That's what I thought. I had the guy put holley good one side by side. I couldn't see any difference other than the finish. High price one was almost billet looking brawler more cast looking. But identical. Also I watch alot of racing shows and alot of drag racers use the brawler series. Havnt learned why, you'd think at that level 500 bucks more is nothing. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.

 

My cousin runs one on his Pontiac, I see them at the drag strip, I see them on engine masters, roadkill and roadkill garage.... I plan on putting one on my wife's El Camino too.

 

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Ok, so im doing alot of testing and making small screw movements do I can go back when it fails. I have noticed tho that I can make adjustments and it might say run real good after. Next day, not so much. Seems to take a bit of driving to settle into new settings. I only attempt changes once a day because of this. Gonna post my tests but just want to post out a question first. Several people tell me, including on this thread, that the idle screws, all 4 only effect idle. But I find any adjustment of them effects the whole driving experience. If it's off at all it will buck like a horse, then too lean makes it bog down and backfire. So appears to me they do more than just idle. My settings. I was at 1/4 on front 2, just over half on back 2 . Been running great warm but backfires if I let off at high rpm. Not alot but at least a pop pop pop. So yesterday I opened the fronts almost a quarter so now about 1/2 open. Drove it and it actually back fires more now. And bogs more too. So today I closed the backs a bit, say almost a 1/4 so now at about a 1/2 turn open too. Bit less maybe. So now the fronts and backs are almost equal like holley said they should be. Going for a drive right now. Then tomorrow again to see if it needs to settle down again. Hoping this helps. Will post results tomorrow. No vacuum gauge this time since those small movements don't make a gauge change at all really. Maybe 1 inch up or down. Fingers crossed.

 

For what it's worth, I Googled Holley Brawler reviews. Buyers responses had a common denominator (even if some were yrs back)
Rich Idle Out of The Box.
Some wrote that the transfer slot was "over-machined".
One wrote that a complete disassembly was needed due to flashing specks blocking passageways.

Over-all good carb, but don't expect instant satisfaction, opinions.

 

Ok, so once again this thing needs a day yo settle down. Last adjustment made it worse. Backfired at lower rpm and top end was down a bit and not as smooth. Only plus was the bog down almost vanished. But on hard accel it would hesitate instead. Fast forward to today. Runs fantastic, hardly backfires at all and only had 1 pop when I ran it up real high and coasted along way. So far no hesitation either. We're did it all go.?But, here's the variable I never even realised. Yesterday later in the day, I was using a/c while I tested. Today, cooler morning no a/c and it runs almost perfect. Other than load on motor I can't see how a/c could have such an effect. Strange results. That said that giant A6 a/c pump sure puts a load on the motor. Without the solenoid to bump thee throttle it can stop 300rpm! My newer truck a/c doesn't put any load on the motor. Guess new ones are more efficient than these giants. Lol. Gonna test a couple days before adjusting again. See if any changes happen. Actually just remembered a small symptom. If I drive awhile and it's hot. After parking for a bit when I start it my rpms are down about 300-400 rpm. I rev it a few seconds and it goes back to 900 and is fine. Seems to do that with any of the adjustments.

 

Alright, stopped by had a friendly chat with a known owner if a shop were im at. Got friendly enough he let me ramble on about my car, asked alot of questions, the whole way. Right from the day i test drove it. 😂 Got to my fuel issues. He doesn't even touch it and says it's a bit rich now, and I probably had it bang on when it was 1/4 fronts, 1/2 backs and opening the fronts is rich. He says I have valve guide leak. Real minor but causing backfire at high rpm decel. Says a/c acts like a brake and decels faster, which is true, and draws more vacuum making it backfire more. I actually put a set of positive valve seals on when I got it because is puffed blue when real hot. Got alot better after. Still a puff if I sit idle for along time. So, I guess that was my issue. Gonna redo with vacuum gauge to get that nice lean setting again. Save for a valve job and block refresh. Talked to my machinist friend. Did my 351m heads for me. He does heads for 500 each. Then an engine kit isn't much. Shouldn't take too long to save. Should have it before next summer anyway. I'll build it over winter. Gonna live with it for this summer. 😏

 

Well, have this thing tuned ok. Got rid of backfire. Don't think it will get any better since it's got valve guide leakage. Still burning a hit of oil. Need heads redone. Can't see it burning it, except the odd time it puffs a bit at lights. But it's definitely burning it as there are no other leaks, and it eats about a litre every couple weeks. So heads are gone. That said, I found an adapter to go from square bore, or spread bore, to the quad bore set up. Or vice versa. It's cheap so I'm going to get one. I figure if I can figure out why my quad was such garbage, I might fix it and try it for comparison. I also have another quad off a boat I had, and it looks the same almost. Posting pics of both to see if anyone spots what's wrong. First pics are the one off the Vette, second one off the boat. I think they may be the same. No way you know how big they are since they don't say on them. Here's pics, looks like they uploaded ok.let me know if you spot anything. Pic with choke open is were 2nd carb pics start.

 

Using an adapter will only introduce more problems.

 

Ah that too bad. Would have tried to fix these carbs. Not changing a manifold for a roll of the dice. Just curious why and what problems? Figured a hole is a hole , as long as the carb fits?

 

not sure if already asked.
did you start off by properly setting the secondary throttle stop so that the transfer slot appears to be a square opening?

 

Lol, sorry havnt a clue what you mean.

 

watch the video

 

Just out of curiosity what is the actual model of the carb? There is a stamping on the choke housing on the carb, would you mind reading off the numbers?

 

I currently have a quick fuel brawler 650 on there. Pretty new. But I still have the quad that came off and another quad off a boat I took apart. Both don't work well. The numbers for those are in the pictures I posted. The first carb is the one off my Vette, 2nd off the boat.

 

Ok, no I did not do that. It says to do that only if you have a big cam, and have 14 or less inches of vaccum. I have 22 were it's set now.

 

No no no….. There is a stamping on the front of the choke air horn that gives the Holley part number. There are possibly several different 650 Brawler carbs. The code on the front will tell us exactly what that carb is. The code looks something like this.

 

but you are having tuning problems where the primary and secondary mixture screws are not set equally.

 

I redid mixtures again, with vacuum gauge. This time I backed out fronts to a half turn, and closed backs to half turn. Vacuum dropped from 22 to 20, but it sure runs better, and no backfire now. Odd vacuum is less when your supposed to go for maximum. But it's running good.

 

There's the number, as a note the electric choke is removed and I have a manual installed. Electric never worked right and I prefer manual.