<VV> 140 with a single 4 bbl. - 390 NOT

[Bill & Chris Strickland]

If y'all want to hear somebody sing the praises of the Holley 390 on a 
Corvair, this post is not for you.

The theory is good that the 390 matches theoretical flow requirements of 
the Corvair engine, and it should work, if it wasn't installed on that 
center mount manifold --it would be nice if it worked "well" mounted 
somewhat "remotely", but it doesn't -- stock is better.

Seth makes some good points -- the 500 Edelbrock seems to be a dead on 
replica of the smaller AFB, except for the chrome.  There is a reason 
that Edelbrock sells so many AFB's at pretty good prices, and it isn't 
just because they are chromed.

1) They work well under a wide variety of circumstances, from rotary 
Mazdas to dual quads on a 427 small block (a real "trick" motor).
2) They are easy to make adjustments on -- buy the 'track kit' or 
whatever they call it, a whole assortment of easily changed secondary 
metering rods and misc.  Stay away from the current crop of fancy billet 
electric fuel pumps.
3) No fuel loss to make these metering rod changes, ie, no pesky gaskets 
to change and/or leak on fancy manifolds or engine paint
4) They are not fuel injection, for folks that just want a car without 
computers that you can trouble shoot, say in the middle of Kansas by the 
side of the freeway.
5) Like Corvairs, AFB's used to be in the junk yards, available just for 
the taking and pocket change -- sure wish I'd taken more.
6) It is easy to get an AFB to run well on a Corvair.  Bolt it on. Buy 
an adapter, if needed.

Now, for that other thing.  I've run, repaired, and adapted nearly every 
Holley out there at the time to run on an old Corsa I used to own (my 
Kid Car) -- my best luck was with a "750 double pumper" -- tricked up 
metering blocks, 50 cc pumps (two), electric choke, mechanical 
secondaries, and about a year of tinkering with it, back when I had time 
and energy for such stuff.  Lousy fuel mileage by the way, but good 
enough for the seventies, and it ran sweet!  No multi-carbs and linkage 
to keep synched, either.  The stuff one needs to do to a Holley to get 
it to run on a Corvair can't be done on the 390, but can be done on the 
big 'hi-pro' models -- yes, a 100 cc shot of fuel is excessive, but on a 
center mount, it is needed.  Did I mention that this is for driving like 
you just robbed the bank -- also needs a thermostatic air cleaner with 
hot air supply (gee, I wonder where that might come from).

And that was what I did before I discovered the AFB -- a well designed 
carb for just "using". Vic & sons didn't just buy them up out of 
generosity, folks.

Those of you that want to convince me otherwise, just save your keyboard 
-- I'm too stubborn to change or be convinced otherwise after already 
convincing myself that I'm right.  Is my curmudgeon showing?  I haven't 
had time to get to injecting a Vair, yet -- maybe, someday ...

mo,

Bill Strickland