will adding a holley 4 barrel make fuel worse??

[wanacoop]

a couple mates and I own an LDV that we call the 'General LDV' it is a General Lee replica(but a big Vanmay have seen at Le Mans)

We got rid of the 2.5 td, and stuck in a rover 3.5 V8 just for the fun and NOISE!!

Now we're bored again and thinking of getting a holley 4 barral carb for the owd girl..

But as she is SAVAGE on fuel now(3.5t plus heavy right foot for the sound!)
a mate thinks as our twin SU's are so old and lame, the holley could be no worse on fuel...



Watcha reckon??

Edited by wanacoop on Friday 9th May 22:06

[eliot]

It will use more than the SU's.

[Speed eight]

Hello there.
Forget the Holley.
If you take the time to call Holley in California and speak to their technical guys they will tell you why it is NOT suitable for a 215ci motor.

Back in the 90's I did a lot of work on the 3.5Lt Rover as a 3.5Lt. Not larger. It was shown by back to back testing on Power Engineerings Dyno that we always got more power and much better mpg by fabricating the standard manifold to take a Webber 38DGAS footprint, than by any other carb type. Also it was shown to gain nothing by smoothing the inlet manifold intake.
We used the K&N oval filter.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Speedeight.

[wanacoop]

Speed eight said:

Hello there.
Forget the Holley.
If you take the time to call Holley in California and speak to their technical guys they will tell you why it is NOT suitable for a 215ci motor.

Back in the 90's I did a lot of work on the 3.5Lt Rover as a 3.5Lt. Not larger. It was shown by back to back testing on Power Engineerings Dyno that we always got more power and much better mpg by fabricating the standard manifold to take a Webber 38DGAS footprint, than by any other carb type. Also it was shown to gain nothing by smoothing the inlet manifold intake.
We used the K&N oval filter.

Hope this helps.



Regards,
Speedeight.

Thanks for the advice, sorry to ask a stupid question, but what do you mean by 'fabricating the standard manifold to take a webber 38Gas footprint'

Many thanks..

Tony

Edited by wanacoop on Friday 9th May 21:44

[Simpo Two]

wanacoop said:

Thanks for the advice, sorry to ask a stupid question, but what do you mean by 'fabricating the standard manifold to take a webber 38Gas footprint'

Changing its shape by welding/drilling/cutting until a Weber fits?

[billynomates]

Speed eight said:

Hello there.
Forget the Holley.
If you take the time to call Holley in California and speak to their technical guys they will tell you why it is NOT suitable for a 215ci motor.

Back in the 90's I did a lot of work on the 3.5Lt Rover as a 3.5Lt. Not larger. It was shown by back to back testing on Power Engineerings Dyno that we always got more power and much better mpg by fabricating the standard manifold to take a Webber 38DGAS footprint, than by any other carb type. Also it was shown to gain nothing by smoothing the inlet manifold intake.
We used the K&N oval filter.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Speedeight.

You're still alive then

[Boosted LS1]

Best solution is a pair of new SU's as they are vacuum/ diaphragm carbs and supply only on demand. They lack glamour but can be chromed. Holley's are great if you set them up properly but for your application you'll be hitting the gas lots and it'll certainly be thirsty.

[Speed eight]

Hello there.
As Simpo Two says.
I would make an aluminium foot plate, using the Webber base gasket as a template of about 10mm thick.
Machine off the mounts for the twin SU carbs down to the top of the Rover inlet manifold and then weld the new base plate to the manifold.
The power gains where vast!
It would out performe the twin SU set up by a very large margin.
Some re-sizing of the main and idle jets was needed, I forget how much larger than stock was required, but not much.
I use to buy the new carb and jets and filter from BG Engineering in Kent.
I do not know if they are still there.
Or you could use the same Webber from a 3.0Lt Capri or Scimitar etc.
Get the one with the manual choke unit on it.
This you can even do away with, the choke unit part, and have a large open throat.

Regards,
Speedeight.

[heightswitch]

The Old SU's are good for about 200hp before you need to think about changing them.

a 390 Holley which I still believe is the smallest available doesn't really work on a Rover without a lot of internal modifications. On this engine, especially in std tune they will just dump buckets of fuel into the engine and run as rich as hell.

They are also known for having horrible flat spots on a std engine.

N.

[That Daddy]

heightswitch said:

The Old SU's are good for about 200hp before you need to think about changing them.

a 390 Holley which I still believe is the smallest available doesn't really work on a Rover without a lot of internal modifications. On this engine, especially in std tune they will just dump buckets of fuel into the engine and run as rich as hell.

They are also known for having horrible flat spots on a std engine.

N.

Spot on,could not have put it better myselfnever worked on the Ford Essex motors either(modified or otherwise)that whole Swaymar inlet manifold/Holley 390 combo was an overpriced joke,you would get better metering on a Holley/small displacment motor combo by using an hose pipei am not kiddingthe 38DGAS is a fine carb and would be ideal for the Rover 3.5,once knew a guy that had a very rare dual 2 barrel american Buick inlet manifold(Edelbrock or similar) on a 3.5 SD1 motor fitted with 2 38DGAS carbs and that ran really wella good Ford breaker should be able to help with that carb(Essex & Cologne motor fitment)just check the throttle spindles are not loose in the carb body or it will idle terrible,also agree the standard SU,s work well on this motor also

Edited by That Daddy on Saturday 10th May 09:08

[wanacoop]

some great info there guys, really an eye opener! We are a bit new to all this V8 stuff, so your help is REALLY appreciated.

Cheers again..

(off to have some fun in the beast now!)