Holley Schmolley

Am I just S.O.L. on getting the Holley 4BBL to be worth anything off-road? I've talked to a couple people about tuning it (as it was giving me a lot of grief on the hills) and most said "sorry about your luck"...that is except for my father-in-law who is convinved he can fix anything...

 

FI is calling your name... You know you want to.. come.. come dance with me...

 

Holley has some parts that may help... we've covered this before. You need to raise the bowl vents, add baffles in the float bowl, and use a spring-loaded needle, for a start. Jet extensions may help too. If you are familiar with Holleys, you should be able to improve the carburetor a lot with some tinkering.

You could substitute the new 470CFM Holley Truck Avenger, which is designed to function better than the 4160 in trucks, Jeeps and such. 470CFM is about right for a 304. http://www.holley.com/products.asp?product=0-90470

Another possibility is the Motorcraft 4100 carburetor, which is of similar design to the 2100 that came on your Jeep and is a 4-barrel. These carburetors were original equipment on 289 Fords (480CFM, unobtainium) and 352/390 Fords (600CFM). Pony Carburetors can build a 480CFM 4100, for about $450 including the core. Now that the 470CFM Holley is available, the 4100 may no longer be a realistic option.

 

I have a 600cfm 4bbl. I tried all the off road parts kit that included spring loaded seats and needles and the vent tube. There was an improvement, but not enough to make it trustworthy imo. Hudsonhawk has it right and I too will be efi before summer.

Karl

 

I too am saddled with a Holley that I've tinkered with to try and get it from killing the heep when I get on a fun incline. It's gotta go. Worst investment so far on the rig. (I've also pitched the headers - but they weren't so bad.)

So I've been looking into efi.. hoping it may improve mileage by a point or two as well. I've put on an edlebrock manifold (back when I did the headers) so hopefully that will still work w/ a efi system.. I have no idea yet what they require. All the smog stuff long stripped off - and now I would have to figure out an oxygen sensor? Been reading abit about megasquirt. But wondering what people here think is a best deal for a 304. What are folks buying?

cheers, Jim