Hi all. I am currently looking for a "correct" rebuilt kit for a Holley 950CFM 3 barrel carb (list 3916-1S). These carbs have been out of production for so long I am having a hard time locating a kit that has all of the 3-barrel specific parts. Anyone know where I can find one? Thanks, Jeff.
I have had Holley carbs on my cars for the 35 years or so, But have never driven or worked on a 3 barrel Holley . I know Edelbrock made the C3BX for this carb . Does anybody have any real world experience with this carb? Seems like it would have some issues with bog or hesitation when the secondaries opened ...otherwise Holley would have kept on making them?
I had one on an L-88 427 stuck in a 67 Camaro. When the third barrel kicked in you'd better have the car pointed in the right direction because all hell was getting ready to break loose! I loved that car, the engine and that carb!
Yeah! and stay away from the cork gaskets..... The newer blue ones are way better and will work with that carb.... Plus they're re-useable... Is that even a word???..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HOLLEY-CAR...573504?hash=item3cec01b880:g:YxMAAMXQROxRfjoJ They also have the correct secondary diaphragm, good kit's. Have a 950 on a sbc 383, pulls like a freight train.
I have run one on my Willys for 50 years! 4bbl kits work for them, no problem. The one big problem is the huge vacuum diaphragm. Those are not available as far as I know. I made aluminum inserts for the primaries for more responsiveness, otherwise it has been a great carb
We make a kit, and the kit does have the correct diaphragm; but we are WAY behind right now on specials, and this is a special. The gaskets differ from those used in the 4-barrels. We make the gaskets to duplicate the original Holley 3-barrel gaskets. I am not enough of a Holley lover to know if the 4-barrel gaskets will work. On a side-note, I have always found it interesting that the Holley 3-barrels are rated at 950 CFM and 1050 CFM; while the Carter 3-barrel, which has larger venturii and more throttle area, is rated at 939 CFM??? Truth in advertising??? Jon.
I am pretty sure the majority of the gaskets are the same as for a standard Holley 4bbl. The 3bbl has the separate jet body on the primaries and the fixed jet plate for the secondaries. Jets are standard Holley. Float bowls are standard. Even the accelerator pump is a standard diaphragm. The secondary actuating diaphragm is however unique to this carb and I have never heard of anyone reproducing them. Holley doesn't. Luckily mine has never died!
Willys36 - you are correct about the uniqueness of the diaphragm, but incorrect that no one reproduces them. There are a couple of different holes in the metering block gaskets. Again, do not know if this is critical, but we make them like Holley did. I learned a long time ago that any time I tried to do a short cut, I had less than the desired results. Jon.
Would you throw away a 3 barrel to save 90 dollar's. (didn't say it was cheap, just that somebody makes them)
Yes, it is different from the tripower diaphragms. And for those that think the ebay auction posted a few above this (not mine, by the way) is a scam, would respectfully suggest that YOU reproduce them. We have been reproducing parts now for almost 50 years, and I can tell you that when one amortizes the tooling costs on items where one can sell maybe 100 in a lifetime, the item cost is MUCH different than one where 100,000 are produced. As an example, I used to buy the 35R-136 diaphragm for the model 4000 from Holley in 500 piece quantity. The last time I tried to order, they refused an order that SMALL Jon.
Good news that they are still available. I will baby mine along though, $90 is still $90!! I know what you mean about manufacturing and marketing. I work in the oil field in the area of steam enhanced recovery (injecting steam into the ground to loosen up the roof tar we are trying to produce) and I have come up with several tools over the years that would make the process much better. However when I run them past manufacturers, they do a market search and decide it is too small to justify development. I commend you for taking on this super low volume product. Obviously a labor of love!!
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