Fisher-Price's "My First Holley".

[superhatz]

Whelp...I rebuilt my first Holley. It's a 4160. It seemed easy enough...I took photos and was pretty careful.

After installing a new fuel pump, it fired right up and idled very nice for about a minuet. Then it slowly died....not to restart.

I pulled the bowl level plug and it was way high....so I adjusted it down and it still won't start. When I operate the throttle...no fuel squirts out...but the bowls are full of fuel.

It starts if I just pour a little fuel down the carb...

Any ideas??

Thanks!

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Whelp...I rebuilt my first Holley. It's a 4160. It seemed easy enough...I took photos and was pretty careful.

After installing a new fuel pump, it fired right up and idled very nice for about a minuet. Then it slowly died....not to restart.

I pulled the bowl level plug and it was way high....so I adjusted it down and it still won't start. When I operate the throttle...no fuel squirts out...but the bowls are full of fuel.

It starts if I just pour a little fuel down the carb...

Any ideas??

Thanks!

Hi Aaron,
No help on the Holley except that it sounds like there is something more than just the accelerator pump not working. What ever happened to your fuel tank corrosion? Did you get it cleaned out? Bill

[superhatz]

Yeah...I got the tank cleaned out. The Acetone worked well....then I let it dry and vacuumed the rest of the residue. I've got a clear filter temporarily fitted so I can see if I missed anything. The original fuel pump wasn't working so I got a new one while I'm waiting for rebuild parts...

The engine sounded great for the minuet it ran...nice and quiet. It had been sitting for about 10 years....I am hopeful!

Thanks,
Aaron

[Dr. David Fleming]

The 4160 is fairly straight forward. Fuel supply by pressure to the bowl. Fuel is then drawn on demand by vacume into the engine. Accelerator pump is mechanical pressure when moved by the spring on the diaphram and flow through two check valves.

The main fuel draw is though the distribution nozzles in the the main barrels. There are small booster venturi on the end of these nozzels. You should be able to locate the entrance of the fuel passage into these booster nozzles as it is located on the gasket surface where the fuel metering block attaches to the main carburator body. Blow air or carb cleaner through these openings and see if they are open.

Examine the main metering block the fuel goes from the float bowl through the main jets screwed into the bottom of the fuel block. You can remove the main jets there is a space behind them that constitutes a well. This is where the idle mixture screws also control the fuel drawn into the idle circuit. Check the flow from this main jet well up to the openings that connect to the booster nozzle openings in the side of the carburator body these should all be free of obstruction with air or carb cleaner. Also the gaskets need to seal these passages for vacume to form and draw the fuel - make sure you have the correct gaskets with all the holes where they should be. A number of air bleeds are located on the carburator body. These air bleeds feed air into the idle circuit and into the main nozzles they are small and prevent the fuel from forming a syphon and flowing when the engine stops. Make sure all these air bleeds are open.

The accelerator pump circuit has a cam on the throttle which is plastic and can be moved to two positions by removing a screw. Basically there are two check valves. One allows the fuel to flow into the pump chamber the other allows it to flow out and no air to return from the accelerator pump nozzle back into the pump chamber. These are small ball bearings or rubber flap valves. Two gaskets are under the screw that holds the accelerator pump nozzle into the carb body. All this needs to be vacume sealed.

The Holly was a good racing carburator. It was designed by legendary Chevy tuner Smokey Yunick who owned an auto repair and development facility in Daytona Beach. Holly was made in Detroit at the plant on 9 Mile Road and Hoover Road. It was simple to take apart and get access to all the systems and a great variety of parts were available. The 4160 was very streamline and flowed a lot of air so it made good power. Its primary disadvantage was that the fuel metering blocks were vertical and the cork gaskets would dry out and leak fuel and air. This was a fire hazard and a constant maintance head ache.

The primary competition for Holly was the Carter AFB/AVS which was more difficult to modify but all the fuel leaking surfaces were horizontal. Both carburators were the best of American designs and were used by Ford, GM and Chrysler for high performance. GM eventually designed a cheaper in house carburator which was the Rochester and Ford had a Holly clone with horizontal gaskets which was their own make. Both these were inferior.

Holly always was the big horsepower racing carb. Mercury adopted it along with the GM engines that powered its Mercruiser line.

Chrysler always had great service literature on how to do Holly repair and you should be able to access it in any of their old service literature. I used to be a Chrysler mechanic when I was in college and used to knock off the 4160 fairly quickly - you just had to know what to look for.

[BUIZILLA]

is the bowl gasket on backwards and the squirter hole blocked?

[Nmbr1GMfan]

Metering block gaskets on backwards? (Damn holeshot by Buizilla)

[CAPTBEACH]

Couple of people beat me to it...Accelerator pump or metering gasket...or trash in your main...

[maddad]

Metering block gaskets on backwards? (Damn holeshot by Buizilla)

holeshot

[Cuda]

I believe Holley makes two different accelerator pumps. I don't remember if it's possible to install it backwards or not.

[superhatz]

Thanks guys!...I'm on it!

[superhatz]

Triple checked the gaskets...they really only go on one way.

Do I have the wrong base gasket on?...

Why did it run so well for a minuet?

[Nmbr1GMfan]

If you pour fuel into the carb and it runs its obviously not getting fuel. pull the bowl sight plugs and turn it over to make sure the adjustment is correct. Its not getting fuel.

[MOP]

Hold the choke shut and crank it check to see if the bores are wet, it may even fire off and run with the help of the choke that will atleast let you know that fuel is flowing. If I remember right the 4160 still had ball check instead of the newer umbrella check valve, if you inadvertently left the ball out that would do it.

[BUIZILLA]

I pulled the bowl level plug and it was way high....so I adjusted it down and it still won't start. When I operate the throttle...no fuel squirts out...but the bowls are full of fuel.

the primary needle is probably stuck in the seat...

[superhatz]

The bowls are full of fuel...about the right amount. The check ball seems free...not stuck....I never had that out.

Carb is back on and still nothing...