I'm putting this out here - I'm new to carbs. Brand new, actually.. but I do have a fairly good understanding of how they work, just not enough seat time playing with them.. so I bought a rebuildable one today from a guy that is parting ways with nearly 400 carbs (yes, 400... ridiculous). Anyways, that being said - here's my question.. this carb is a #3310-2 750 Vacuum Secondaries Holley. I bought it to play with it and learn how they work/come apart to rebuild for others, but these things aren't rocket science (to my surprise which I was happy about) so is it worth keeping once redone or should I sell it once I rebuild it? I was thinking maybe this would go good on my 393 stroker build for my Thunderbird with an AOD auto trans, but I've never had a Vacuum secondary carb so I'm not entirely sure where I stand with it. I just know alot of guys like mechanical secondaries because of responsiveness based on how they operate. Will I lose performance using this carburetor as opposed to a mechanical secondaries with an automatic? Also - do you guys know of a non-stick gasket set that will work with this because I seriously spent the past two hours beating one of the sides off the main body because it was on there REAL good. Aside from that - any other recommended parts that I should get before I put this thing back together?

Any help appreciated. I really like how simple these carbs are compared to all the fuel injection stuff I've had before. I kind of regret not jumping into it sooner.

 

With an auto, you lose your responsiveness in the downshift anyway, so you're not gaining anything with a double pumper but a drop in mileage. A vacuum secondary is fine for that application.

A standard cork style carb gasket should be fine - you put them on dry, not sealant. That way they won't stick.

Holleys are notoriously simply. After rebuilding Q-jets ad-nauseum, I think a Holley would be a walk in the park too.

 

He's got some Quadrajets also. I didn't think about it till now, but maybe I should buy one of them to work on as well? What are the advantages and disadvantages to a Quadrajet? I only know one guy that uses them, and he's very much "old school" because he's an older gent.

 

Q-jets have much more features (read: more complicated). They are more sophisticated, but work great. They generally provide better part throttle (cruise) mileage. They also give a very unique secondaries experience due to the massive bores.

I'd pick one up, so you can rebuild it, and learn from it. You'd need a spreadbore specific manifold to use the Q-jet, as I imagine the holley is square bore.

What's on your '88 Camaro now?

 

Quickfuel Q-series 750 Annular. I made sure my first one was a good one. + I'll talk to him about that Quadrajet. I think I'd like to see those broken apart as well. I really like taking these things apart and fixing them. Kinda nice since I can just sit at a table and do it as opposed to crawling underneath something :P

 

Only if your stall is too low, or your carb is too big.

 

Will this also happen if your stall is higher (let's say 3500 or more), or is that not possible for error when it comes to the carburetor? Obviously parts need to be matched accordingly, but I wasn't sure if this is also a contributing factor.

 

If the stall is too low or the carb is too big you might find that after an automatic upshifts the engine speed will drop to a point where airflow through the wide-open secondaries falls too low, the venturi signal drops, less fuel is pulled in, and the engine bogs lean and struggles. With a VS carb, the secondaries can close and cover up the problem.