89_ho_rs

ok so my car has been sitting in my garage for a little over a year. it has been months since i have worked on it. I think she's mad. i have been having problems with it running for about a year(since i redid the motor). today i decided to get her running. if i reved up the motor it was great sounded good and response was fast. but if i tried to hold a steady rpm it was very rough and very choppy. i only had it running for about 10 mins or so went for a small drive. came back home and went to pull back in my garage my exhaust scraped on my concrete aperon and came off(i only had it on with a clamp that was not very tight) i heard it get louder then i heard my wife yell FIRE!!!!!. i had fire coming out of the exhaust Y pipe. so i shut it down and left it outside. now i am wondering whats going on. i have a 350 with a edelbrock carb holly blue pump and a mallory 4309 fpr. the gauge will not go under 8 psi but i am not sure if the gauge is reading right. i do have a air/fuel gauge that is showing lean. i am assuming that the fire is from raw gas but if the gauge is showing lean and i don't have gas coming out of the vents of the carb can i have raw gas coming out. any ideas would be great. i want her ready for this spring but now my wife is calling my camaro christine. I think my camaro is mad i have not been spending that much time with her. thanks in advance.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

i would make sure you dont have more than 5psi to that carb. if pressure is good you may want to rebuild it.

89_ho_rs

i am going to hook up a different gauge to check it but with my 4309 it will not go under 8 or 9 psi.

89_ho_rs

put in a holley regulator and a new gauge. now the preasure goes down to 4 or 5 what ever i want. got the parts for my exhaust just have to button it up. hope it solves some of the probs.

has anyone had probs with making their own spark plug wires? when i pulled this motor to redo it i bought a universal kit and made my own put in new plugs and was wondering if that could be causing a timing problem or if this is just completely a fuel prob.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

"Make your own wires" are a PITA unless you have the right tools... even then... but as long as you got your firing order correct, there should not be a timing problem.

89_ho_rs

i know the fireing order is right it rev s up great but when i go to hold a steady rpm it breaks up something bad.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

i had this problem with my edelbrock after sitting a while. the needles and seat may need replacing. a whole kit for that carb is like $40.

89_ho_rs

i am running a edelbrock. so i will have to look into that too. my car sat for 2 years.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Is your car computerized? Or just straight old-fashioned carb?

If your carb was dumping gas, I'd expect it to run rich and puke black smoke... since you had flames, I'd have bet that you were running too lean and/or waaaay out of time.

If she revs OK but breaks up at constant throttle, it could be carb-related. When you rev, the accelerator pump squirts a quick shot into the intake. At constant throttle, you only get fuel through the metering jets.

Another thing that will cause an engine to break up is leaky ignition wires -- do you get a light show if you run it in the dark?

Take off the distributor cap and make sure it's clean and dry underneath. A little moisture under there might do what you are describing.

I've also heard of cases where the distributor itself might be causing the engine to break up.

It's hard to troubleshoot long-distance, but it's a good idea to start with the simple things, and don't take anything for granted. If you are patient, you'll figure it out.

89_ho_rs

i went old fashon. its a 350 with a cam and some light head port cleaning, edelbrock intake carb and a mallory dist with a 6al box. holly blue fuel pump and now a holly fuel regulator. so no computer.

i thought that maybe too much fuel the old regulator was going no lower than 9psi turns out it was not the gauge. i thought that since the exhaust came right after the cat that the cat was lighting off the unburned fuel.

still not quite sure yet.

89_ho_rs

ok now i have a question does a holley fuel pump have a internal bypass or something. i started my car and it was at 4 psi then it went to about 5 then we watched it climb up to 15. i shut the car down but i had to move it into my garage so i just started it and ran it for a min.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

I can't help you there. I don't know anything about the holley fuel pumps.

If the car sat for a while, it's probably a good idea to rebuild the carb.