Wierd noise from Holley 4160

[flipper35]

Finally got tired of the fuel evaporating out of the Carter AFB so I pulled it off and bought a rebuild kit for my 4160. Replaced gaskets and all (long story why I had the Carter) since it sat a few years and needed the bowl gasket replaced anyway. Put it on and now it sounds like someone has a balloon letting the air out while pinching the neck. I checked the vacuum secondary spring houseing and gasket. What else would make that sound?

[dart joe]

Its either a vacuum leak or the metering is off in the carb, block gaskets are not right, things like that, or the throttle shafts are worn, or the seconderies are not closing all the way, check all of this.

[flipper35]

OK. Will tear it down and check everything again. The noise is just like a supercharger and all the ports are blocked off so I figured it was internal somewhere.

[gsmopar]

Spray some WD-40 around the throttle shafts and see if the noise goes away.

**edit** if it is the throttle shafts, they're a major pain to replace. I'd suggest:

4160 Base Plate

[pishta]

Identical problem. Base gasket. did you keep the Carter gasket? They wear differently and the embossed AFB footprint bay not seal a Holley.

[riquiscott]

Originally Posted by pishta

Identical problem. Base gasket. did you keep the Carter gasket? They wear differently and the embossed AFB footprint bay not seal a Holley.

I agree that it's almost certainly a gasket problem. The noise you're hearing is typical when you have air passing between two parallel flat surfaces that have a few thousandths clearance between them. (think of the reed on a clarinet or saxophone, or the balloon example you gave).

Start off easy - examine the base gasket and replace if necessary. Also check that you got ALL of the old gasket material off of the manifold and the underside of the carb. When I rebuilt my carb recently, there were spots on the manifold that just looked like discoloration/staining, but when I ran my fingers over them, they turned out to be small patches where I didn't get every last trace of the old gasket off.

[flipper35]

It was a brand new base gasket. Fairly thick one at that. I ran over the surfaces with a putty knife to feel for irregularities or remaining material. It does sound like the base gasket when it sits and idles so I am going to take it off again and see if the base is warped maybe? Don't have any room for a thicker gasket with my current aircleaner. The Carter was just a bit shorter.