Flathead Carb

K

Krylon32

Well-known member
Thinking of running the Holley 390 carb instead of multiple Strombergs on my 258 French motor. I looked on E-Bay and prices are all over the place for new and rebuilt. Where is the best place to buy this carb?
 
Gary: I agree with "corvette8n". You can buy one direct from HOLLEY for about same price as Speedway. Are there any carb rebuild shops in your area that might have a guaranteed good working condition used one for sale that you could return, if needed? I forget what car you're using it on but on my 40 (with an 8BA and early style heads) I had to install it backwards for linkage to work. Plus, there has been some discussion about 390 Holleys being able to function properly if you're using a vacuum advance distributor so, do your home work and plan ahead to avoid surprises. Here's a good thread about this:
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277978
 

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Would the 450 be to much carb? I noticed on the Navarro 4 barrel manifold they have a provision for moving the linkage to the right side. 19Fordy It will undoubtedly be going into some kind of 32 Ford. I'm fairly crafty so I can make a linkage?
 
I don't know if Holley still offers them but in the past they offered factory refurbish carbs at a very deep discount. Most were returned because the customer either didn't know how to tune them or thought they were plug and play. Over the years I bought several and all worked perfectly. The 390 I have on my '49 was purchased on Ebay for $140 shipped with the seller stating it needed a rebuild. All it needed was an accelerator pump diaphragm.


Just checked the Holley website and the have one available for $299.99. I don't think you could touch a rebuildable WCFB core for that.
 
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Krylon32 said:
Would the 450 be to much carb? I noticed on the Navarro 4 barrel manifold they have a provision for moving the linkage to the right side. 19Fordy It will undoubtedly be going into some kind of 32 Ford. I'm fairly crafty so I can make a linkage?
Click to expand...

Isn't the Navarro set up for a WCFB carb? I wonder if a the adapter and the overall larger size of the Holly interfere with the linkage castings in the back of the intake.
 
If you read my book you will conclude that Jack has given good advice. The 390 is actually a bit small for your application. Overpriced, too.
 
"Just checked the Holley website and the have one available for $299.99. I don't think you could touch a rebuildable WCFB core for that."




Rebuildable WCFB cores are not that expensive. I have bought them in the past and never paid more than $50, unless your talking some originals from a factory Chevy dual quad set up. $299 is close to a well rebuilt one.


Also, a refurbished 390 CFM one would be good, or 450 CFM one will work too. They are vacuum secondary and the rear barrels open based on how
much air is going through the carb. They will never open all the way unless your spinning 7000 RPM, and at that point you would need the extra air.


Sal
 
I haunt eBay and several other sites and go to all the swap meets I can "Square Base" carbs (early WCFB's and 4G's) seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.
 
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