489" chevelle Gotta love a tunnel-ram BBC

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mightymouse

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Holley carbs were popular because they were so easy to tune. Get a 3310-1 (my favorite for the street) and a Holley "Trick Kit", and in a matter of minutes you could change jets, power valves, pump shooter sizes, pump cams, and vacuum secondary springs. No dyno tuning in those days, but if you knew what you were doing you could balance jet size, power valve number, pump cam profile and pump shooter nozzle diameter, and vacuum secondary opening profile to get the performance characteristics you wanted. The changes could be quickly and easily done, and that's why Holley carbs out-numbered anything else on the street and/or the strip by a wide margin back in the day. Q-Jets and AFBs could be tuned as well, but not as easily or quickly as the Holley, and not with a parts kit that could be bought off the shelf at the local speed shop.
 

swampratt

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The bad with Holley was picking and scrapping all the gasket materials off.
The non stick blue gaskets work very well.
BUT know this the Holley originally had cork or paper type and it would shrink and so there was a thin raised bead added to grip the
gasket to keep it from shrinking and pulling out of position and creating a fuel leak or other issues.

You can remove that bead with the NO stick blue gaskets as they do not shrink.
If you leave the raised bead it will cut through the non stick and you will get some sticking of that no stick gasket.

Removing the bead makes metering block and jet changes much easier and quicker and you get to reuse the gasket many times.

Boosters are not always centered in those Holley carbs.. something a little tweaking can do.
Thick throttle shafts and fat protruding screws in those shafts really hurt those carbs.
 

beastep

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I just got sick and tired of finding fuel sitting on my hot intake while watching the Holley drip drip drip. Always some stupid O ring or gasket. Im an hour round trip from the nearest parts store just counting drive time. Eldebrock, no gaskets below the fuel level. Seems like a Holley isnt only easy to tune but is picky and requires more tuning. Only my opinion.
 

Glocktogo

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I remember when every guy with a 283 and a 'glide seemed to want a 4781 for their "wild" rides.
LOL, just a bit of overkill? Mine came with that carb and intake. I rebuilt the engine with a forged crank, TRW flat tops, a big Crane Commander cam and it still bogged a bit on launch until I rejetted the carb.

There was a guy at the 1\8 mile strip I used to frequent had a sweet candy apple red 67' Camaro that was tubbed, caged and he had a 283 with a Glide. I don't know what he had it stuffed with, but that was one of the quickest street mouse motors I've run across!
 

mightymouse

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I fooled around with Holley carbs in the late seventies and early eighties. Cork gaskets did sometimes shrink, but that's why you bought a pack of 'em. Holley carbs were somewhat finicky, but you could tune them to work with some experimentation. I'm old school and I haven't kept up with carb tech over the years, but Holley dominated on the street and at the track in those days. Q-Jets, AFBs, and flat head Fords were all considered past their prime then.
 

mightymouse

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LOL, just a bit of overkill?
I spent many years working in auto parts stores, and heard story after story about motors equipped with, "double pumpers, high-rises, pop-ups, double-hump heads, and 3/4 cams". Most of those guys had no firm idea about cfm ratings, or single plane intakes, or compression ratios, or valve sizes, or camshaft specs, but they all knew the "lingo" of the day.
 

swampratt

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Not much factory support for the poor Qjet.
But many can tweak them to the tun of 9 second 1/4 mile times.
So many free or really cheap mods you can do to the Qjet.
 

Shadowrider

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I had a 4779 myself on my old Camaro. Built early model 327 with a Melling L84 "30-30" solid lifter cam, studs, guide plates, Crane roller rockers and some long tube headers, but I was too poor to put 2.02 heads on it and the 1.94s didn't do it justice. 4 speed Muncie and 3.73 posi. The car was a weird one. It was special ordered with everything a Z28 had less engine, it was a 350 2bbl originally. Gage package, console, trans, exterior trim, the works except for the engine and badging. :screwy:
 

swampratt

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That is odd.
I have ported many sbc heads and the 2.02 valve in non ported head is not worth the bother.. you will actually be down on power.
Valve is too shrouded.
My old 186 casting double humps with 1.94-1.50 would out flow the RPM heads and the runner was not enlarged much still came in at 158CC
My 305 HO heads with 1.84-1.50 valves come in at 170cc runners and flow very well for what they are.
Flow aside shape is very important especially the chamber. Lot of power in the chamber especially if you rev it past the 6000 rpm mark. Or if you stuck large valves in it.
 

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