I've been a FI guy for my past two cars, and when it comes to carburators I am completely ignorant. ::dunce::

I just put in a Lunati Voodoo cam (.468 .489, 219* 227*@.050") in my 355. Its also got a set of ported 305 heads (416 castings, I think), hooker headers, a full 3" exhaust, and a edelbrock 1405 sitting on top of a performer intake.

before I put the new bumpstick in, the engine ran like a dream, starting flawlessly, with decent throttle response, but made no power. Now the car doesnt start without holding it at half throttle for 30 seconds or so, during which it barely idles. After that, it runs pretty well, except its kinda sluggish until the secondaries open. it also deisels after I shut off the ignition.

So when I tried to mess with it, I think I made it worse. Could someone tell me where I should set this thing as a baseline, or even what all the ***** and screws are for? The only thing I know for sure is the idle adjustment screw.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

BTW, there is no choke on the carb, it was gone when I bought it. Came off my T5 donor car and was originally on top of a smoking L69.

 

That's why you have to hold the throttle for 30 seconds to get it to idle. The choke raises idle speed and richens fuel mixture during startup.

As far as your other problems, it sounds like you just need to tune your carb and get your timing set correctly. There are 3 screws on the carb you should worry about: the idle speed screw and the 2 mixture screws. To properly tune the carb, you need a vaccum guage. I'm sure with a search you can find tips and instructions for tuning with a vaccum guage. You may need to experiment with different jet sizes and secondary springs(if you have vaccum secondaries) to get it running smoothly.

 

But even when the car is hot? I can shut it off, run inside for five minutes, and it will start the same way. But at a gas station after a fillup it starts like it used to. it never did this with the old cam.

 

For the record, what kind of carb and intake are you running?

Sorta sounds like something didn't go back together right, perhaps a vacuum leak.

 

Its an Edelbrock 1405 Performer (600 CFM mechanical secondary)sitting on an Edelbrock Performer non-EGR intake. Wanted an RPM and a Holley, but these were free.

I was timing the car this afternoon, and there is no difference between when the distributor vac advance is on or off.