Dead old 750 Holley - Resurrected !

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'63GT

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So a good friend of mine brings me and old 4779 Holley 750 DP, and says, "fix it! F$%@# thing won't run". "Idles fat, and there's no adjustability on the mixture screws.
"See if you can get it to flow better, while you're at.. OK?"
Holley4779.jpg

Like many of you have seen before, and probably know why it don't F$%@# run.
So I do a quick Inspec to see if it had been monkeyed with in it's life.. (monkeys like to do that..) and all of the numbers appear to match! Good!
Air bleeds appear to be OE.. A quick reference of my book confirms.

BTW, here's a cool tool to date your carb by using the code BELOW your List Number:
ListLegend.jpg
ListLegendExample.jpg

Looks like this carbs birthday is Sept 25 1973 (2693)

A quick flow test show's it flows 834 cfm. Pretty good! this model has the Down-Leg boosters, which I've found to flow about 40 cfm better than traditional boosters. So this is right in line with previous findings. A 650 will typically flow a tick over 700 cfm, stock and nearly 750 with modified Down-Legs installed.

I get it apart and run a file along the body/block mating surface. Bingo! it's warped.
Since I'm fairly confidant this is the issue for the complaint, I figured I'd go for more CFM !

It's a pretty common practice to bolt an 850 baseplate to the 750 body for more flow, but those aren't as easy to come by, so the next best thing is to thin the throttle shafts and replace the OE shaft screws with button head screws.
But before we take out these 'steaked-in' screws, lets remove that part of the screw with:
PilotDrillBit.jpg
A 5/64" piloted drill.
ScrewRemove1.jpg
Sorry for the blurry pic, I was on my 3rd cup of coffee. As you can see, the pilot on the drill will center on the 'steaked' screw. Just take it down to the level of the shaft, like so.
Most of you will say, "NO, DUH" to this, but I'm never surprised to see screw slots nearly stripped. So always use the right tool for the job. The bit should fit the screw and hold it like this:
ProperSDbitFit.jpg

NOTE: the throttle blades are numbered on the bottom side. Write down this orientation for reassembly. Or, you can number them with an arrow fwd.
This is interesting.. looks like a lot of fuel was indeed going through the carb. look at the cleaned area below the throttle blades. Also the witness mark where the blades used to ride.
TransferSlotWitness.jpg

Remove the choke lever off of the throttle shaft, pull back the shaft spring, and pull the shaft out.
RemoveTShaft.jpg

When I pulled the shaft out of the baseplate, I noticed another common problem with old carbs.. the throttle lever is loose on the shaft. You can see the dark area, where the shaft has been working loose here: at the end of my pick.
LooseThrottleShaft.jpg
SteakedShaft.jpg

I've got the shaft through a thick square bar with a hole in it. Just center punch the edges like this. Good as new!
TO BE CONTINUED
 
Been decades since I've screwed with DP Holleys. Must be nice LOL to have your own flow bench
 
CONTINUED:

Here's the shaft in my mill vise. I use .0015 and .002 feeler gauges to keep it level. (within a 1/2 thou anyway)
ThinningTshaft.jpg

I generally set the endmill to cut .050 off of the shaft. this will leave a bit over .100 of shaft left.
Glass bead does a great job of deburring.
ThinnedShaft.jpg


CompletedBasePlate.jpg
Fast FWD to completed baseplate. For those of you who haven't had the throttle blades out.. The edges of the blades are tapered to fit the throttle bores, when they are closed. Be mindful of this when reassembling ! Or the carb may not idle correctly and give you FITS.

Next, lets see how it flows ! 876 cfm ! an additional 42 cfm

One thing I always do is, check booster alignment....
BoosterCorrection.jpg
BoosterCorrection2.jpg

Holy smokes Batman! the earth is tilted !!
This is one of the worst I've seen.. The fix is easy. place a tapered punch into the booster, and slowly rotate the booster. (It will slip/rotate on the factory crimp) ...until it is level. Use a center punch to 'steak' the factory crimp, so it doesn't move.

The secondaries received the same treatment, but were not as bad as the Primaries.
A quick flow test showed a 2 cfm loss, Pri and Sec flow. BUT booster signal was raised slightly. 11.5-11.8 Average to 12.2-12.8 average H2o (Dwyer 16" U-tube Manometer)
This is a nice to know gain. More on that later.

Next: lets fix that warpage..

TO BE CONTINUED..
 
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PriSurface.jpg

Not too bad.... the initial fly-cut (.002) is showing the burring around the drillings knocked down..
One more cut.
SteakedBooster.jpg

That did the trick ! circle and arrow is showing where I 'steaked' the booster crimps

I decided to tap for 8-32 threads to accept jets for T-slot reducers.
ThreadingTslot.jpg
I used the chuck to make sure I'm straight.
To make the jets, I use brass 8-32 set screws. I've got a piece of 1/8x1 1 1/2 long with 8-32 treads centered in it. then I clamp a second piece of 1/8x1x1 1/2 to it to keep the set from spinning out when I drill. In this case .076"
TslotJet.jpg
Yes, drilled from the end. I will de-burr it before I install it.

Secondary side gets the same surface treatment..
SecBodySurface1.jpg
This side is technically worse... The yellow circle is showing some gasket survived the Fly-Cutter. (which I will have to sharpen, I've got some chatter marks going on here..) The green circle is where I touched the fly-cutter for zero on my next cut.
SecBodySurface2.jpg
Better, but the yellow circle is showing the accelerator channel is still below the surface!! (nice finish this time :) )
SecBodySurface3.jpg
My knife is pointing to a slight low spot, but the good news (Lt green arrow) the accelerator channel is flush now.

Next up is something I like to do to avoid the drilling of the primary throttle blades, in the event idle quality cannot be obtained when larger cams are used.
While this is NOT a 4 corner idle carb, there is however very small idle feed holes in the secondary side. So, rather than drilling holes in the Pri blades, I like to install/replace the sec opening stop screw with a modified idle adjustment screw.
SecIdleScrew.jpg
ImprovisedSecIdleScrew.jpg

SecIdleScrewInplace.jpg

If proper idle speed gets you too deep into the transfer slot, and renders the idle adjust/mix screws inoperable, just back off the jamb nut here, and turn in/up the screw to open the secondaries a bit, and re-tighten the jamb-nut.
Much easier to do, while it's on the car..

TO BE CONTINUED...
 
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Good work! Are you going to convert it 4-corner idle since you're in it that far?

lol I KNEW someone would ask me that !
I don't know... I don't think my friend wants that... I can check?
 
There's a couple more flow tests I'd like to do. 1 the addition of a K&N Stub Stak.

KNstubstack.jpg


FlowStubstack.jpg

Mikey likes it ! this added 22 cfm to the primary side, but next to nothing to the sec 2 cfm
which brings our total up to 900 cfm even!
One other bonus here too is the effect the Stub Stak had upon booster strength.. it actually added .2~.4 h2o of strength!

Since this carb didn't have a choke blade in it, I dug through all my junk and found all of the parts needed to complete a OE Holley manual choke.
What a disappointment that was.... with the SS removed, the choke valve killed 18 cfm, drawing us back to 858 cfm. (without SS)

Unfortunately, I'm done for now... apparently carb kits are slim pickin's right now, so I can't give you pics of the finished product.
I've got one other flow test to perform, but other duties have be sidetracked for now.

STAY TUNED... more to come !
 
Well ! I finally got a kit, and TIME to get this thing done. I've had projects come in, and honey-do's to perform, so here we are !

The tasks today are pretty straight forward... Get some measurements to get some of the guesswork out of tuning, and assembly.
First up, baseplate to body.
Now, @mopowers asked if I intended on converting this carb to 4 corner idle. GOOD QUESTION ! answer, no..
As you see below, this baseplate has an open cavity occupying the space needed to drill idle feed holes at the bottom of the secondaries. (green arrows) As you can see the primaries have. (blue arrows)
HOWEVER: there is small idle feed holes (.022"), on the secondary side, in the same location as the primaries AND transfer slots. (fed via channels in top side of baseplate, see below) I chose to leave these sec idle feed holes at .022".
BaseplateIdleChannel.jpg

CompletedBasePlate.jpg

Moving on...
Observing tradition, I have left out the base screws (red circles), in the event they decide to back out and race their way to a piston. (nice view of the thinned throttle shafts)
BaseplateScrews.png

I found a potential problem with the primary block/body gasket... No hanging chads in my shop !!!
can't have this come loose and create a shooter issue..
BlockGSKTflaw.jpg

I did find an issue with the PVCR. They were not drilled completely through on one side.
I fixed it.
PVCRdrill.jpg

The balance of the assembly was without incident and straight-forward.
I did want to include one of the measurements I found surprising. Usually the Idle Feed Restriction (IFR) in a OE Holley is .029". This one is .033" Which is about what I would have drilled to for a larger cam motor. (250°@ .050 on up)
Primary:
IFR: .033
PVCR: .061
PV: 6.5 (window)
jet: 76 (OE 75s)
Pri shooter: 031 Generic cam (equivalent to blue cam)
N.S.: .150

Secondary:
IFR: .029 (drilled but not functional to base)
jet: 78 (OE 76s)
PVCR: blocked (OEM)
shooter: 032 Generic cam (equivalent to blue cam)
N.S.: .150

As mentioned in previous the last post, I've added a manual choke:
ManChoke.jpg

At this point, I thought I was done but, I discovered Holley doesn't make a throttle adapter for this carb.
So I had to improvise (red arrow) I also spun out a custom KD link (orange arrow)
ChyLinkAdptb.jpg

ChyLinkAdpt.jpg

And here she is !! don't laugh, she's embarrassed about her worn plating..
FinishedCarb.jpg
The bag has the base screws I didn't install, along with the OE secondary throttle opening adjuster.

Now! I've got bad news, and good news. My customer doesn't want it... Moved on to a bigger carb. (440) The good news is, it is now FOR SALE!
Holley 750 4779 (flowed)
 
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Cool!
Someone who can flow a carb!

Have you ever obtained any numbers on the straight-leg booster carbs, like the common 3310 750's? If so, what have you found regarding their actual versus advertised CFM?
 
Cool!
Someone who can flow a carb!

Have you ever obtained any numbers on the straight-leg booster carbs, like the common 3310 750's? If so, what have you found regarding their actual versus advertised CFM?

The straight leg boosters are about a 40cfm handicap, compared to the down-versions.

I did a 650 DP (4777) Holley for an iron head 360 I did a few years back..
That carb flowed 709 as shipped from Holley, with the choke door removed.

When I added the AEM Down-Leg Stepped boosters, it immediately shot to nearly 750cfm, after thinning the shafts, flow increased to 792cfm. That was one crisp carb!

I'm going to be doing another one of those sometime soon, so stay tuned for that.
 
Thanks for posting! This last week i redid the needle & seat, power valve, new gaskets etc.. on a Holley 3310-3 and same for a Holley 1945. I’m no where near as experienced as you are!

Did you learn from some of the Holley manuals, or is most of your knowledge from on-the-job experience?
 
Thanks for posting! This last week i redid the needle & seat, power valve, new gaskets etc.. on a Holley 3310-3 and same for a Holley 1945. I’m no where near as experienced as you are!

Did you learn from some of the Holley manuals, or is most of your knowledge from on-the-job experience?

I've been at it for quite a while.... yes, done a lot of reading/research, and what used to be called 'seat of the pants' tuning. Good 'ol trial n error. Emphasis on the error part !
I've also had the unique opportunity to learn from some of the best Stock and Super Stock racers here on the left coast. One in particular, who has gone on to eternal rest, who was willing to take time he thought was effort well spent on someone eager to learn. I'm so grateful for that.

But! I'm not the lone ranger here, there are plenty on FABO who are very talented in their own right.. and I don't intend to take away from any of them.
I'm just the one willing to take the time and share.
Thank you, I'm humbled...
 
I had one of those roller linkage carbs at one time, think I paid $20 for it as a core. Thing was a Frankenstein of parts. Note the fuel bowl mismatch! Didnt do much to it, dont even know what happened to it. IIRC I found another center hung bowl and sold it cheap as a PARTS CARB.
2012-04-01.jpg
 
I had one of those roller linkage carbs at one time, think I paid $20 for it as a core. Thing was a Frankenstein of parts. Note the fuel bowl mismatch! Didnt do much to it, dont even know what happened to it. IIRC I found another center hung bowl and sold it cheap as a PARTS CARB.
View attachment 1715586565

Yeah, Frankenstein, Fugly, Fill in the blank...
An old 830 ?
 
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