Recently, we brought you the Smarter Every Day video on a see-through carburetor, with its incredible slow-motion videography and simple breakdown of how a carb functions in its most basic form. Now, Destin Sandlin is further satiating his curiosity by teaming up with Holley Performance and looking at “big-boy” carburetors, how they function, and how they are made.
Sandlin headed up to Holley’s Bowling Green, Kentucky factory where Shane Weckerly, Holley’s VP of Strategic Brand Management, gave him the full tour of the facility. There, he’s walked through every step of production for a Holley carburetor. More than just a factory tour, Weckerly describes the function of each and every component of the carburetor as it is explored on the assembly line.
In addition to just explaining things like the idle, transition, and main circuits in metering blocks, there are some quite simple animations that illustrate how the circuits work. Then, the team explores the main bodies and base plates. In addition to explaining how the different parts of the carburetor work, Sandlin also explains how the machining processes work as well.

Manufacturing a carburetor at Holley still happens similarly to how it happened back in the 1950s, with a few key advancements in machining and automation.
Beyond manufacturing, the video also covers the assembly of the carburetors down the line, from squirters to boosters and air bleeds, all of the facets are covered. All while comparing and contrasting the parts and pieces to Sandlin’s see-through carburetor as a reference. Besides the informational value of the process, watching Sandlin — a degreed rocket scientist, mind you — giggle with excitement as he sees the process and realizes how everything works.
Another cool peek behind the curtain is Holley’s final quality control check of wet-flow testing the assembled carburetors. While some of the details are still hidden, it’s an amazing look into the seldom-seen process. At the end of the day, we can’t help but think that Sandlin might be well served to check out Jeff Smith’s Carb Science Series here on EngineLabs.