I had done some work on my car, specifically i had removed the intake to do some work and ive replaced my fuel pump as well. When i did the work on the intake i didnt mark the distributor and so i had to bring it to the shop to have the timing reset. Anhow the shop couldnt get my car running very well.

They told me i had a vacuum leak and the carb was dumping fuel and an oil leak which i suspect is at the vback of the intake.. Ive tried starting it and it starts but runs like crap, doesnt run for very long and when you give it gas it stalls out. My carb backfired and i saw the flame shoot up. I couldnt afford for them to do anymore work on it so im trying to do it on my own. They did get it to tdc and installed the distributor properly , just wondering if a vacuum leak could cause these symtoms


I pulled the carb and it had a lot of fuel in it, like i could pour it out, this is not normal?

What is a good aftermarket carb that i can use that will have the proper vacuum routings for my car? My car isnt computer controlled. One that isnt to expensive etc

 

how did it run before you did this work?

You could check the fuel pressure getting to your carb, i think it should be around 7psi or so. Also if you can get it running check the timing, with the vacuum line disconnected and plugged. Also you could hook up a vacuum gauge to the intake manifold and see what kind of vacuum it is pulling. I think it should be between 15 and 20 psi. Other than that check all your vacuum lines and maybe spray some starting fluid around the intake manifold to see if it has any leaks and check for changes in rpm.

 

As for the carb, you could either get yours rebuilt, or you could buy a holley or edelbrock 600cfm with electric choke and vacuum secondaries, they should have all the vacuum lines you need, you could also use a vacuum T if you need more lines.

 

What you could do is check the timming yourself to see if they did it right. Take off the distributor cap off then the rotor should be facing the #1 cyclinder. But make sure that the #1 piston is top dead center(TDC) before you do that. disconnect the the spark plug coil and the fuel pump relay so you wont get any gas or spark. take out the #1 spark plug and put your tumb over that hole and have someone crank the enigne and wait for a blow to come out and push your tumb out the way. Then you know that its TDC and the rotor should face the #1 piston.

IF i missed somthing guys fill it in for me.

 

well i drained the carb yesterday and put it back on today and the car started no problem, although it was puttin out black smoke so it seems its running rich. I let it run for a few minutes and shut it off and went to restart it and it again ran like crap, it seems to be flooding. Does it seem like it is teh carb that is the problem? The timing seemed ok as well so im ruling out that for now.

 

What kind of fuel pump did you put on? Did it smoke like this before you changed the pump? If this is a Qjet, 7psi is too much. More like 5psi is plenty. And the black smoke means rich.

 

I put in a stock fuel pump from the parts store. It has smoked like this in the past after they did some work on my carb about a year ago so ive seen it do it before. Seems more and more liek my carb is messed up than anything.

 

check you carbs float. could need adjustment. That could be why it keeps flooding.

 

What kind of work did they do to your carb, if they rebuilt it they may have not properly adjusted the float height.

Q-jets can be difficult to take apart and put back together if you are not careful. I would take it back to the shop and see what they can do. Otherwise you could buy a new carb, but there should be nothing wrong with your carb, just out of adjustment.

 

Just what i thought!!!!

 

they didnt rebuild it, just adjusted the idle etc. I started today after work and it started fine and then flooded out again. Im going to check the float and go from there. The mechanic suggested a rebuild but i canot afford to have it rebuilt so im going to do what i can and if i cant get it right ill buy another carb.

The other problem which is the oil leak is occuring at the back of the engine, at least thats what i gather from the puddle showing on the ground, im guessing its my intake coz i had removed it and put it back on and it was the first time ive ever done a job like that. So the work continues!!!