Ok heres the story...

I recently swapped in a 350 for the old LG4 with a comp cams .5/.5 and decent duration. Car is running ok, but running waayyyy wayyy rich. Exhaust tips are saturated and can smell gas along with some smoking at times. I just took the car to Florida this past week (from Ohio) so it was a pretty long trip. Got fairly decent gas mileage (around 17-18mpg) on highway. When I was down there, sitting at lights or stops, the car would idle erraticly and would sound like it had some monstrous cam in it, but on the highway it ran pretty smooth. Doesnt have all the power is seems like it SHOULD have tho, especially off the line. Heck it will barely bark the tires, my 305 did better off the line. Im guess because of the rich mixture (hoping, more like it). Anyways, also it would cut out pretty bad at low RPMs, like if id been sitting at a light and try and take off, it would miss pretty bad. This may be an ignition problem from heat, I dont know, or maybe could it be cause the plugs are saturated with gas from the low idle and rich mixture?
I just got back yesterday and decided to hook up my 'check engine' light (had bulb unhooked b/c of it always being on from no O2 sensor before on the 305) to check for codes, which i didnt have time to do before, yet should have. The first time I pulled code 13 (O2 sensor), 23 (ECM Short or Mixture Control Solenoid), 24 (coudlnt find), and 45 (ECM Rich Mixture). Now all of these seem closely related. I pulled the battery cable and reset the ECM, started it up (after it had set and cooled for a couple hours) and let it run for a few minutes. Turned it off and pulled codes and the only one I got this time was a code 23 again (ECM Short or MC Solenoid). I've checked all wiring and all my grounds are hooked up and cant find any shorted wires. Is there anything else I should look for? Is there an easy way to check the ECM is working properly (I would htink it is even if it is shooting codes) and the MC Solenoid is working properly? I would think that the O2 sensor would have warmed up in the couple minutes I warmed up the car so obvously it was working right now, I dont know why it was setting a code before. I was thinking it was my headers but I guess its working now...dont know.
Can anyone help on this? I'd really like to get this thing running right. Also, I think the secondary metering rods are not enough for the 350 (from the stock 305 LG4, cant remember codes, but they are pretty small rods/hangars if i remember right). Do you think it would help a lot to go ahead and replace these with a meatier set such as DR's and G?

Thanks for any help. Im really tired from traveling and unpacking and all so if i forgot some info im sorry, let me know if you need any more info.

-Ben

 

Oh yes, and I was reading through some other posts about similar problems on there and someone said something about the CTS controlling a lot of stuff such as mixture and such. Well, I had had a problem with a broken CTS wire that i recently got fixed. Well, the fan kicks on instantly when the key is on now, regardless of the engine temp. Like in the morning if i go out and turn on the key, the fan kicks on. I replaced the CTS a little while ago also. Could this have any bearing on why the mixture is so rich? Does anyone have any idea why it does so? My understanding is that the fan should kick on around 200 or so (doesnt really matter, in any case, not when the the engine is cold). So...any ideas?

 

ttt

 

no one??