Picked up a Brawler (A carburetor not a fighter)

[manofmerc]

I have been needing a new carb. for my 390 powered f250 truck .Looking into these brawler series from Holley .They come in several sizes and vacuum or mechanical secondary.I picked out a simple 600 cfm vacuum secondary. It looks like what it is a cheap Holley it has sight windows for your fuel level setting a kick down lever for the transmission and several vacuum ports .With some fine tuning of the idle screws accelerator pump and float level it has performed well so far . Somehow I don't believe this would be a good carb. for an engine with lots of cam or expecting the most hp from your engine .I could be wrong about that and most looking for big hp numbers aren't going with a cheap carb any way .For a mild engine like mine it has worked out alright .Doug

[blykins]

The Brawler and Slayer carbs are nice economical carburetors and work well for the intended use. 

[1968galaxie]

I have heard that these Holley carbs are made by the CCP.
The price certainly makes it look so.
Forced labor reduces carb prices.

I could be wrong - please correct me if I am.

[GerryP]

...
I could be wrong - please correct me if I am.

No.  You are correct.  Slave labor for sure makes products cheaper.  Quality ain't so good, but man is it cheap!

[1968galaxie]

No.  You are correct.  Slave labor for sure makes products cheaper.  Quality ain't so good, but man is it cheap!

And just think, after a long shift making holley carbs you can relax and have an organ or two harvested. The $$$$ never ends for companies like holley.
People should avoid companies like holley that have sold out the American (and canadian) public for the almighty Yen.

Sorry for my political vent. But it has to be said - more and more companies are lured by the CCP Yen.
Me no want to bang Fang-Fang.

[Katz427]

The aluminum bodies are cast outside the US. Some in Taiwan. Machining and assembly are in USA. What information was given when I inquired about manufacture.

[67xr7cat]

No.  You are correct.  Slave labor for sure makes products cheaper.  Quality ain't so good, but man is it cheap!

And just think, after a long shift making holley carbs you can relax and have an organ or two harvested. The $$$$ never ends for companies like holley.
People should avoid companies like holley that have sold out the American (and canadian) public for the almighty Yen.

Sorry for my political vent. But it has to be said - more and more companies are lured by the CCP Yen.
Me no want to bang Fang-Fang.

I thought this was supposed to be FE Tech, not the politics section?  So you do know most stroker cranks and rods are cast or forged in China? I bet if you went thru all the stuff you bought in the last year a large amount of it had some part of it made in China even if it says made in USA.  To single out a company like Holley is just not fair. If you straighten up this country stuff will be made here.  If you don't want to help the CCP then you need to concentrate on getting rid of all the corrupt people running this country as they are no different than the Commies in China and made the situation that encourage companies to off shore. 

As for the Brawler carbs I have one and is a well made piece. Is basically a QFT carb with a different name. Of course Holley owns QFT now too.

Sorry Jay for the rant, just don't think trashing Holley is a positive thing for the hobby.

[cammerfe]

Let's leave politics out of here. I have very emphatic views and have no trouble voicing them, but Jay wants to keep it out of here and we need to accept his edicts. He owns the football so we play according to his rules.

KS

[GerryP]

I just went to Holley's site since I have no current knowledge of their products.  Those Brawlers do "look" pretty nice.  Lots of features.  So they have Classic, Avengers, Brawlers, Warriors, Slayers, and whatever else I might have missed.  That's a lot of variety for a diminishing market.

[manofmerc]

You know I didn't intend to get a china bashing thread going it seems I did though .I have had issues with china crap too more than you can imagine .My intent was to inform readers that this Brawler carb.wasnt crap .If it had been I would have said so .And maybe I missed it but I cant find anything that says made in china .So far it has run much better than my old carb. I did have to adjust  the fuel level idle screws (not much) and in particular the accelerator pump linkage .After doing so it runs great .I had a 2bbl. on a mr. gasket adapter for my 4bbl. c5 intake it was trouble free for 2-3 years .I come to find a vacuum leak with that adapter and with a little trash in the old 2bbl. it was time to go 4bbl.And I wanted a cheap carb. with electric choke and a transmission  kickdown linkage .The Brawler had it all! The first time I opened the secondaries I couldn't believe how good it ran .And again I haven't found any china stickers on this carb.maybe they are on the inside .Doug

[1968galaxie]

Let's leave politics out of here. I have very emphatic views and have no trouble voicing them, but Jay wants to keep it out of here and we need to accept his edicts. He owns the football so we play according to his rules.

KS

How is discussing offshore (labor slaves) political? It is truth.
Are we now labeling everything we do not like as political  - smells like censorship?

Exposing companies that used to manufacture in the USA, but were bought out by money managers who then go offshore.... That is now "political"?
The consumer or potential consumer should be aware of ALL of these companies that are doing the same as (the once great) Holley.
MSD and others are doing the same thing.

I never implied that any offshore parts are poorly made or junk. Many are decent quality.

Posting an opinion shouldn't be quickly dismissed as "political". Just saying.

[Katz427]

Just for info, Holley has pretty much placed all it's casting operations , to suppliers, many years ago. Holley was faced with no domestic casting plant capacity, for the alloy being used and found "off shore" suppliers back in the mid 90's. The machining and assembly have always been in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Especially today, the suppliers of diecast aluminum are stretched pretty thin.

[67xr7cat]

I bought a Brawler 770 VS carb for my Son's Chrysler 300 about Five months ago.  I looked at a lot of carbs at the time and seemed like one of the better carbs on the market as far as off the shelf goes.  Cost me just under $400 with shipping and tax.  The body and bowls are die cast aluminum.  The base plate looks like the billet one.  Has the same VS setup as the QFT with the screw adjustment. It also has the nozzle in the primary for the VS signal.  I understand a lot of newer 750 Holley's are missing this and then the secondary's don't open correctly.  Also has a metering block on the secondary side and 4 corner idle.  The main body has screw in idle and high speed air bleeds so is a very tunable carb if you are so inclined.  The bowls have the see thru sight glasses on both sides. Is nice not have to remove those plugs and have gas dripping. The choke is electric and looks to be standard Holley stuff. All in all a nice carb and were no issues out of the box.

[Barry_R]

Just for info, Holley has pretty much placed all it's casting operations , to suppliers, many years ago. Holley was faced with no domestic casting plant capacity, for the alloy being used and found "off shore" suppliers back in the mid 90's. The machining and assembly have always been in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Especially today, the suppliers of diecast aluminum are stretched pretty thin.

We were still having most of the traditional zinc stuff cast stateside in the 1980s/1990s.  Some of the spread bore zinc had been done in Taiwan with marginal results.  And they had the aluminum 4010/4011 castings done in Portugal with good results.  No idea where they are doing things now, but it looks like nobody really wants to cast in zinc these days between environmentals and corrosion vulnerability from alcohol in fuels.

[390rpm]

Just for info, Holley has pretty much placed all it's casting operations , to suppliers, many years ago. Holley was faced with no domestic casting plant capacity, for the alloy being used and found "off shore" suppliers back in the mid 90's. The machining and assembly have always been in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Especially today, the suppliers of diecast aluminum are stretched pretty thin.

We were still having most of the traditional zinc stuff cast stateside in the 1980s/1990s.  Some of the spread bore zinc had been done in Taiwan with marginal results.  And they had the aluminum 4010/4011 castings done in Portugal with good results.  No idea where they are doing things now, but it looks like nobody really wants to cast in zinc these days between environmentals and corrosion vulnerability from alcohol in fuels.

Barry is right. Positively charged zinc will readily react with negatively charged alcohol to produce ZnO (zinc oxide- essentially zinc rust). It's a good point. Without any type of coating, there would be corrosion issues due to using 10% ethanol fuel.