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Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:23 pm
by Heinz
Have asked the question below on Speed Talk and got good advice which engine parts to use on a Ford 289 Rally / Street engine.

"i am building a Ford 289 Windsor engine for Historic Rally and some Street use.
The Engine must have good street driving manners.
Because of the Rules i have to use the stock Block and stock iron Cylinderheads.
I want to make around 280 Hp."

Mid engine Car, with a 5 Speed ZF Transaxle Transmission, weights around 1500 kg / 3307 pounds with Driver and Co.
The Owners are Gentleman Drivers, "Herrenfahrer" as we say in German, not the slowest Drivers, but they want a good drivable Car.

Now i am looking for some advice which Holley Carb to use, or should i just use what i have:
a Holley 1460 Carburetor, 600cfm, vacuum secondary, upgraded to a secondary metering block for easy main jet changes.

Some recommend a Holley 650, 4150 Double Pumper Carburetor 0-4777C
So, which Carburetor would you recommend / use ?
No problem to buy / try different Carbs.

So far i have ordered:
Air Gap Dual Plane Intake Manifold with small Ports,
Chevrolet small block V8 Valves (1.840" intake and 1.500" exhaust). Thanks Walter R. Malik
COMP Cams CL31-334-4 - COMP Cams Magnum Solid Cam and Lifter Kits. Thanks Bill - C

What i have:
289 Stock Block with forged Pistons
stock iron Heads, 10:1 Compression
stock iron 4V intake manifold
Holley 1460 Carburetor, 600cfm, vacuum secondary, upgraded to a secondary metering block for easy main jet changes.

Thank you
Heinz

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:32 pm
by Nick_nl
What rear axle ratio are you going to use?
Does fuel mileage matter?
The holley 1850 is cheap to be found on eBay.de, so you could test.
Though given the race nature I'd say use the double Pumper.

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:18 pm
by Heinz
Final drive 4.22
Fuel mileage doesn´t matter
Since i allready have a Holley 4160 / 600 CFM vacuum secondary, think i buy a Holley 4150 double pumper.
Which double pumper would you try, 650CFM or bigger?

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:14 pm
by Nick_nl
I think the 650 would be nice, though you could also opt for the aluminium version, this will save a bit of weight. Though my racing engine experience is limited. On the mild chevy 283's a holley 0-8007 390CMF is often recommended. But your engine is not mild in my book :)

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:35 pm
by RFSPHPbb
What Nick said

holley 0-8007 390CMF A known good carb.

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:55 pm
by Heinz
you think the holley 0-8007 390CFM is sufficient to make around 280 Hp?
Seems a little small and i don´t want to choke the engine.

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:35 am
by RFSPHPbb
it's not that small. n You're going to need mid-range torque and just as importantly - throttle response. without these two you're going to have trouble getting up to an RPM range where the bigger carb would make a difference. most hotrod engines are over-cammed and over-carbed leading to poor performance in the RPM range where good performance is required. Same with headers, you should be looking at 1.375 to 1.5 inch primary tubes. Remember, torque is what it takes to twist a driveshaft.

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:26 am
by GTO Geoff
Edelbrock 650 AVS, much better than brand H [ & clones ].

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 7:04 am
by Edcarb
I think the older 700 DP is about perfect on a dual plane, its a split between 650 and 750 carb venturi.

Re: Which Holley Carb for a Ford 289 engine

PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 5:37 pm
by rgalajda
With that cam it will probably idle with less than 10" vacuum