holley carb. ?

[james t]

what holley 2-barrel should i go with to replace the stock motorcraft that came on my 85 gw? don't want to lose fuel mileage or performance,just all the little problems that i'm haveing with it. 360 v8

[PlasticBoob]

They make a 2-barrel 500cfm model that should fit right on and offer a noticeable performance gain.

[will e]

what problems are you having with the Motorcrap?

[tgreese]

James, man, I would think twice. I've had a Jeep with a 2V Holley that replaced the 2100 Motorcraft on my 304 CJ. The Holley was an improvement except on hills. There were certain uphill angles where the Holley equipped Jeep just would not run without pumping the accelerator. My Holley was equipped with all the aftermarket bits to make it better off road - spring-loaded side pivot float, vent whistle, slosh tubes... still didn't work as well as the 2100.

The 21XX is actually a pretty good off-road carb. I'd suspect that an old one might have a worn out throttle shaft pivots, which would give an erratic idle. I had this problem with an old 4100 long ago. A carb shop should be able to help with that, either bushing the carb body or installing a larger diameter shaft.

What complaints do you have with the Motorcraft?

best regards :cool: Tim

[ August 23, 2003, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: tgreese ]

[PlasticBoob]

You can get them rebuilt pretty cheap. $110 over here in Long Beach. My friend decided against the Holley after he had his 2100 rebuilt, and now lives with mild acceleration but no stumbles up steep hills and great simplicity/reliability.
Reliability & off-road performance = Motorcraft 2-bbl
Acceptable off-road and improved on-road performance = Holley 2-bbl smile.gif

[tgreese]

Looks like PB wanted the last word on this one ;) (PB, have you thought that your orange may be a fleet color? SO from the factory).

Man, I have to speak up again ... I'm expect that the 2300 Holley will not give you more performance than the 21XX series carbs. If you want more CFMs, the 2100 came in 1.08", 1.14" and 1.21" sized venturis; the 360 2V 2100 is a 1.08 model. The 2100 can be tuned almost as much as a Holley; jets, accelerator pump, the 2100 even uses a Holley power valve.

You can still find these carbs in the Pick-Your-Parts in the sun belt (I think most of the cars that had these long since went to the crusher in the northeast). When I was in SoCal last month, I bought one from a '79 302 Ford van for $15 at the Rialto PYP. You can try a lot of used carbs for the amount a new Holley will cost you ... $281 for the 2300, another $50 for a side pivot float bowl (essential). Of course, the Holley will be new, but you will at least have to buy a side-pivot float bowl, a vent whistle, an accelerator pump tuning kit, new jets, spring loaded needle and seat, a choke cable or electric choke conversion kit, and maybe jet extensions. The jet extensions are new - maybe they will help the hill problem.

If you go with the Holley, you certainly will have more tunability and configurability (and arguably higher performance) than you might have with the Motorcraft carb, but it won't be a bolt-on-and-go application.

When you add up the costs, I'm thinking you're better off with a 4V conversion than with the 2300.

[james t]

i'm not very good with carbs, and this one has been more trouble than the average.guess i'll try to rebuild it before i give up on it completely.
thanks guys.