ok I just got done putting the new motor in I'm using a vaccum advance distributer and a holley 650. The car starts but cant stay idling on its own unless you turn the idle up but then it dies when you put it in gear. I'm not sure what the problem is i'd appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Joe

 

Assuming the carb and distributor are in proper working order, you probably don't have enough timing advance. Rotate the dist housing counter-clockwise a little, and see if that helps. Get a timing light on it and check w/o vacuum attached at as low an RPM as you can get it to run (800 or so), shoot for 8-12 degrees before top dead center.

 

Yea thats exactly what I did. Is there anything else that could be causing a problem?

 

Nothing??

 

Give us more details about the history/condition/configuration of the carb & ignition.

Sounds like an idle circuit or ignition problem.

 

well the carb is a holley 650 and the distributer is just some vaccum advance i found at the junkyard. My friend told me I might need to adjust the valves

 

If that's true, there isn't much advice we could offer about the carb & distributor that would be of much value.

A JY distributor could have all sorts of issues, too. Would be helpful if it could be run on an engine that is otherwise known to be good.

Is the carb new, used, been sitting around with gas in it since 1978, recently rebuilt - what?

 

The carb is used but I know it's good because I bought it from a friend and it always worked fine on his camaro. I put the cap and rotor on the distributer that were on my old electronic distributer they work the same right?

 

The cap & rotor interchange. Would be nice if you could verify the distributor works on his Camaro, too.

Go over everything very carefully to make sure there isn't something not together right. Valve adjustment, spark plug wires going to correct cylinders, etc.