A little Carb help here...Please

[Bryan Rose]

Hello to all and hope the season is going great for you. I have a strange problem here I think and no on local seems to want to shed any light on the situation. I have a pair of 660 carbs on my tunnel ram , Holley 4224's to be exact. I was having a bad whistling problem and a fuel leaking out the throttle shaft problem with them originally, tracked the problem down to the base plate throttle shafts being worn and in need of repair. I called Holley to get a kit and they said better to buy new base plates . I did, well , still a little whistle but what really pisses me off is they still leak fuel out of the secondary shafts...on both! Is this fixable or what? I need to get this fixed it is driving me nuts, plus the raw aluminum on the intake is now yellow from the fuel stains..... I need some help here before I chuck the carbs and get some BG's
Help I 'm drowning in fuel and can't hear a damn thing from the fuc&*ng whistle.
Bryan

[058]

Fuel leaking out of the throttle shafts isn't a problem with the throttle shaft or base plate, its fuel leaking thru the booster venturis due to a leaking needle/seat["o" ring or crap in the needle/seat] a bad float or too much fuel pressure. Whoever told you the base plate and shafts were bad because it was leaking fuel is wrong.

[Floored]

The whistle is usually a vacuum leak in the carb put finger over vent tube, check metering block surfaces for flat and all screws tight. Usually fuel out of throttle shafts is high float level and leaking through the boosters at an idle.

[Bryan Rose]

The whistle is usually a vacuum leak in the carb put finger over vent tube, check metering block surfaces for flat and all screws tight. Usually fuel out of throttle shafts is high float level and leaking through the boosters at an idle.
Whistle is only at about 4000-4500 rpms, I looked down the venturi when idleing and did not see it drip... the carbs are freshly rebuilt and fuel pressure is 7 psi..... I need instructions on diagnosis.... I am carb challenged.
As for the vacuum leaks I have checked everywhere on the carbs and plugged every port and now only take vacuum from the intake to the PCV valve..... so no open ports on the carbs , Is this Bad?
thanks.
Bryan

[CrdStang]

Did you install the shaft seals? In the rebuild kit they look like little rolled up bits of nylon. I didn't even know what they were the first time I rebuilt a Holley. They're usually a pain in the ass to get in too!

[058]

Did you install the shaft seals? In the rebuild kit they look like little rolled up bits of nylon. I didn't even know what they were the first time I rebuilt a Holley. They're usually a pain in the ass to get in too!Not all Holley throttle shafts are cut for the nylon bushings.

[Squirtcha?]

I'm running a set of the 660s on my tunnelram. I'm gonna shop for some different carbs. Mine work perfectly, but the fuel economy sucks. If you watch the carbs while cruising, you'll notice that the secondaries kick in at about 3000 rpm. If I could keep my cruising speed to that rpm I'd be o.k. but for some reason, I find it damned near impossible to do. I went through 60+ gallons of gas over the weekend. Take a run and dump 10 gallons in etc. etc. My buddies both run 600 vacs on their TRs and they'd run all day on 20 gallons of gas.
Read it many times before that the 660s are an all or nothing proposition. Great for drag racing.............lousy on the street (or in our case boat). They weren't designed for cruising, just getting down the track in a hurry.
Not sure what I'm going to change to just yet, but I will change em. I probably coulda bought two brand new carbs with all the extra money I've spent in fuel over the past two seasons.
I'm open to suggestions as to what I should go to.
BBF 466 cu in, Weiand Tunnelram, OT headers, cam is hyd flat tappet 244 duration 570 lift, compression 9.5:1, box stock Edelbrock Performer aluminum heads, approximated 500 hp.
Not trying to steal your post Bryan. Just thought I'd let you know my experience with these carbs.
http://www.homestead.com/jetboat/tunnelplumb.jpg

[Squirtin Thunder]

Dan,
Below is what I did this past weekend and I was impressed big time. I was running a single Edelbrock 750 carb and it was great no top end but great fuel economy, about 3mpg !!!!
Well I did my warm-ups this weekend !!!! Looking at the map it was 48miles on sat (Rotory Park to the Bullhead Cove and then down to Needles and back to Rotory 13 gal) and right about 60 miles today (Rotory Park to Park Moabi and back 18 gal) !!! This is going to be fun !!!!
Good luck
Jim

[BK]

Squirtcha, dont know if you recall but I was running the 600's (1850's) the last couple of seasons and couldnt have been happier with them. Setting them up was cake and gas econ. if I stayed off the peddle was excellent.
Bryan, did/do those carbs have chokes? I remember on my 600's when I removed the chokes one of the hole the choke screwed into on the carb body actually was sucking air, put the screw back in, problem solved. Just something to look at. A little surprised they told you to replace the base plates rather than rebuild them. Im no carb guru and whenever I rebiuld a Holley carb I replace the shaft bushings, they can be a pain in the ass to change but havent had a problem with leaking after doing so.

[Cas]

Bryan,
Call Jesse at Bigs Carbs, 715-835-3726, and talk to him. He'll be more than happy to tell you what's up with your carbs and will even make suggestions about a change. Tell him that Cas suggested you call.
BTW, BK's set-up did real well with the 600's...wish I still had the 600's that were sitting in my garage for months, I would've given you a real good deal.....oh well.

[Bryan Rose]

.
Bryan, did/do those carbs have chokes? I remember on my 600's when I removed the chokes one of the hole the choke screwed into on the carb body actually was sucking air, put the screw back in, problem solved. Just something to look at. A little surprised they told you to replace the base plates rather than rebuild them. Im no carb guru and whenever I rebiuld a Holley carb I replace the shaft bushings, they can be a pain in the ass to change but havent had a problem with leaking after doing so.
These 660's had no choke, they are mechanical secondaries and really go through the fuel as Squirtcha stated.... Show me a picture of the screw hole you are talking about on the choke deal and I will see if I have a vacancy....
The thing is with the set up is the boat performs great no problems other than the stated above. idles a little rich but hell dont they all? good idle great throttle responce and great top end.....
just want the leaks to stop and no more whistle.....
and Squirtcha .....l let me know what you end up with and how it works out, I may follow your lead.....
On a side note today installed my 4 * wedge..... hopefully test this weekend....
Bryan