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Holley 4160 (3310-S) continuing issues

3K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  killerformula 
#1 ·
Hey all-

I've had a couple of issues with my Holley for quite some time now, and have really just now gotten around to addressing them. Being that its cold out this way, I'd like to be able to use my (Manual) choke, but it's never given me anything but grief. At a certain point it the linkage travel, it will raise idle and and keep me from having to feather the motor, but it will still die if I try to put it in gear. Any more travel and the motor just loads up, lots of black smoke and chokes itself out. So my only solution is to sit there feathering the thing for probably a good 5-10 minutes until it wants to run.

I have a relatively big cam, 280h comps in a 383. I wonder if I'm dropping so much vacuum that the power valve is dumping during choke? I just rebuilt the carb, so everything is nice and fresh. Really didn't even need it, but this problem has preceded the rebuild.

The other minor issue is that there is a tiny fuel leak which I think is coming from the rear bowl. It doesn't leak while the car is running, but after its off and sits for 30 min to an hour, a very small pool of gas builds up on the passenger side intake, right under the choke linkage. The leak is so slight its almost impossible to trace. The carb gasket is moist only from the point of the leak or so to the back of the carb, not on the front, which makes me think it must be coming from the rear bowl.

Any ideas are appreciated, thanks guys.

K
 
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#2 ·
Here is INSTALLATION, TUNING, AND ADJUSTMENT Manual from Holley. http://www.holley.com/data/Products/Technical/199R9934-3rev2.pdf Some solutions for fuel leaks after the engine is shutdown. This is usually caused by percolation. This is when the engine is shut off and the engine temperature rises it causes the fuel to boil in the bowl and leak out of the boosters. There are a couple of things you can do to cure this one is make sure the fuel level is not too high. You can also lower the fuel level about 1/8" below the sight plug hole and this will cure it sometimes. The heat from the engine will rise into the carburetor sometimes and will cause the fuel to boil. Installing a phenolic heat spacer between the carburetor and the intake or a heat shield can cure this. These parts will prevent heat from getting to the carburetor and boiling the fuel. To fix your choke you can replace the manual choke with this electric choke conversion kit.Holley Performance Products Choke Conversion Kit 45-223.
 
#3 ·
Agree that heat is likely causing the fuel percolation, causing it to pool on the throttle blades than seep out past the shaft.

Agree also on using an insulator of some sort, but don't unnecessarily lower the float level. This will delay actuation of the various carb circuits.

Be sure the idle mixture screws are adjusted to give the highest idle speed or highest vacuum reading, w/the engine fully warmed up- like after a 15 minute drive.

As for the choke, you need to readjust the fast idle screw so it'll raise the idle more w/o needing to close the choke more. This will keep the engine from loading up from too much choke and will hopefully allow it to go into gear w/o stalling. BUT, there's also a possibility that it's just going to take longer to warm up. You are using a thermostat, right? No 'stat makes the warm up take a lot longer than it should.

Another thing that can help cold drive-off is to give it enough initial timing. If you add initial you'll need to take out some mechanical advance to compensate, otherwise the total timing will be too high.

If you're using ported vacuum for the vacuum advance, switching it to manifold vacuum (and resetting the idle speed and idle mixture screws) can help. In this case the initial and total timing does not need to be changed.

If you're not using a vacuum advance, you should seriously consider using it.
 
#4 ·
Hey guys-

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'm not entirely sold on the percolation issue, especially since I get the problem even only running a couple minutes. That said, I certainly do have an insulator I could install and it costs me nothing to at least try it!

I run ported vacuum advance, and have an adjustable can. You never know exactly how much you're getting from that thing, but I set it just under where it was pinging before I took everything apart. Yes, I am running a thermostat too.

Initial timing I have about 14 degrees. I'm hesitant to add more than that, but I guess I could try. My mechanical is limited to I believe 22 or 24 additional degrees (Moroso HEI replacement).

So I'll try adding in a couple of degrees, insulate my carb and give it more fast idle. As I'm driving it really does come alive and I like where its set now. I have to get it down to the strip and play with timing to see where the power is at.

Thanks guys-

K
 
#5 ·
I had the same choke problem on a 3310 on a built 350. I pulled the choke assembly apart and ground the cam that the high idle screw is adjusted on to so that I got more rpm with less choke. Basically made the curve flatter. You might need to experiment a bit.
 
#8 ·
Cobalt- Yes, I'm mindful about fuel pressure. I have a pump that only puts out 6 psi and a gauge on the fuel rail, so I'm pretty confident there.

Fbrid- Yeah I was thinking along those lines too, and although I have more tuning to do it does seem as though the difference between idle in park and idle in drive is vast. I guess that would point to a difference in timing at those two points. Lousy part is my balancer is hidden by the stupid long water pump so I really can't get a good idea about the timing. I set it at 12 and have been going by degrees of distributor movement, where 1=2. I'll look into the timing, but I'm not sure if I could even get it to start without a lot of kickback at 24 degrees initial. Seems like a lot.

K
 
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