Why is Pony THAT much better???

[Anonymous]

Doing a mild overhaul on my 200 while it's down for the winter. I've got the Pacemaker headers, going for dual 2" exhaust, and am going to have some head work done--3 angle valve job, hardened seats, clifford port divider, mill to compensate for new head gasket thickness, maybe some larger valves. I'm leaving in the original (rebuilt) auto trans for now, and the original rear end.

I want to install a 2V carb. Narrowed my choices to Autolite 2100 and HW 5200. Plan to use the Clifford adapter regardless, for clearance reasons.

Here's what I don't get--

Pony sells a 2100 for like $319.

I can get a 2100 reman from Advance Auto for $119.

or, I can get a HW from Stovebolt for $65, or about the cost of the Clifford adapter .

What's up with the price ranges? Is a rebuilt parts store Autolite twice as good as Stovebolt's 5200? Is Pony's 2100 nearly three times as good as Advance Auto's, and five times as good as Stovebolt's 5200?????

I don't want to cheap out on this, I'm willing to spend money to get quality and performance but I'd like to at least give a nod to cost efficiency. Any thoughts?

Mark

 

[Asa]

don't buy autozone, you'll end up having to return it at least once because something is FUBAR on it

Pony i know rebuilds them, and trys to take out the basic design flaws that the factory didn't have time or money for (or so they say)

stovebolt... no clue

 

[Titleist16]

I bought the Stovebolt H/W 5200 brand new for $65. Very fast shipping and had no problems with the carb. I would definitely do business with them again.

 

[wsa111]

Yes, the PONY carb is a carefully selected core which have been remaunfactured-not rebuilt.

This carburetor has the correct jet sizes as original-but not possibly right for your six, but is original as you are going to purchase.

Also when you order if you do ask John for extra jets possibly 1-3 sizes smaller than original. You will probably have to put smaller jets in it to get the right A/F mixture. William

 

[XFlow_Fairlane]

yeah I noticed that my stock 1100's all ran rich. I am sure that has to do with modern fuel atomizing into smaller particals then the fuel of old.

 

[Anonymous]

the way i see it - you could go any route and end up with no problems. however, if you want the peace of mind that you've got a quality component in your set up, then I would recommend pony carbs. Sure, auto zone, napa, etc, etc are great for your run of the mill products (i.e. filters, hoses, tires, etc etc) but as far as the actual components that you must depend on, well, to me it was justified knowing that someone I've talked to personally went through and redesigned that particular unit - as opposed to some underpaid worker in another country simply putting new gaskets into dirty cores for auto zone....i've had (and i think a few here will agree) far too many "oops" when it comes to the big name/chain auto stores...

The only downside to Pony carbs is that I feel John is a little too territorial with his settings/products. But that's not necessarily a bad thing - overall i feel it was worth the money.

Good Luck!

 

[rust collector]

Most "reman" carbs you get at the parts store have been carefully destroyed.
Most of them may work ok, but they are often ruined by harsh cleaning, with media blasting everything, and often pieced together from a bucket of mismatched parts.
Very few of the reman carbs I have seen, has rebushed throttle shafts, and many of them really needed to be.

But then, you might be lucky, and get a good one...

I feel you would probably be better off with a rebuild kit in an old carb, than trying your luck with the cheap reman.

I have no idea about the pony units, but they seem to be good

 

[Anonymous]

I got a reman carter yf from autozone, and seems to run well. but it only has to get me through the winter untill i upgrade in the spring.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the responses. Sounds like there's a lot of bad experience out there with reman carbs from the parts stores, so I'll stay away from those.

That leaves a $319 Autolite 2100 from Pony, or a $65 HW 5200 from Stovebolt, or trying to come up with something on Ebay to rebuild.

The Performance Handbook doesn't really recommend one over the other; it just says that the 2100 is a good choice. The 5200 is described as the economy choice (I assume that means gas mileage and not purchase price). Pony's website says that the 2100 is better than anything Holley ever made. So what's a guy to do?

Anybody out there that has run both, and believes the 2100 to be $250 better than the 5200?

 

[MercuryMarc]

Is this the link to the HW 5200 that is offered by Langdon's Stovebolt? All it mentions in the listing is "Holley Weber 2bbl progressive carb." I want to make sue it is a 5200- not sure if there were others.
http://www.stoveboltengineco.com/acartpro/product.asp?productid=149

 

[Anonymous]

How about a 350 cfm Holley 2300 series?? Around $239.88 or so from Simmit racing?

Just my opinion, but infinitely more adjustable than a Autolite and parts are more readily available.

Later,

Doioug

 

[Anonymous]

*nods*

I've been looking at them as well...

-> Holley 2300 <-
P/N 0-7448 350 cfm (Summit # P/N HLY-0-7448)

 

[Anonymous]

So the question is--
Is a $239 2300 from Summit a good buy when Stovebolt has a 5200 for $65? I just don't know. Wish there was a side by side comparison available.

I think 350 cfm might be too much for my engine. I'll have long headers, duals, porting and 3 angle valve job but probably standard size valves. The Performance Manual says that 350 cfm could be okay for a well-modified 200 c.i. engine, but I don't think mine qualifies as well-modified, does it?

 

[Anonymous]

If you are worried about the 350 cfm 2300 there are lots of jets, valves, ect. available to tailor the mixture to your particular application. For example, Holley rates the 5200 at 270 or 280 cfm with a 26mm primary venturi or 235 cfm with a 23mm primary, but 330 cfm with a 28mm primary.