The carb is the stock Carter 4 barrel WCFB. I've just had another look at it. The metering rods are spring loaded and the arm has a piston below it , could this be for vacuum to pull it down ?
Thanks so much everybody for your valued advice. :TU: I 've decided to persevere with the Carter for the time being. A re-build kit is on order and I will set it up as per factory specs and run it. A vacuum reading will be the no. 1 priority. I'll report back with results. Cheers, Ken.
What does Holley 4150 mean ? o No: I have since learnt that this Carter of mine may well be off a 1956 engine not 1954. So it could be back to the idea of a Holley yet. Ken. 1954 76 R
Spoke to a Holley dealer today and he recommended a 350 two barrel. Said old stock engine ( 1954 / 322 ) would not be used over 4000 RPM so that would be OK. Make up adaptor plate to cover primary manifold ports and mount carb over secondary . Thoughts ?? Ken.
Ken Better to get a 2bbl manifold. The dealer is correct in that you will have better driveability and throttle response at the moderate speeds that we all drive at most of the time. But he forgot about the "testosterone factor" of the secondaries opening. Willie
:rant: I am totaly amazed at the number of people who think that a 2x4 set up on a 283 chevy was/is the hot set up, but think that a 322 or 364 buick cant handel a single 4 bbl...:rant: i wouldnt stop untill that sucker had a 600 cfm holley on it....:laugh: :laugh: You would be running on 300 cfms untill you kick it..... and yes it would definitly use the secondaries thru the gears...:Brow:
on my nail i took off a 750 edelbrock and put on the original carter afb after a rebuild. every thing looks great. but there is a big difference in performance. nails do want more cfms. of course i could be wrong jim.
Got onto the Holley website and the technical spreadsheet section recommended a 390 4 barrel ( or 350 2 barrel ) What do you think Doc ? o No: My car has only a Dynaflow trans so no neck snapping performance required , or going to be obtained. I know you're sold on the 600,so would the little 390 be OK and what percentage of the time would the vacuum secondaries be kicking in on that baby. Ken.
At last.... I got this blasted computer to work..:rant: .. there are several holleys that fall into the range that you are looking for...carb#0-8479 with 450 cfm...0-7154 at 600 cfm.....01848-1 at 465 cfm.... of course you will have to make up an adapter because of the difference in the bolt patterns.... I use 3/8 hot rolled steel plate... it doesnt flex and is thin enough to be negligible as far as carb height..:Smarty: .. use carbs with vacume secondaries.... Personally I dont use a choke,,, I use the accelerator pump to prime and start the engine.... you will have to adapt the air cleaner to work or get another.... or better yet fab up a cold air pkg.... that mod will improve gas milage and power both.... If you havent yet recurve the dist with one of the kits listed in summits catalog..... cheap and a solid improvement.........improves milage and performance.... in fact, send me your email address and I will send you my list of cheap tricks.....If I havent already....:laugh: :laugh:
if you can get your hands on a Summit catalog,,, they list some good carbs on page16,,, upper left corner.....570 cfm-670cfm... just right for your application.....
Since you're not making big performance upgrades why not make it easy on yourself and pick up a nice Edelbrock or Carter AFB. The 500cfm size would work great on your car or 600 cfm if you're going to upgrade parts later and you would not need to fab up any mounting plate because they have the dual bolt pattern. Get one with an electric choke and it makes it even easier. Whatever you do forget about the 2BBL idea. Your performance will probably suffer and mileage may go down because the 4BBL primaries will be smaller than a 2BBLs throttle plates therefore throttle response will be better with the 4BBL. Mileage will go down though if you keep your foot in it all the time with the 4BBL.
[ What I do is this, I take a stock 4 holer manifold and cut the partitons between the front and rear barrells out.... leaving the partition that runs down the middle of the manifold in...... .[/quote] Doc, I apologize for my ignorance, but why do you cut out the partitions between the front and rear barrels.....increased performance? Also, does anybody know if Aussie V8 ended up going with the Holley 600? I am definitely thinking about going that route and was curious how it turned out
John,,,, Yep and yep,,,, The performance increase is well worth the cost and effort.... I wondered just why buick did not do it.... On my 64 riv[425] it made a big difference at all speeds in accelleration and did not affect the gas mileage at all... still at 18 mph on the hwy... i changed from the ragged carter that was on it to the 600 cfm holley and it performs very well... the poor old carter had had someone take epoxy to it and was not is too good of a shape... but i am a holley guy and if I change carbs it is always to a holley... but just as an experiment ,,, I modifyed the intake manifold first and put the same carb back on it without any other engine or car changes and it made a huge difference in the power.... and for less than $ 5 ,,,, I was real happy.... like I said , wonder why Buick did not do it....
Ken,,, That little 390 holley aint gonna be near enough carb for a nail.... pard.... Nails love big carbs, you need at least a 600 cfm or bigger.... even on a bone stock nail...use one that has vac secondaries so you are only running on about 300 cfm untill you kick it....and then as the rpms come up and the engine wants more the vac secondaries will give it to it....
