Holley or twin sides?

Mal · rice boy Joined: 07 Oct 2001 Posts: 19

I've got twin side drafts but they're full of maintenance and pretty expensive to play around with all the time to get them running right. But all in all they are not to bad performance wise. I was wondering if a holley would be just as good. I know with twins there is basically 4 carbies working all at once more air flow etc. Can a holley be just as good? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Slug · tinkerer Joined: 06 Oct 2001 Posts: 196

I have one word for you ... NO.. get the DCOE's running... Michael

PlasticAge · rice boy Joined: 07 Oct 2001 Posts: 29

The holley can be as effective..But it depends on what applications your gonna use it for.Like in most cases (eg normal driving applications) the holley will do the job well..And i beleive is the best hassle free option.If u have done some other work to the motor eg...extractors or porting etc...it will work a treat....and get carby specialist to tune the mix for your car, and the style u drive it in :O)

Mark · tinkerer Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 153

The holley will work as well as the webbers. I have found they even make more power outright over twin sidedraught 40s. But twin downdraught 44s are the ultimate cos they work the best Ive tested. The holley will work really well, you may end up with lag under cam range however that the webbers wont have, thus you just drop the clutch at higher rpm to counter act it.

Loz · backyard mechanic Joined: 05 Oct 2001 Posts: 943

If your using one carb then stay away from holleys. Use a weber, carter, rochester etc. as they are much better carbys than holleys.

Adam · Site Admin Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 682

Peter Little from little cylinder head engineering (know him?) will back you up there and he has spent more time benchtesting gemini engines than anyone I know (which is REALLY saying something). It brings tears to my eyes when I see people with stock 1600 engines with twin 45 DCOEs on the lousy lynx (strangulator) manifold and always poorly tuned.

In response to the original question, I'd get the webers rebuilt once by someone who really knows and cares about the quality of their work and then get the well tuned by someone who is equally fastidious. Then there is no reason you shouldn't have years of faithful service with nothing more exciting than oil/plug/filter changes to worry about.

Ben Wight · backyard mechanic Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 946

I agree Adam, there is a misconception getting around that twin carb setups need constant tunning. This is simply untrue, they have no wearing parts, so there is no need to compensate for any wear.

Once tuned to suit your engine, they will stay in tune for a long time, I would say dpending on the kilometres done, but probably a couple of years without needing to rebalance them or redo the idle mixtures, etc.

If you on an engine in a rally car where there will be a lot of engine movement ond vibration, then tuning moght need to be done more often, generally in the area of the throttle linkage, but on a street car, they wont need to be touched.

I assume by Holley, you mean the copy of the weber DGV carb, not the traditional 2 barrel holley.

A properly sized twin carb setup will always outperform a single sidedraught, not just becasue of the superior airflow and thottle response, but also due to the manifold design offerring even mixture distribution to all cylinders, not lean on cylinders 1 & 4 and rich on 2 & 3.

Having said that, I would not bother to put twin sidedraughts on a carb over a single downdraught unless I wanted the absolute maximum from the engine. If it is just a steet car/cruiser, then the money spent on the twin carbs could be better spent on a bigger engine, extractors, etc, whilst using a single downdraught. But if having done all of this, then twin carbs will win on race day.

Ben Wight

Mal · rice boy Joined: 07 Oct 2001 Posts: 19

My engine is a g200 with a bit of work. I have a brand new lynx manifold for the twins to replace the old lynx one which is starting to corrode and rust. The twins are quite good but at the moment the butterflys are a bit sloppy and need rebushing to bring back some more response. But I have rang around and it costs around $400 a carb to fully rebuild them. I am just weighing up the pros and cons of each carby. Does anyone know any good carby specialists that are in the Brisbane area? I just want my carbs set up right so they will run farily hassle free. Thanx for the help guys Smile

Slug · tinkerer Joined: 06 Oct 2001 Posts: 196

As usual noone read the question you asked .. I dont know why the topic of 1600's etc was brought in to the thread, so I will say it agian fix the twins, because if your gunna stay with a single carb then stay with the crappy niki thats on it ... Michael

Benjamin · backyard mechanic Joined: 05 Oct 2001 Posts: 525

How can you not recommend the 32/36 DGV for a single downdraught setup?
I literally can't believe that it is the same car. With the standard Niki she was flat, unresponsive, had no bottom end, no midrange and no top end!

Can't comment too much on the twins, they would be a lot better if setup correctly, but that goes for any mechanical device.

Mark · tinkerer Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 153

There is a place in geebung called northside carburettors, ph 3265 3111, he rebuilt a pair of twin 44mm downdraughts for me for $300 the pair. I still recommend sticking on a 350 2 barrel holley though ( should cost about $150 with manifold and adaptors and carby), and selling your carbies
and spending the extra on more portwork/cam etc

Slug · tinkerer Joined: 06 Oct 2001 Posts: 196

How can I not recomend the DGV !!! Very easily ... He said he had the manifold, he had the carbies, he has a G200... How can I not tell him to use the twins. A DGV is to small for a good 2 litre and the adapter plate that is avaiable for it is rubbish and dont forget that a Niki for a G161 is NOT the same as the Niki for a G200, so it seems to me that by the fact that he has to go and buy adapter plate and a carbie and then make the throttle cable fit, get it tuned to suit the G200 is just insane when he might see a pittyfull 10 more horse power out this setup.... the money is better spent on getting the webers working and as I said if he doesnt have the money right now then stay with the Niki until he has...so again go with the twins .... Michael

Benjamin · backyard mechanic Joined: 05 Oct 2001 Posts: 525

Ahhh, ic. I must be a dumbshit for not reading posts better... *slaps wrist* Smile

I didn't know the g200 niki was different than the g161 niki.

Boy have I learnt some stuff today!

Slug · tinkerer Joined: 06 Oct 2001 Posts: 196

No, I wouldnt have said dumbshit .. you just jumped the gun a little Smile

.... Michael

Turbo TG · newbie Joined: 30 Oct 2001 Posts: 7

do you know about what size jets you were using?