Ok, first off leme just say im tired. lol Ive been told so many different things its not funny really. Ive watched youtube videos and read pages and pages on spark advance and vacum advance setups

Here is my setup: 1997 Vortec 5.7 bored .30 with mild flat tapped cam, 4inch edelbrock performer RPM intake, 2inch carb spacer, with 4barrel 600 edelbrock carb, Street Fire MSD distributor, MSD wires, Bosch plats 4prong plugs. Inline fuel pump puts out about 10psi, i have a regulator set at 5psi...which is wide open for the regulator. 3 is too low, so i leave it open at 5.

The issue: My car runs and drives fine. seems to anyways. No smoke, not rich not lean, no misfires at idle or crusing. But if im doing 55mph just crusein and i drop from 5th to 3rd and punch to the floor, the car falls on its face like it over loads on gas or doesnt get enuff... and then still holding to the floor, it takes about 2 seconds or 3 and picks up and hauls butt! but will only last about 10 seconds at WOT, after shifted to 4th, and 5th, the car seems to starve for gas. The car does all of this from a dead stop take off as well

Steps ive already taken: I have replaced fuel pump, regulator, carb, distributor, plugs, plug wires, just about everything is new! Without vacc adv pluged up and everything pluged off, i have set my distributor time mark at 0 or just a hair advanced. then i plug up my vacc adv to the PASSENGER side of the carb.

now this is were im told many things. that i should set it on passenger side, or im told to put it on driver side for vaccum all the time. ive had it on BOTH sides and it does seem to act differently when driving but i still have the WOT issue. it also seems to drink more gas on one side than the other.

my distributor is a street fire msd from daymotorsports.com and that site does not seem to list detail about wat direction to turn the 3/32 allen head in the advance canister. ive heard some canisters turn clockwise to advance but others ALSO turn the same direction but dis advances. ive tryed seeing what mine does but ive turned both directions, set hose on both sides of the carb each time, and my timing mark either does not move or completely disappears behind water pump. there doesnt seem to be any center position in my vac canister on the distributor.

this is my second distributor as well, thought the first was messed up so i got another. but the new one does the same.

anyone have any ideas wth im doing wrong, or somthing im missing? a shop wants $150 just to time my car and they say its no gurantee its 100% perfect on the mark when vac advance is set up. ALL shops tell me the same thing "we dont like messing with older vehicals, they are too complicated, thats why everything is computer ran now" and i thought to myself, im only 25 and most mechanics ive talked too look older than me, and they say its too "hard"? really? lol

any advice will be appreciated, thanks

 

 

Put you some AC Delco R43LTS plugs in the car and ditch the crappy edeljunk then get back with me.

Let me explain why so you don't think I am being an *** without reason.

The Bosch +4 spark plugs are JUNK in our engines. A copper AC Delco plug is the way to fly. The spark is going to jump the path of least resistance and the 4 electrodes do nothing except block the growing flame kernal. Not something that you want happening. Also the LTS is a long reach plug that you need for a factory Vortec head. If you are running a conveentional small block plug with a TS designation your electrodes are actually recessed into the spark plug threads on the head.

As for the edeljunk carb. I have worked with them and find them very hot rod unfriendly. The typical open plenum high rise manifolds most people run are too demanding for the accelerator pump system in the edelbrock carb. Even with a higher volume pump and larger squirters, I could not get enough fuel to keep the system from going too lean when the throttle was tromped wide open. Combine that with a non-adjustable secondary system that opens too soon for best response and overly sensitive float settings that often cause one or both fuel bowls to flood and its just not a good carb.

What kind of regulator are you running??? Those generic low dollar parts store specials should stay in China and be banned from import. They might work on a the flat head 60 hp engine they are still running on that side of the world, but a 350+ HP V8 needs much more fuel.

 

Nothing wrong with the Edelbrock intake, but lose the carb spacer. How wild is the cam? If no specs, then connect a vacuum gauge to the intake manifold, and start playing with the timing until you get the highest vacuum reading, then note both the reading, and how much advance it takes. By the way, this should raise your idle speed, which will need to be re-set. Note the final idle speed, too, If it isn't too crazy, you need the vacuum advance connected to manifold vacuum, not ported vacuum. And adjusting the vacuum advance canister is last, not first. Initial advance should be in the low teens, add the vacuum advance, it should be around 30 degrees at idle. You may need a degreed damper, a timing tape, or a dial-back timing light to check this. You'll also need to check your total advance. Initial plus centrifugal. Do that with the parking brake on, trans in neutral, and vacuum advance disconnected and plugged. Open the throttle by hand while watching the timing. Note the total timing, and what RPM it first happens at. Should be in the mid-30s range. If it's good, go back to idle, re-connect the vacuum advance, and go for a test drive. Any remaining bad behavior in the first 3 gears is fuel-related or transmission-related. At cruise, any surging is too much vacuum advance. Adjust it for more advance each time until it surges, then back it off, in much smaller increments, until the surging goes away.

 

Also I would run 7psi of fuel pressure with a carb.

 

Why do you have your initial timing set so close to zero. With the vacuum advance disconnected how what is the maximum advance you get? This is call the total advance and should be around 36 degrees. I bet yours is half that.