Holley carbs. Love'em or hate'em?

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moparker

moparker

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I have a Holley 750 Dbl pumper on my Duster. The float stuck on me last year. Gas on the intake etc. I have heard similar stories on here as well. Thinking I might go with a different brand. Which ones do you guys like?
 
I'm a fan of the good ol' AFB and Thermoquad on the street.Though it is known that a Holley can out perform them (in most cases) at the track.Still the Carters(Edelbrock) is my carb of choice on my bracket cars.
 
Depends on the stockpile,in my garage... Holley is my main choice ,for hot street n' strip. Carters /Eddy's ,are nice for mild street use. Ignore Kendigs/Predators, IMO...
 
The greatest attest to Holley's is the 4160 I have on a small block ford that hasn't seen ANY road time in 11 years. It gets started, idled and revved maybe a few times a year if its lucky. When its going in to hibernation for the long haul I always treat what fuel will be left in the carb and soak the intake down with storage spray.

Basically, what I am getting at is.. you turn the key on, electric fuel pump fills the bowls, two pedal pumps, fires up like it is a daily driver and was running that day. I have never seen a more reliable carb, usually they get stuck floats.. or the idle passages gum up too easily and then they don't run right till that gets sorted.

GRANTED, I also have a Thermoquad I got from a carb junkyard.. for $10 and put a rebuild kit in to that is more or less a solid runner. I have a queer idle sometimes, but it was a $10 carb after all.
 
I can deal with and or rebuild and tune any brand. But I do prefer Holley, as I believe, they are of a simpler design, and have found them to work better in race applications.
 
I like Holley's have several of them on running vehicles.
I tried one of the newer street demons with the phenolic body, and it is a real nice street carb. Starts easy in all temperatures, easy on gas.
 
Just for the ease of availability and selection of parts available the Holley is king. Yes they often need TLC for things like poor castings that need truing up or leaky pump or power valve diaphragms, but the tune-ability and performance potential are a big plus. Since many of my cars don't get started that often the AFB is a more logical choice. It does not have diaphragms that will get hard from wet and dry cycles and crack.
 
73AbodEE said:
edelbrock and carter for me. easy to tune and less messy than a holley
Click to expand...

Agreeable. Nice carb, actually prefer the AFB Competition series, over the Edd's . They all work, it's what you like.
 
every time I come across the assortment of jets, metering rods and stepup springs.
I remember why I switched to holley after running carters for many years.
holley carbs can easily be tuned to perform throughout the curve.
 
Carter and Edelbrock run better right out of the box, but holley can be fine tuned if you know how to work with them...
 
carter carbs are sensitive to vacuum signal at transition with performance cams.
holley powervalve selection is easy, compared to tuning bouncy metering rods.
 
I have to echo a lot of what has been said above on both carbs. Still, the question has been asked and my answer is the Edelbrock AVS styled carb or a good TQ.

I had a 600 Holley DP. When removing it from the intake I broke the base plate. The cost was a few dollar shy of a new carb. Outrageous! And not having the money to purchase a new carb, I borrowed a AVS from my boss. The damn thing way out performed the Holley I spent time on. When the time came to return it, LOL, I still had no money. So I went and sought out used Carters. Considering the ultra cheap price and the super inexpensive rebuild kits, I stayed with the Carters and learned them very well.

A Holley has way more tuneabilty in them and that can make them difficult to learn and "Supertune" them in to perfection. But once in, wow! The Carters only get so close since they do not have all the same super adjustable tune able parts available in the Holley.

I haven't had any real problems with ether carb. I just rather use a AVS (OE or Edelbrock) or a TQ. The "race car" gets a Holley. Everything else from daily driver to a very hot street stripper gets a Carter!
Cheap, reliable, holds the tune.
 
I'm a lifetime Holley user and prefer them. But I am starting on a slow path to learn about Thermoquads.

You have to know why the float stuck. Holleys are very sensitive to a spec of dirt getting stuck between the needle & seat. Just about all carbs I'm aware of have a similar set-up but I don't know if the sensitivity varies. Gotta run a good filter in all cases and be careful when working on the fuel lines anywhere in between so no debris, like rubber hose specs, get into the system.
 
Edelbrock 650 Thunder series AVS. Would not own a Holley if it was given to me. Too much fires. just me though.
 
She's on fire, my baby's on fire.
don't blame the fire on the carb, it's on the builder!
 
Thermoquads for me, they're a bit difficult to learn, but they work a lot better than holleys, much finer tuning.
 
Personally, I don't love Holleys. Don't hate 'em, either. They're ok. If I had to run one, I would, but I prefer the Carter/Edelbrock design for most of my street driven junk.

As already pointed out, Holleys have the advantage of being able to be tuned to the last degree, but most of that is way beyond my level of patience. The Carter/Eddy gives me 90% of the street performance for 50% of the hassle.
 
one thing I have noticed over the years is that a holley is the MOST sensitive to any amount of trash in the fuel line, those things will load up at any old time, where as the carters/edelbrocks and thermoquads can handle horrible trash in the fuel and not flood. Must be something with the float/needle seat design
 
Never had problems with any Holley I've run to date so far.
 
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