Jegs has a Holley Systemax 2 setup and it looks like a killer setup. anyone hear anything about it will it work on my 91z28? it includes cam, heads, intake, timing set, pushrods, and lifters. Holley claims about 425HP with a 750cfm carb. I am new to the carb stuff and this will be my next project. Does anyone have another carb, intake, and head setup that they think will work better. I am trying to keep this change over under $2,000........but we all know how that goes

 

Hey!
Yep I've got the Systemax II kit...I LOVE IT! I've only got a couple hundred miles on my new engine and T-56, but I love that Holley kit. I don't think there's really a kit set up like that that's as good a value (although it's possible ) I really like how Holley matched everything up so you know that it's going to work right together. I'm still running the Holley 600 off my 305, since I'm still breaking in the motor, but I can't decide if I want to drop an Edelbrock 750 or a Holley 750 on it. I had a Holley 750 on my '69 GTO with a 400 big block and it worked out great, never even had to tune it, just dropped it on, but I'm thinking I might want the easy tunability of the Edelbrock...any thoughts on that one? In any case I really love that Systemax II kit, especially the fact that when I throw the hood up downtown the boys all see my aluminum heads The only complaint I have about the kit is that the front and back of the intake (china wall area in back) that comes with it are machined down really really thin so the only way to seal it is with a huge bead of RTV, no gasket is thick enough to seal...seems wrong to me, but Holley said "fill it up with RTV and drop the intake on!" so that's what we did when we put everything together! Really though, from what I've gotten to drive the car I absolutely love the motor, it's snappy, and my buddy with a '96 Z28 (that beats everything in town unless its running nitrous) is worried hehehe. In any case, I'm very happy with the Systemax II kit, let me know what you figure out!

-Paul

 

thanks fo rthe reply. Holley recommends that the deck hright of the block be at zero and that you use flat top pistons. Is your engine this way?

 

Well, the machine shop did deck the block to make sure everything was flat, but I never actually checked that the pistons come right up to the deck, so I may not be exactly zero deck (forgive me if my interpretation of zero deck height is incorrect, and please correct me ) Also, my pistons are flat tops, just with very small valve reliefs, I'm not sure as to the exact cc of the valve reliefs, but I consider the pistons to be flat tops (no dome or dish) hope this helps! and feel free to ask any other questions!

-Paul

 

I preach against pre-made combos of any manufacturer, except maybe one of the higher end ones from someone like Brodix.

Reason #1: It's never that simple. Manufacturers always have to choose parts for the lowest common denominator, which may or may not be you. For the rest of us, packages like that entail too many compromises.

Reason #2: No one company makes the best of all the parts involved. Holleys heads are pretty decent, but not the best. I doubt they even make the cam, but I bet it's just a generic grind. Holleys intakes are pretty decent too, but I like Wieands more (yes, I know Holley owns the wieand name, but they're different castings).

In otherwords, you can usually get better performance for close to the same price by doing some research and choosing the parts yourself.

 

Yeah, I heard those arguments against kits myself, but I decided to take the risk and I went for it, and so far I have no regrets whatsoever. I'm very pleased with the fit, finish and performance of the entire package...so, yeah, I'm sure you can get some better quality stuff, but I certainly have no complaints about this package whatsoever, I think Holley did a great job setting it up!

-Paul

 

When I purchased my Holley Systemax 2 kit about 5 years ago, I wasnt sure about the quality of the parts either. When the boxes arrived I was eager to open them. To my surprise it was all name brand parts. The Holley heads and intake of course, but the cam, timing set, lifters, and pushrods were all made by Crane. All fasteners were ARP. Of course I already had my shortblock assembled, and after reading the Holley instructions relized that my combo wasnt what Holley recommends. I have TRW (now Speed-pro) flat top 4 vlave relief pistons part number 2256 and the stock deck height. Holley wants you to use a flat top with 2 valve reliefs and a zero deck. After doing some research on the heads I talked to a guy who worked for Holley from the early '80s to last year, and found out that my Holley heads are of the first design and were actually made for Holley by Brodix. They have since used Air Flow Research and Canfield to make their heads for them. And of course after Holley accuired Lunati, they use all Luntai cam and valve train.
After a long discussion with the Holley guy, we came to the conclusion of me using the 4 valve relief pistons and the stock deck height with the 68cc heads, I should have around 9 to 1 compression instead of the recommended 10 to 1. Needless to say I was still very impressed with the combo. With a tubo 350 with a 3500 stall and 4.10s with posi in the stock 7.5, My best 1/4 mile time was 12.15@110 mph. This was with the weight of the car down to 2,950 lbs. with a 1/2 tank of gas and witout my 220 lb. butt in the driver seat.