Kingtal0n

Sorry its long but im desperate for help!

Car losing power!
OK lets assume the distributor / coil is good, wires are not crossed, everything sparkwise (heh) is in good working condition. Advance at Full open hits 36-37 Degrees (3500 RPM) and idle advance is roughly 15 below that.

Now, The car just received a Edlebrock 600 Mechanical Carb. Plugs are satisfactory (white / tan iridiums stay kinda white i guess) Headers are not red hot.

In park, no load, car Revs up fine, fast, perfect, no backfire, no miss.

In drive car seems to want to pull.... up to about 3500 RPMS. (that happens to be my stall speed, 3000 - 3500)
After that the car LAGS bad, no power, takes forever to get the RPMS up to 5K.... then i shift and it lags even worse in second. NO POWER AT ALL im lucky to have 200 horsepower, if that.
DOES NOT MISS or BACKFIRE so i know the spark is getting to all plugs or else unburnt gas would cause backfire and plugs would be black.

Few things come to mind; MAYBE:
* CARB LEANS OUT UNDER LOAD (can this happen but not at idle?)
* BAD ROCKER ADJUSTMENT (They arnt, i Checked.)
* Under load, Distributor advances INCORRECTLY (????)

I checked so far:
-Car has correct amount of oil (Too much = slow car)
-Car is advancing correctly at idle
-Air / Fuel at idle is perfect
-Rockers are finger tight + 1/2 turn (done correctly im 99% sure)

KEEP IN MIND this car was running low 13's high 12's with its old transmission, Camshaft, and carberator. nothing besides those 3 things have changed since then. The new cam is a Blazer, 234/244 @ .050 and .489 / .510 Lift After my 1.6's
Maybe this will help:
-I changed the carb because my old Holley 600 DP was suddenly running Crazy RICH after the cam change. Even with 54's (front and back) + 6.5" HG Power valves it would foul new NGK's in less than 4 minutes at idle.


IM about to Soak the car in gasoline and light it on fire and send it off a cliff (anyone know a good place in florida?) because its such BULL$#!^ I cant stand it.

Please dont yell at me if u post this problem on another board too, i am desperate to get it running right, its been 5 1/2 Months now I've been having problems and im so close!

Mark A Shields

Do you have a cat on it?, if so I would say make sure it isn't clogged.

edit: This probably has nothing to do with it, but I thought to adjust the rockers that you should tighten them to the point where you can still spin the pushrod a little and then go 3/4 or something like that, I could be wrong though.

RB83L69

Here's what I would do to find out if it's fuel delivery (which is what it sounds like):

Run it until it starts having its problem. Then, while it's doing what it does, turn the key off and take it out of gear at the same time, and coast over to the side of the road, and take the top of the carb off. DO NOT let the engine idle, DO NOT let the car drag the engine after it quits running, etc.: what you're trying to do is get a snapshot of how much fuel is in the carb when it screws up.

My money says you'll find the fuel bowl way empty.

Kingtal0n

Well its an EdleBrock which is quite different than a Holley. If the edlebrock "fuel bowl" (they dont have fuel bowls, rather, storage places with floats and jets on the BOTTOM) If it got empty the car would DIE not just run lean, Not to mention there is ALOT of fuel in it and it could simply not drain itself in less than 1 second it takes to floor the car that would simply flood it to death. Im sure it has nothing to do with the fuel bowl or storage, However, it could still be a case of fuel starvation where everythings working fine except the carbs little jets are just too small. I've thought about this already and it makes some sense, however three things make me think the carb is fine:
#1: if it was fuel starvation or empty fuel bowl scenario it would not have been able to make the 200 mile trip from orlando like that, somthing would have screwed up or burned up or likewise.
(an old rule comes to mind: Leaner = hotter = Faster car = Kaboom if too lean. the cars not running lean.)
#2: I've done somthing similar, Run the car WOT to 5200 RPM then Shut it off and hit neutral. This is how i tune my cars for top end, I then pull a plug. The plugs under heavy acceleration show slightly RICH, rather than lean. But not wet to the point where the coil just stopped firing and the gas couted the plugs, Rich to where the plugs were getting slightly blackened under WOT. the blackness clears up instantly however when the car is allowed to idle, therefore the plugs are not coming to damage.
#3: I have a fuel pressure regulator guage in my car, and the pressure remains constant (7 psi) through the entire RPM range. The means the Edlebrocks "fuel bowl" is getting consistant feed, and i HAD a holley double pumper on the car, which used twice as much fuel it seemed, and the pressure was sufficient then as well to feed both through the entire 1/4 mile run(s).
OH and #4: Car is getting WORSE gas mileage than the holley did, Im getting 6 MPG instead of 11 MPG now. This makes me thing somthing is Eating all my power causeing the car to have to work harder and eat more gas to compensate. What is Eating my gas?

WHAT IS EATING MY HORSEPOWER!!!

RB83L69

I know how a Carter carb is built, I have a feeling that I've been tuning them since before you were even a gleam in your daddy's eye yet And of course, a Q-Jet or the old Carter AVS is just like that too, the air horn pops off and the "fuel bowl" is part of the casting.

Low-horse street motors don't instantly grenade from running out of fuel; they simply cough and sputter and quit making power.

I'm not going to argue with you; after all, it's your car, and it doesn't hurt me a bit if it doesn't work right. I'm merely offering the fruits of my time spent under the hood to you, free, to spare you a little of the grief I went through, maybe, if you turn off your transmitter so your receiver can operate for a moment. Try it, you might find out something worthwhile.


"The simplest explanation that fits all the facts is usually the right one."

—Occam, ancient Greek philosopher, a man who truly understood carburetors


OBTW, how did that clutch deal ever turn out?

Kingtal0n

Clutch Deal? I assume your Refering to the Muncie 4-speed problems i had. Not being able to disengage it. Well the solution is sitting before you, Behold, My TH350 that replaced the Muncie. I spent 4 months trying to get the clutch to disengage then decided it would be easier to spend $1300.00 and put an Automatic in the car instead. This is where im at now, auto installed, car running like crap.

You did say Choke and Sputter, And the car does Neither. It simply doesnt make any power at all. No backfire, Miss, Choke, Sputter, Doesnt die, Just makes about 250 Horsepower less than it should. No hesitation off the line, and absolutelly no power anywhere in the range. Not when u first step on it, not when u hit second, Never. I have a feeling it has to do with the camshaft although im not sure why. This car has not been Driven since the cam install, so theres no way for me to tell if the cam EVER worked like it should. But it must be installed correctly, its just weird. I think the car is cursed, and ill never know the answer. This engine was doing great with its Performer RPM cam even while it was all gouged and destroyed it ran better. Time for a new engine im thinking, its eaiser than throwing money at this dead horse. Im going to Put the Holley back on it and take out the power valves and see what happens.

Ward

iTrader: (1)

Maybe the carb is too lean. I am not familiar with that carb, but it should have idle and high speed mixture adjustment screws. Might be worth it to try richening the high speed mixture...

Kingtal0n

I did. It runs worse. i think i know what the problem is but im too embarrassed to say right now. try back later.