TADailyDriver

iTrader: (8)

Alight Carb guru's let's help me solve my on going problem.....

I got a Spreadbore Holley 650 Vac. Secondaries, Electric Choke on my 357 Vortec. Squarebore Edelbrock Vortec ESP Intake w/ 1" adapter/spacer. Car will almost never fire on first turn of the key when cold, and electric choke is working. Will sputter a little bit then die, I then hit the gas a few times to prime the carb and car will sputter to life and run choppy until warmed up. Also, I swapped a shorter and lighter spring into the secondaries and replaced the diaphram due to it being ripped. Car pops and stutters at high rpm's from a dead stop, Im thinking I need to go back to the longer yellow spring that was already installed as I think the spring I put in may be too light? And I think a power valve (or 2) may be blown as it has backfired while cranking over and I am now starting to see a small amount of black residue around the top and inside of carb... Am I just wasting my time with this carb on my setup in my signature or should I take it off, do a complete rebuild and re try the carb? It seems to be running slightly rich at idle as well and the idle is always changing on me, one day it will idle choppy and low like i have a large cam and other days it will idle higher and smooth? Also where can I find the small c-clip that holds the secondaries diaprahm linkage to the carb, as mine went flying when i tried to remove it. Sorry for all the questions but this carb has been giving me nothing but problems since I got it.

pancherj

I would never (again) run a spreadbore carb on a square bore manifold with the adapter. However, I can't say that is your problem here. I would be looking at the timing curve first. What is your initial adavance? Total mechanical? Is vacuum advance hooked up? It sounds like the timing is retarded too much for your setup. The Vortec heads tend to not need as much total advance (maybe around 32-34*). However, any small block with a non-stock cam usually will run best with around 14* initial advance (even more if the cam is rowdy). Tell us about your timing first.

TADailyDriver

iTrader: (8)

Well my total timing at 2200 rpm is 32*. The timing has ben the biggest thing to try and get correct on this motor as Im running an MSD Ready to run E curve distributor . it comes with the circuit board under the cap with 2 timing dials and the rev limiter, No MSD box needed. Both timing dials under the caps are set at 0 right now. From reading the instructions on how to tune the dizzy, there are 99 different ways according to how your motor is built. I have yet to find someone who knows how to tune this distributor. I know that may have alot to do with the many problems Im having, as the engine just doesnt seem to be making alot of hp. I was thinking of swapping to a different carb to see what problems go away but maybe ill put new power valves in and focus on the timing issue mainly. Ill take some pics of my dizzy to see if anyone can help me tune it correctly. (also dizzy does not have a vacum advance option on it.)