Holley

[Gary Lewis]

This thread will be used to rate our experiences with Holley as a company as well as their products.  Please provide specific examples.

How would you rate Holley and their products?

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[grumpin]

I bought a Holley 0-80457S (4160) to replace the stock Motorcraft (Holley) on my F250.

I had never worked on a Holley before, worked on Carter’s, now Edelbrock and Quadrajets.

I was surprised at how much I liked it. It’s been easy to tune, replaced jets three times now because initially I went a size lower because of the elevation I live at, 4200 feet. Went back to what came with it and again ordered the next size bigger, because IMHO these 460’s like their fuel.

This carb is not a dual feed so there is a tube between the primary bowl and secondary bowl. Had that leak the first time I replaced the jets, I learned to give that tube a gentle twist back and forth and no problems with that since.

I contacted tech support about jetting and their response was quick and professional.

Edit: the exchange was easy because the linkage hooked right up.

[bullnose1985]

I run a Holley 4160 > 0-1850-5 on the 1979 460 in ol'blue. I tried a elderbrock 600 cfm with no luck.
The Holley is easier to tune and performs better. I am very happy with the Holley products and I will continue to be a customer.  

[Rembrant]

I had a Holley 4160 on my '84 302, and I quite liked it. It was a 600CFM with electric choke and vacuum secondaries. I did call their tech support line a couple times and they were helpful enough. Local performance shop has lots of parts for them, and Holley books are plentiful (I bought 3 of them myself).

Full disclosure: I don't have much to compare the Holley to. My previous carbed vehicles many years before were mostly Chevy's with Quadrajets, and a handful of Fords with small factory carbs (nothing bigger than a 2bbl).

Pros? I'm fond of the name brand, and it feels like it has some curb appeal.
Cons? That stamped serial number they use bugs me...it tells you the year, but not the decade? What's up with that anyway? Oh, it has a 7 stamped on it? That means it's a 1977, a 1987, or a 1997 lol. (Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

My own personal story sort of contradicts the general consensus of the out-of-the-box Holley carb. If you read about them online, you will find hundreds of stories of people claiming that Holleys run rich right out of the box. Since my 302 was broken in on a dyno with the brand new 4160, we were able to test it precisely. In my case, it was slightly lean out of the box, and we had to bump the stock #66 jets up to #68 to get the AFR correct. On the street at cruising RPM's, the AFR was slightly rich, so I likely could have dropped the #66 jets back in it.

Just my 2 cents worth!

[grumpin]

Interesting Cory, mine was lean out of the box also.

[Dabbler]

I bought a 4160 last fall. Had to do some set up out of the box , runs rich tho and I initially fought with the electric choke starving the engine (351w) on start up. Had to adjust choke as far as possible to get it to come off quick. If the choke plate would stay open just an ⅛” or so it would be perfect. Had a small leak but from what I have read it’s not a Holley if it doesn’t leak🙃. Should contact them to see if they recommend a jet change to eliminate the richness but I tend to like to complain about it for awhile first lol.

[grumpin]

Where does it leak? Mine doesn’t leak.

[taskswap]

I have the same 80457 others have talked about, the Street Warrior. I've also found it easy to tune, even for a newbie. For me one of the biggest benefits has been their Youtube videos. They have a specific video on basically every type of issue/adjustment. I just walked down the list, watching each one and doing what it says, and Rocky is running pretty smoothly now. That's a win in my book.

[mat in tn]

is it a new carb? if it is used then how likely is it that it has been apart?  if it is new then start by checking the float bowl settings. then the idle mixture screws with a vacuum gauge connected.

[Dabbler]

Yes it was new - had a seep off one of the bolts on the front bowl. ¼ turn solved it. I have tuned it with a vac gauge and it runs great, except with the choke plate fully closed it floods the engine. I want to put a new intake on it so will leave it until then and see. That’s for the input guys!