fbekholden.com

Ladies and Gents,

As promised, attached below a link to a the FB/EK Holden Stromberg Carburetion Enthusiasts Guide (with thanks to those on the forum who commented). It contains:
• historical information, such as which carburettors and fittings were fitted to different model Holdens,
• practical information on identification, disassembly and reassembly of early Holden original and replacement carburettors, and
• guidance on tuning, replacement parts and overhaul techniques.

It contains answers to many of the questions that seem to come up routinely on most of the early Holden forums:
“What jets should I run in my early Holden, and where do I get them from?”
“Why is my Stromberg carburettor running so poorly?”
“How do I set up twin carburettors on a grey motor?”

Whilst it is written with FB/EK Holden BXOV-1 carburettors in mind, it equally covers the red motor BXUV/BXV carburettors (through to HR) and has a smattering of info on the WW Strombergs from HR Holdens.



Cheers,
Harv (chief apprentice carby fiddler).

Once again, outstanding effort Harv

Great work Harv That would of taken a few hours

Maaate! I think we should start calling you the Professor! Full marks...

Stewart

Cheers guys.

I enjoyed writing this one - helped me better understand a lot of fiddly concepts (like "linkages") that I had a rough idea of, but not properly.

I was lucky to get hold of some good Bendix manuals... have since sent the manuals overseas to the Stromberg Carburetor Ltd (Genuine Stromberg) company in the UK so they can understand better some of the different carb configurations that were offered here. A lot of the non-US IP appears to have been lost in the 20-odd years that Stromberg lay idle. Those guys were cool to deal with - also sent them a box of grey motor Strommie parts and they helped double check which bits they now remanufacture for GMH Strommies. Rocket Industries is their local distributor, and can get their hands on new jets, power valves and a few other bits and pieces .

Also had a lot of help from the guys on the forum (including Matto's mum - a legend with a photocopier ). Only hitch this time was I couldn't lay my hands on FX and FJ workshop manuals no matter how hard I tried - ended up having to buy some tattered old copies to work from. Shame to have to buy them as I only needed 2 pages out of each. Good resource for the next document I guess .

Next on the cards is a red-motor 350 Holley guide (about 75% done), then will probably start on a crashbox guide.

Cheers,
Harv.

Thanks, this coincided perfectly with my acquisition of a dual carb manifold for my grey!

Thanks for the effort put in here Harv , this article is an invaluable asset for us forums members ..Informative and easy to understand
Thank you
Fingers

A short note for interests sake.

I've always looked at the little round chrome air filters on Strommies and wondered if they were big enough to do the job. My mental model compares them to the factory air cleaner, which looks heaps bigger. The article below takes a look at air cleaners for Strommie 97's:
http://www.stromberg-bulletin.com/air-f ... mberg-97s/

I know, they're not BXOV carbs... but they are not too far removed either (EE's). Running through the numbers for a grey (138ci and 4500rpm) shows that around 30" square of filter area is needed. This is slightly bigger than your typical 4"x2" tall filter.

Moral to the story?
a) A grey with a single Strommie running one of the little chrome air cleaners is probably getting asthmatic at the top end of the RPM scale.
b) A grey with twins or triples is OK with those air cleaners.
c) The aftermarket oiled foam cleaners (like K&N) are going to flow a lot better than a paper filter (no news there).

Cheers,
Harv

Ladies and Gents,

Over the last few years, my Strommie Guide has had a pretty fair work-out. In the background, I've kept tinkering with the carbs (truth be known, I should have been doing other things... I have the attention span of a goldfish ). To update the Guide, please find below a link to Addendum 1:



The Addendum has some minor corrections, some new Australian carburettor codes, and also my notes on E85 and methanol use in grey motor Strommies. Lots of testing done for this one.

Hope this is of use to you. Just like the original Guide, if anyone can't access the SCRIBD site, or just wants a pdf copy, please PM me and I'll email you a pdf.

I'll keep playing with the carbs, and if enough comes to light may write another Addendum in the future.

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice Stromberg fiddler).

An interesting story to share. I helped out one of the humpy guys late last year. He had a grey motor Strommie that had been overhauled by a carby mob, but had never run right over the subsequent year or more... missing and farting at random during idle, cruise and power . He had checked all the electricals, and was pretty confident it was a carb issue.

Shipped the carb to me, and it was clear that it had been overhauled then used. Bright and shiny, with a few greasy/dusty marks from where the humpy was being driven.Took some care stripping it down, and other than a small amount of crap in the bottom of the float bowl everything seemed fine - jetting, gaskets, settings, clear passages etc. The only thing that was a little off was that the two screws that hold the throttle body to the main body were different lengths:

I figure the carb shop had grabbed some random screws, and picked two that didn't match. Shouldn't make much difference methinks... until it was time to put it back together. The holes in the throttle body (black ion the photo below) are drilled and tapped through (not blind). However, the threads in the bottom of those holes are burred, meaning the screws will bottom-out before passing through the throttle body. When reassembled, the short screw tightened up before bottoming out... the long screw however bottomed out, leaving the throttle body/spacer/main body joints all loose. The poor old carb was sucking in air through the loose joint. Looking at the grease/dirt marks on the main body, you can see where it was blurting out crap on occasion from the open joint:


Swapped out the long screw for a short one from the spare parts department, and gave the carb a test run on the FB (before I burnt the brakes out ). All good, and the carb returned to the owner. The humpy now runs like it should.

Cheers,
Harv

Good story Harv. Goes to show how these jiggers are relatively simple and not too much can go wrong. That is as long as one is patient and methodical. 1st year apprentice I wonder?


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Errol62 wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:15 pmGood story Harv. Goes to show how these jiggers are relatively simple and not too much can go wrong. That is as long as one is patient and methodical. 1st year apprentice I wonder?

Might have been a Friday afternoon job . Funny, I have seen some great work come out of carb shops, but also some shockers... loose screws, carbs acid dipped so hard that the fittings fall out of them, passages full of grit. I guess we all have a rough day sometimes.

Cheers,
Harv

I've been reading through Harv's Stromberg carb guide, gleaning information of interest, particularly relating to rebuilding a WW carb I acquired. Absolutely mammoth achievement by the way Harv. Anyway, reading through this thorough and comprehensive document provoked me to ponder on an old topic as to why the WW carbs were never fitted to six cylinder engines HQ - VB, LJ - UC. To my knowledge there was never a factory 173 or 202 fitted with WW Stromberg. Slightly off topic I know. I speculate it was because the performance focus was changing to the V8s.

Hope this provokes some discussion.
Cheers,
Clay

There were a few inline 6's fitted with the WW

I've been slowly updating the Guide to include the WW. I have all the theory documented (models, parts, spares, tuning etc). I bough half a dozen WW's to pull apart, overhaul and put back together (to add the practical photos) but have not had a chance yet (Grace's ute kinda distracted me). If you want a copy of the theory, let me know an email address and I will send it. I'll have to cut it out of the complete Guide though, as the Guide is becoming a monster... it now runs to 300 pages .

WW's were fitted to thje following Holdens:
Holden HR, HK, HT and HG 186S engines with manual transmissions.
Holden HR, HK, HT and HG 186S engines with automatic transmissions.
Holden HT, HG 253ci V8 engines with automatic transmission (1969-1971)
Holden HT 186S engines with automatic transmissions (1969-1970).
Holden HT and HG 186S engines with manual transmissions (1969-1970).
Holden HG 186S engines with automatic transmissions (1970).
Holden late HT and all HG 253ci V8 engines with manual transmission (1969-1971)
Holden LC GTR 161S (2600S) engines, from October 1969 to July 1971.
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with automatic transmissions (1971-1972)
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with manual transmissions (1971-1972)
Holden LC GTR Torana 173ci six cylinder “S” engines (1971-1972).
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with automatic transmissions (1972-1973)
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with manual transmissions (1972-1973)
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with automatic transmissions (August 1973 to September 1974).
Holden HQ 253ci V8 engines with manual transmissions (August 1973 to September 1974).
Holden HJ and LH Torana 253ci V8 engines with automatic transmissions (1974-1975).
Holden HJ and LH Torana 253ci V8 engines with manual transmissions (1974-1975).
Holden HJ and LH and LX Torana 4.2L V8 engines with manual transmissions (January 1975 to June 1977).
Holden HJ and LH and LX Torana 4.2L V8 engines with automatic transmissions (January 1975 to June 1977).
Holden HX and LX Torana 4.2L V8 engines with automatic transmissions (July 1976 to April 1977).
Holden HX and LX Torana 253ci V8 engines with manual transmissions (1976-1977).
Holden HX and HZ, LX Torana and VB Commodore 4.2L V8 engines with automatic transmissions (May 1977 to March 1980).
Holden HX and HZ, LX Torana and VB Commodore 4.2 V8 engines with manual transmissions (May 1977 to March 1980).

Cheers,
Harv
Deputy apprentice WW Stromberg fiddler

Thanks Harv. I stand corrected in that WWs were fitted to 173 in LC Torana only.

Yes please on the WW info. Sent you a PM.