Mike - the glass bowl Holleys were popular with some of the folks that like Holley 4-barrels. I don't remember ever personally trying to set up a unit with the Holleys.
I like to use the Carters because of ease (at least for me) of tuning.
The W series uses a mechanical power system (no springs), so there are finite mechanical adjustments to adjust the timing of the steps on the metering rods. So the only trick is to do some testing, and determine if you need leaner/richer rods at the various steps. Since Carter produced more than 120 different W-1's, one can generally, with some research, find a set of rods that will do the trick. The W series has the added benefit of using a leather accelerator pump (totally impervious to ethanol).
For the Carter Y series, one introduces another degree of difficulty, as the timing of the rods is controlled by a vacuum piston spring. A fact many are unaware of, is that one can use AFB springs in the Y series, and they come in several different tensions. Remember that Carter supplied all kinds of racing kits for the AFB's. The common style of AFB jets may also be used. With some experience and some tools, one can adjust the timing of the rods by changing springs. Once the timing is functioning, one then has hundreds of Y series carbs to use as donors to select the correct rod calibration.
And there is always the fail-safe for those that are too lazy to do the research, or unable to find a set of donor carbs with the desired rod profile. That grumpy old Missouri hill-billy with the Carter prototyping lathe can machine rods to any calibration.
A mistake so many folks make using triple carbs is trying to use progressive linkage. Did you ever see a Healey 3000 or a Jaguar XK-E with progressive linkage? Solid linkage is the only way to go.
Jon.
