Well here's where I'm at..

Stock LG4, Removed all the smog, CC equipment and went to a HEI w/vac adv. and a 650 DP (I had the 650 laying around). Now the fun

I can't get either to work correctly. Set the base timing w/o vac at 8*BTDC locked it down. Tried getting into the Holley's idle circuit and I'm screwed. Just kept surging and dying below about 1500RPM's. So i figured I must have screwed the carb up during the rebuild. remove, re-rebuild, and reinstall. Start the car and the timing is off...WTF? And i still can't get a stable idle 18-20 Hg. vac before. 10-12 Hg now and still surging. No noted vacume leaks and the valves and seals are as good now as they were two weeks ago when this adventure began.

Thought I'd talk with you guys, before get so PO'd that I put a lit rag in the gas tank.

I've been on this site for quite awhile, and I searched the posts but nobody's had this one before or they are better at fixing it than me, both statements are probably true.

Any help,????
ThankX

 

Update:

I routed manifold vacume to the dist and it went back to where it belongs so I guess a recurve kit is in order.

The idle is semi-smooth but i'm still not able to get into the idle circuit

 

The Holley website, recent articles in mags like Chevy High Performance, and several posts on this forum talk about setting the throttle blades relative to the transition slot. Basically, you want about the equivilent of the width of the slot uncovered by the blades at idle. Any more or less, and you'll have idle or off-idle problems.

Take the carb off, set the idle screw so that much of the slot is showing. Set the idle mixture screws at about 1-1/4 turn out. Mount the carb, and give it a try.

The vacuum advance isn't an indicator of the need for a curve kit, by the way. The timing should be set so that you have about 34-36 degrees mechanical timing max (no vacuum), and it should all be in by 2500 RPMs or so. Then, if initial advance is more than say 12 degrees (to get the 34-36 total), that may indicate a need for a curve kit (more mechanical advance in the distributor). But, more initial advance may help your idle, too. If it takes more than 2500 RPMs to get all the mechanical advance, you need heavier weights/lighter springs to bring it in sooner.