Holley Truck Avenger Carbs

[David_S]

Has anyone any experience of these carbs?

I am thinking of fitting A Holley Truck Avenger 90470 (470cfm) to my 82 SWB Patrol with P40 engine as I am getting a bit tired of problems with the stock Hitachi on steep hills.

Came to a head last weekend during a prolonged winching session up a long steep greasy track in the rain. The engine kept cutting out due to the richer mix until 2 spark plugs were so fouled that they would not fire. Every time I restarted the engine drained the dual batteries further - they were already under heavy winching load. And when I cleared the worst bit I still had some steep wet rocky bits to climb on the remaining 4 cylinders! Not good!

I have tried lowering the float - with some improvement - but I think the carb is generally worn after 25 years. Any comments on the Holley would be appreciated.

Thanks, David

[antt]

mate of mine has one on a 350 chev in a 45 cruiser. it works pretty well, certainly a noticable difference to the normal holley that was on it previously

[David_S]

Thanks for that Antt. What is it like on hills?
David

[Loanrangie]

Wont it be a bit big for the motor ? thought about a commo 2brl carb or weber off a falcon ?

[David_S]

Thanks Loanrangie - I wondered about that and checked with Holley who reckoned it would work OK. The P40 is 4 litre which at 4,500 max rpm say will draw 250 cfm at an assumed VE (Volumetric Efficiency) of 80%. The 90470 Holley Carb has a max flow of 470cfm so it won't be maxed out. Is this a good or a bad thing? Will there be sufficient vacuum to operate the power valve?

I would have to modify the inlet manifold to accept the 4bbl Holley, but this should not be too difficult if I can get hold of an old manifold from a wrecker to work on My main reason for considering the Holley is that it has been designed for offroad use, 40º uphill, 30º sideslopes and 30º downhill and my current carb plays up on long steep hills, of which there are plenty around here.

I am not really up on carbs though I have learnt a bit since I pulled my Hitachi apart and cleaned it - I never realised carbs had ball bearings in them till a couple fell out! Anyone know what the effect of changing from a 2bbl to a 4bbl carb is likely to have on performance and economy?

Cheers, David

[Shorty40]

I tried a few different carbies on my old V8 40 series. And tried many different settings on them. I looked in to the Avenger, but couldn't seem to get one at the time for a decent price.

In the end I bought a cheap 2 barrel Holley Pro-jection EFI setup. Bolted straight on. Old arse Motec computer to run it. And it was done. Made me wonder why I spent so long trying to get carbies to work. In fact, it was one of the best mods (for perfromance gains) I did to the 40.

The whole setup was as cheap as a good carby. Plus I made some money back selling my Rochester 4 barrel carb

Just something to think about

[David_S]

Thanks Shorty. Makes me think. What did the efi seup cost you?

David

[Shorty40]

The 2 barrel Holley pro-jection was off ebay and was around $70

The Motec ECU was $100.

The adaptor was some 8mm plate that was drilled to suit the Edelbrock Performer manifold.

And an EFI fuel pump.

I can't remember what I paid to have it fitted and wired

And I sold the Rochester for $150 (if I remember correctly)

Overall, not bad for an EFI conversion And the difference off road compared to the carby was like chalk and cheese

[David_S]

Thanks Shorty.
Back to the drawing board. Do you know any good links re efi conversions? - David

[Loanrangie]

Another good efi swap is the center point injection off a ea-eb ford falcon 88- 90 ? If you check the rover forum a guy has fitted this to a rangie v8, parts are cheap and will just about bolt onto your six - http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=68639

[David_S]

Thanks Loanrangie. I am starting from ground zero on this whole fuel injection business, but it certainly is beginning to look a better option than the Holley. The tbi system from the ea Falcon looks interesting - I am not into spending big bucks - my truck is after all 25 years old - Anyone know what you would expect to pay for one and which parts would I need apart from the the throttle body - sensors, ecu, fuel pump .....?.

David

[blackmav]

for a GQ but itzs all there

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=17505

[David_S]

I seem to have strayed from the original topic of Holley carbs to efi conversions. Perhaps I should start a new thread In the meantime can anyone tell me please

a) Is the timing advance/retard on the ea Falcon controlled by the ecu i.e would I need to swap the distributors as done for the GQ in Blackmav's link

b) How do you program the ecu from the Falcon? With a laptop? And would the Falcon settings be close enough to get me going with my P40 until I work out how to tune via the ecu?

You can see I am being tempted. Off to the local wreckers some time soon to have a chat as to what's available and at what price.

David

[Loanrangie]

I believ you need the signal from the ford dizzy for the ecu but there are probably ways around it, the ecu is not re programmable but should be ok for your nissan 6(with map/ oxy sensors it is better then most factory maf systems) . Go megasquirt if you want programmability, might actually be easier to go MS from the start then you wont have to change the dizzy and you can use the parts that are easy for you to source ie sensors.

[David_S]

Thanks for that LoanRangie. The megasquirts look very interesting. If I go with the project I would probably go with the Ford Dizzy and ecu at the start to see if I could get tbi to work on my P40 and then change to a programmable unit later but depends on what I can source.

I am still not clear about the advance/retard mechanism. My present dizzy has both vacuum and centrifugal advance, and I have replaced the points with a Pertronix Hall Effect system. Does the ecu on the ford type systems control the advance/retard or is this still done mechanically? You can see I am pretty ignorant about efi/tbi systems, but thanks to help on this forum am learning fast.

David

[Draven]

I have heard rumors that the Falcon TPI isnt upto the job of feeding a Tb42 reliably. eg pinging etc.

Im not sure how it would go on a P40, but has anyone done this mod and had it on there truck for a few months ? Id be interested to hear how its going. Economy, power blaa blaa.

[Loanrangie]

A single tbi will feed a 460 BB ford so it will be ok on a 4ltr six, it may be just the ecu program that wont suit a larger displacement engine but with a map and oxy sensor i cant see why ? If you can get the full tbi unit with loom and ecu cheap enough then use that first but an MS will only set you back about $250 and you can keep the hall effect ignition plus its programmable via a lappy and also heaps of software available for it.

[Draven]

A single tbi will feed a 460 BB ford so it will be ok on a 4ltr six, it may be just the ecu program that wont suit a larger displacement engine but with a map and oxy sensor i cant see why ? If you can get the full tbi unit with loom and ecu cheap enough then use that first but an MS will only set you back about $250 and you can keep the hall effect ignition plus its programmable via a lappy and also heaps of software available for it.

yes, sorry i should be more specific....Ive heard rumors is has issues with its original setup, eg ECU, Dizzy, blaa blaa..

In regards to the MS for $250, is that assembled ?

[Loanrangie]

Kit form they come out at about $200 but i have seen them assembled for $250 approx. plus postage.