I had a stock 305 with a 4bbl in my 87 bird. I swapped to a chevy 350, and in the process picked up a Holley 600. When i put my carb on, i hooked up the fuel line, then just capped off the return. I read an article on this board that somebody mentioned this was not a good thing to do? The car runs ok, but i can't help but to think something is funny with my carb set up. A few times in the past i had to adjust my float bowls because it was constantly dumping raw gas into my motor. Also i think my car is real boney for the motor i have in there. The 350 isn't stock, but bored .03 over, cam'd, headers, and the whole sha-bang. I know im not getting power to my electric choke either. Where does that wire run to, and also, could i just hook a wire up to my choke directly from my battery? Woah, went into a lot of questions here. Sorry im so vauge, carbs aren't my forte'. Well, not a lot of things are. Anything will help guys!

THANKS!

 

have you gotten the carb jetted properly, you cant just go and by a brand new carb and bolt it on and expect it to perform, they jet them from the factory to ware they will run the motor and not blow it up but u have t get it properly jetted your self.

 

Capping off the return line that comes from a stock fuel pump isn't a killer. It may increase vapor lock problems, but that's all. Removing the charcoal canister and capping off all the lines is a different story.

The first step when running a Holley is to adjust the float level(s). If you haven't done that yet, do it now.

What distributor are you using? If it's the stock one, then what may appear to be dumping fuel could just be lack of spark advance.

I assume you have an electric choke. You can use the same power wire that the stock carb used, but the Holley probably has a ground terminal as well. You don't want to power it directly from the battery, but it can be hooked to an ignition-switched power source.

 

Actually since his is an 87 lg4, he should have the in tank electric pusher pump. No idea what the pressure relief valve on that is set to. But I can see where that can cause problems, if capped off. When I went to a larger carter mechanical pump in my 87, I Tee'd the supply line in with the return line at the fuel inlet. Because the 2 lines are of slightly different size this creates just a small positive pressure at the mechanical pumps inlet, and assures theres always a good supply of liquid fuel for it to pickup. Not too hard to do.

 

Ah, ok, lets do some roleplaying...


lets say i did remove the carbon canister and cap off all the lines..... what should i HAVE done?

thanks again.


Distributor is definatly not stock... and my stock electric choke line does not have power to it. I'll have to track that wire down possibly.

 

Very good point. I assumed mechanical-only, which was not a good assumption.

Get a fuel pump on there with a return port, or a 3-port regulator (if the electric in-tank pump is still working).

Left it there. The only thing that could have been capped of is the line to the carb bowl vent. The canister provides venting of the fuel tank, a function that isn't easy to replace safely.