy back then, now AFB are taking over.

 

I have a 4180 series on my 32 , I swapped fuel bowls and added secondary fuel block . It is the most drivable carb , I have ever owned . Starts instantly

 

I've used various Holley's on "daily drivers" since the late 60's.
The only one that I had..."problems" with, was with one of their 6210, Spread Bore carburetors that I put on one of my Moms cars engines. I finally removed it and put a 4150 on it.

From 600 cfm to 850 cfm. Mostly Double Pumpers.

Mike

 

Those were used on the GT Mustang with 5-speed from '83.5 to '85....

 

While I have used Holley and have one on my 53 right now, I always seem to gravitate towards Autolite 4100s for Fords, and Carter AFBs for Mopar and GMs.

 

Thermoquad gets my vote. Been using them for 45 years. I have about 50 of them. I too, like the 9800 series with the electric choke.

 

For simplicity one should not forget the Summit 5-6- and 700 cfm which were fashioned by Holley after the late 50’s Autolites. They’re simple and use Holley parts. For those who have purchased them they are very close the “out of the box” user friendly. On you tube the Hot Rod Reverend shows how to easily tune out problems if they occur.

 

When it comes to carburators, you'll get as many opinions as there are people. Over the years, the Carter AFB style has my vote for a good "set it and forget it" carburetor. The style Holley that jimmy six mentioned is a very good street carburetor as well; like he stated, it was patterned after the Autolite 4100, with annualar discharge venturi clusters.