When I was putting my new motor combination together to put in my 79 pick-up I had checked the forums to see which was better, Holley or Edelbrock. The conclusion was that everybody has their preference, and is loyal to one brand or the other, so I figured that either one would be a good choice.

I was able to save a few $$$s by buying a remanufactured Holley, so I had bought a remanufactured Holley 600 vacuum secondary carburator in late 2003, and have not had very good luck with it. I'm not an expert on the Holley Carburator, and had the thing off the manifold every change in the season to replace the power valve. I had other leaks etc. along the way as well. I finally got fed up with it and bought a new Edelbrock Performer 600. I have had no problems in 6 months since installing the new carb.
I just wanted to post my expierience for anyone who is considering one or the other.
I will give the Holley this, it was a remanufactured carburator. Maybe I just got a bad one, after all it was remanufactured, which makes me wonder: Why was it remanufactured in the first place???

 

Those are usually ones that were returned under warranty and can't be sold as new so they sell them as rebuilt after cleaning them and checking them out.

 

In my recent research in replacement carbs, I have found that the holly is a good carb if you dont mind wrenching a bit. I was told that the problem with the holly is that if you even get as much as a back fire while adjusting the timing, idle screws etc, you can blow the throttle valves and diaphrams. I don't know this from experience first hand so take it for what it is worth.
I do know from experience that Carter AFB was a screemer!!! If Edlebrock is the identical carb as Carter, as I do hear, then Edlebrock will probably be my choice here in the near future. (unless someone convinces me otherwise on FTE).
I can say that the Holly Double Pumper on my 68 Corvette has been a good carb, and was easy enough to rebuild.
For what it's worth.

 

There are several things that affected your experience:

As said earlier the rebuilt Holleys are probably returns, but if it was an aftermarket rebuilder it is quite common to get the parts mixed up. Much of the factory calibration is in the metering blocks or plates. If these get mixed up and you get a carb with them being incorrect, you will have trouble.

Another thing is that any carburetor has to be dialed in. It could be that you were unlucky with the setup of the Holley while lucky with the setup of the Edelbrock.

The other element with the Edelbrock is that they are a good carb when new, and relatively easy to dial in for those who understand carburetion, but as they age, unlike a Holley, there are wearable parts in them. The metering pistons and their bores wear over time and the metering rods wear in the jets over time. If you have it running well now, make sure you know what metering rods and jets are in the carb and have them on hand so you can replace them in the future whenever it starts richening up. This will help, but if the pistons and bores wear, you may also have to change the springs underneath the pistons.

Another thing is that I believe for the person who is not well versed in the understanding of carburetion in general and tuning thereof, a Holley is probably not a good choice unless you get lucky and get one that is accidentally tuned to your application out of the box.

Good luck,
Doc

 

I have rebuilt two edelbrock 600's. One was on a 340 Challenger the other came on my 360 FE. The one on my 340 was a PITA to tune after the rebuild. It wouldn't find a happy medium. The one on my FE ran great after the rebuild no problems at all. I just rebuilt my first Holley (see rebuilt 3310 post) Lets just say I believe the Holley performs better messed up then the Edelbrock's ever did even when they were perfect. There are other factors that play into my decision to stick with Holley. It was way easier to rebuild the Holley. If you can turn a wrench and read instructions then the Holley is a breeze to rebuild. The Edelbrock wasn't hard but there were alot more parts to deal with. Maybe all the other mods make my truck seem faster but the Holley will spin the tires just feathering the gas. The Edelbrock would barely spin them when I slammed the pedal. Just my $.02

 

That must be true about them wearing out, q-jets do the same thing.
I bought a chebbie for 800 bucks with a crate motor edelbroch intake with carb and it needs ajusting every time the weather changes, It's like the old holleys.

 

Many people blame Holley as a bad carb because they never learned how to properly tune them. As far as power valve replacements posted above because of backfire, thats been corrected years ago by Holley, are you stuck in the 60's?