Holley Carburetor on Sprite?

[Florentinepogen]

Hi there. I’m considering purchasing a ‘64 Sprite and the owner tells me he switched the existing carb to a 2 barrel Holley. Is this commonplace and should I have any concerns?

Thanks!

 

[Tybalt]

If I had to hazard a guess on this, it is a Holley from the 52xx series of carburetors. There were any number of conversion kits on the market at one time using the Weber 32/36 DGV (manual choke), DGAV (water choke) or DGEV (electric choke) out there, including most small British sports cars and sedans.

Moving into the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Holley obtained a license from Weber to make their own version of the DGxV series carburetors. IIRC, the 5200 was used by Ford on the Pinto based cars, the 5210 was used by GM on the Vega based cars as well as American Motors on cars using a VW/Audi engine and the 5220 was used by Chrysler on the Omni and Horizons fitted with VW/Audi engines.

After repeated carburetor problems on a Datsun 620 pickup, I bought a DGxV manifold adapter and fitted a Holley 5210 to it because at the time I cou;ld get the Holley for about half the cost of the Weber DGAV. Carburetor issues solve with that swap out.

So in answer to your questions, I can't say that it was common as most people did just use a Weber conversion kit but several people familiar with the Weber/Holley relationship that I knew did adapt one of the Holley 52xx series carburetors for use in lieu of the Weber. I recall that some of the jets were interchangable but not all, similar situation on the gaskets IIRC. I don't really know how readily available the specific to Holley parts happen to be, that would be the main concern I would have these days with them but think the 5200 and 5210 would have better parts availablilty since they were used for a longer period of time and in larger numbers than the 5220.

 

[JPSmit]

I would also say that switching back to an SU or two is easy and not terribly expensive if you wish.

 

[Tybalt]

I would also say that switching back to an SU or two is easy and not terribly expensive if you wish.

Nothing wrong with that and it would be my preferred route. However, that doesn't address the issue of a Holley carburetor being fitted to a Spridget, whether or not that was common nor what concerns might there be in continuing to run that set up.

 

[JPSmit]

Nothing wrong with that and it would be my preferred route. However, that doesn't address the issue of a Holley carburetor being fitted to a Spridget, whether or not that was common nor what concerns might there be in continuing to run that set up.

I started out with a Zenith Stromberg and swapped in an SU so, no direct experience. However, based on the observation of being a member of this forum for over a decade the real issue people have is getting them dialed in properly. Once this is done (assuming it has been done) everything should be just fine.

 

[Bayless]

I wouldn't let the carb make the decision whether to purchase. I expect it would work all right being a DGV copy. If not the easy fix is a real Weber that should fit right on. I agree with JPSmit suggestion though, conversion back to SUs would be the preferred way.