I'm a bit puzzled by this.

To start with, this car had never run in my ownership, and the previous owner who had the engine rebuilt and reinstalled could never get it to idle either.

I changed the intake manifold gaskets for the second time, this time using gasket sealant. The car now starts with some persuasion, runs and idles without the choke and off the fast-idle cam. The idle probably isn't 'right' but it's hard to be sure as I'm unfamiliar with these cars, the tachometer does bizarre things and the exhaust is open at the headers. Nonetheless, this is still an improvement!

I've also fitted a reman E4ME qjet, which, as the car is still barely running, I've not been able to set up and is running with the reman 'one size fits all' settings.

However, when I reattached the air cleaner (a 3", Edelbrock 1221 with the drop base) the car refused to start at all...

Why would that be??

 

Check for interference near the distributor... jammed up against plug wires, moving primary wires to the side, that sort of thing. Also, since that isn't the right air cleaner for the carb, could well be interfering with choke linkage.

 

ah, ok.

Sounds daft, but to be honest it does squidge something when I screw it down. I assumed it was just pushing the plug wires out of the way and wouldn't have any effect.

I'll check on linkages and so forth with a mirror when I get a chance.

Is the 1221 not the correct filter? I thought it was for the Edelbrock 1406/Qjet? Would I be better off using an aircleaner spacer (just googled it, never knew such a thing existed!)?

Sorry for the daft question, but is there a spacer on the original filter housing I can use to space the air cleaner a little more (I'm asking as I'm probably not going to see the car 'til next weekend now...)

Thanks for the help!

 

Drop base is hitting on something on the top of the carb most likely. QJets have plenty of pokey-bits sticking out the top. Might even be hanging up on the throttle arm in extreme situations.

Just put the base of the air cleaner on and see where/what it's touching. If you need to space it up a smidge to gain clearance you can stack up several air cleaner gaskets OR you can buy a tall air cleaner gasket from Mr. Gasket to buy you that little bit of clearance.

 

Cheers for the advice about just checking with the bottom half of the air cleaner pan. I'll have a go at that when I get the chance.

Air cleaner spacers look like a good idea - I had already bought a 'thicker' gasket, but it's still only a couple of mm thick. The Mr. Gasket ones are about $15 over (more $5 for you guys!) and I'm a little loathe to pay so much for a ring of plastic! I'll take a look and maybe get one if I think it's the perfect answer.

Cheers for the help, I'll keep you posted...

 

I'm still a bit nervous about intake leaks.

Could the air-filter provide enough resistance to airflow into the carb to cause leaks elsewhere to open up? And if it did, would it be enough to be the difference between the car starting and running, and not starting at all…?

Hmm...

 

No.

 

Well, that's a reassuringly robust response!

Thanks for that, at least I can rest assured I probably won't be stripping the intake off for a third time...!

 

Thanks for the help!

I took the lid and filter off, and checked around the filter with just the pan in place. Nothing seemed to be fouling, so I just rearranged the spark plug leads so the filter didn't apply any pressure to them when screwed down.

Turned the key and the car fired up! I then placed the filter and screwed it down and the car kept running.

Blimey. The car sat idling for the longest it has done since I bought the damn thing back in April! It stuttered and missed a little, but the reman carb hasn't been set up yet. Nonetheless it settled down to a quite reasonable idle (as far I can tell with the open headers...)

Unfortunately when I tried to restart it I got nothing but a click... peering into the engine bay with a torch, I think the fusible link to the starter has fried.

*****...

But still, progress of sorts, thanks to your help!

 

I hate those fusible links... I purchased an 87 that did not run and after tinkering with the car, to correct the wiring of the previous owner, and I stumbled upon the fact that the fusible link had corroded so badly it just pulled apart... Changed that and it ran great.