Hey people

I'm having a strange problem with my '89 Firebird. It's got a swapped in '76 camaro 350/th350, 650 edelbrock carb/manifold, original hei ignition, supposedly cammed(po claim) and headers.

I just bought the car and don't really know much about it yet.

The trouble is after accelerating hard, or really just cruising on high revs, it just dies off for a couple of seconds or more, almost stalling (lately full stall). If I pull over and let it sit for a couple of minutes I can start it and it's fine again.

Anyone had these kind of symptoms, or know what can be causing it?

 

have you changed the fuel filter or checked pressure? sounds like the bowls are going empty on you

 

No I haven't done anything to it really, changed the oil/filter, air filter, plugs, lines, cap and rotor. That's about it right now. I'll see if I can get a filter and change it tomorrow, didn't even think about the fuel filter. Thanks

 

So, I changed the fuel filter yesterday.

Not sure, but either I've found my problem or there is some sort of trick for priming the pump after filter change, I don't know about?

Changed the filter and car won't start, no fuel getting to the engine. The original mechanical pump on block isn't able to suck the fuel forward.

I have tried pretty much all I can think of now, but no luck. I've sucked fuel forward to the pump manually and filled the hose from carb to pump with gas, started it up and it runs fine till the hose from pump and up goes dry.

Any tips? This is my first carbed/v8 car, so pretty new to the older stuff still.

 

how did you fill the lines? did you check to see if the pump is moving fuel at all (you can unhook the hose from the carb, put the hose in an empty can or jug, then crank it several times). does it have a pump in the tank still, if it does and it is clogged and not working, the block pump will not be able to pull fuel through it. if it does not have a pump in the tank, and the block pump will pump fuel into a can/jug, you may be looking at floats stuck closed ... if the pump is not moving fuel, either the block pump is bad (i have had a pin come out of one before), the lobe that runs the pump has went bad, there is a pump in the tank that is clogged, or maybe you got a one way filter, and it is on the wrong way

 

Had this problem with my buddys monte carlo ss. Out of no where it wouldn't start, would just run on prime. Pulled the fuel line from the carb, nothing came out while cranking. It was a new napa fuel pump too, installed a few months before. Replaced it with a 12 buck autozone pump and it fixed the problem.

 

When I unplug the hose going to the carb, I get no fuel. Disconnected the fuel hose at both ends of the pump and it sucks a bit on my finger when I plug the intake while cranking, but it feels weak. I figured I should change the pump and see if it fixed the problem, so just ordered a new one off of ebay, just sucks about the waiting with no car. There are almost no parts offered for american cars locally here.

I sucked the fuel forward with a vacuumgun, I didn't get it totally full, but gas came out of the lines up front at least. The hose to the carb I just poured gas in.

I'm not sure what has been done to the gas tank pickup, PO did the carb conversion. Is it a big hassle to drop the tank and check?

 

yes, it is a bit of a pain to get the tank out

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. Forgot to update here, but figured it out at last.

The gas problem was a snapped fuel line right where the pipe goes in over the tank. The hole was small, so I could get fuel to the front with a higher pressure vacuum suction, but the fuel pump was too weak. Fixed the hole and it was ok again. Replaced the fuel pump to be safe.

The problem with the stalling after acceleration has been partially fixed. The timing advance inside the distributor was totally shot, I just touched one of the pins in there and one of the arms fell off. Replaced the distributor and now it's almost good.
It still stalls a bit after hard acceleration, but I think this is the bowls going empty on me, like it was suggested before. Because now it just won't accelerate any more, and needs a few seconds before it's back in action. I'm guessing this is the pump refilling the chamber.