I just picked up a used Holley carb on e-bay for $31 bucks.The guy didn't have the model #'s,but i could tell by the pic that it is a spreadbore,has vacuum secondaries,electric choke and the single fuel inlet is in the same spot as my q-jet.I know alot of you guys run Holleys, and i was wondering how hard these carbs are to rebuild as well as the compatability with my stock intake and hookups.I know that some Holleys are a direct replacement for q-jets, and it looks like this one might be one of those.Any suggestions or tips in general are appreciated.I also picked up the Hedman shortie hedders and y-pipe and can't wait to start tinkering to see what i can gain with the carb,hedder swap.I can't seem to leave well-enough alone.

 

They are easy to rebuild. Getting that spreadbore thing to work is a whole different story.

I assume you have a Canadian car, so CC probably isn't in the picture. But, those spreadbore knock-offs weren't Holley's best idea or effort. I've yet to see one work right, or hear of anyone who is happy with theirs. Especially the double pumper variety. They don't even flow as much as a factory q-jet.

You may have only paid $31, but it's probably too much.

Good luck.

 

I appreciate the input five7,I 've got a great working Q-jet on my car now and i doubt the Holley will work any better.I've just been curious about Holleys for a long time and i figured 31 bucks is pretty cheap for a good rebuildable carb to learn and experiment on.If it doesn't work out,i can probably sell it for a profit.I must admit though,i've never heard of the spreadbores having such a bad reputation.I did a search and didn't find a lot of posts on Holleys,good or bad .I took that as a good sign.

 

There isn't a lot of discussion of Holley spreadbores becaue there aren't many people using them. Holley squarebores are discussed regularly, though.

 

D'oh....See how much i've learned already I thought a spreadbore would be a good idea.I had a squarebore edelbrock performer on my car a while ago, and didn't want to get into the adapter plate/hood clearance issues again.I couldn't even get it to clear my egr valve without an adapter.What makes these holley's such a bad carb anyway?they seem to share many of the same features as the squarebores.

 

It's mostly the secondaries. For a double pumper, the huge secondaries aren't adequately fed even by a 50cc accelerator pump. For vacuum secondaries, same story for the secondary diaphragm and associated circuits.