Hey, just a quick question...

I finally got my engine running and tuned up, and it runs really really well now. Better than it ever has in fact.

But with this new Holley carb (3310 VS 4bbl) I got on my engine, it whistles when it runs, and gets more high pitched when you rev it up.

I don't think its a vacuum leak, because I've checked every possible source for one, and its all fine.

Is this whistle normal?

 

did you spray all around the carb to check for the whistle? Also, mine did that for a bit and i found it to be the cork gasket on the VS housing where it meets to the main body.

 

Yup, I did try that.... found no leaks.

 

put your finger over the carb stud hole while its running.

 

If it's whistling, there's a vacuum leak somewhere.............. Just went thru hell with that problem. I did the spray test, and it passed with flying colors, but there was still a leaking intake gasket.

 

Whistle is gone now... musta been after i re-torqued the intake bolts. A few were a little loose.

 

Hey, air. You may want to thoroughly check your intake gaskets. I retorqued mine, and the whistle went away, but it was still leaking like a seive(?). parts of the intake gasket had been eaten away by air rushing in to the intake runners.m Damnest thing I'd ever seen.

 

The same thing happend to me i had the whistle and all i did to fix it was replace the gasket and torque the hell out of my carb bolts. Then all was well.

 

had a something like that happen to my friend when he borrowed my spare carborator. I sprayed carb cleaner all around and did not make a difference and was such a high pitch noise i could not really make out were it was comming from at first then finally i was messing around with the pcv vacume line that went to the back of the carborator and it ended up being that. I sprayed back there and did not do anything i think it was just such a small leak it did not matter but had it just right to were it made a LOUD high pitch noise. ended up cutting it and putting a small clamp on it because it was on there pretty good in the first place.

watch out though the ears on the holleys break easy so DONT tighten them a lot. Does not take much.

 

Just be carefull how much you torque those intake bolts. I have been useing Felpro Printoseal gaskets ( Recommended by Edelbrock ) and I have been fighting a horrendous oil consumption problem. Turns out that I ( may have ) over-torqued the gaskets and they had all deformed...allowing oil to be sucked into the Intake manifold. Gaskets had also cracked in numerous places. Never encountered this before in an intake gasket.

I have since switched to a different brand of gasket ( Mr. Gasket Ultra-seal ) to solve the problem.

 

Chickenman, post back with the results from switching to Mr Gasket. I am having massive oil consumption problems as well (1 qt per 200 miles ) and I have Fel Pros right now.

 

Problem solved. It was a combined problem of the material in the Fel-Pro's deteriorating and a crappy sealer, Gasket-Cinch.

I normally used to use only genuine Chevy intake gaskets and seal them with Permatex Aviation Cement ( Brown sticky brush on stuff ). I started using the Fel-Pro gaskets and Gasket-Cinch relatively recently.

When I took the manifold off...all of the Intake runners had oil in them. You could plainly see how the sealer had dissolved and the gaskets had cracked ( had gone brittle ) and distorted.

The Mr. Gasket line has more material surrounding the ports and seems to be made a thicker , more compliant material. I thoroughly coated the head intake ports ( and water ports )with Aviation Cement, slapped on Gasket-Cinch in the non critical area's to keep the gaskets in place and positioned the gaskets on the heads. I let it set up for 15 minutes.

I then coated the Intake manifold ports with Aviation Cement ( even though the Mr. Gasket's have a Silicone seal stip...I don't trust that anymore ), ran a bead of Ultra Blue on the end rails and bolted up the manifold.

Ta Da...no more oil consumption.

I have a 3\4 mile long downhill that I test on. Previously by the time I got to the bottom I would have a HUGE cloud of oil smoke puffing out the back. I was going through about a quart every 200 miles as well.

Now just a tiny little puff after a looong downhill high vacuum condition.. Perfectly acceptable in a " Race " engine with the piston to wall clearance that I run.

I've always used Permatex Aviation Cement to seal gaskets until recently. Why I switched I really don't know. Never had a gasket leak when using this stuff. A bit harder to get off...but it beats having the danged things leak.

The best gaskets that I have used are stock embossed Chevy ones. I may switch back to those if I have any more problems. For a sealer...I'm going back to my tried and true stuff. Some people like the spray on High Tack cement, I've never tried it on intake gaskets....but it should work. Just be sure to coat both sides of the gasket. Gasket-Cinch is useless as a sealer IMHO.

Note: Some people like to use " Gorilla Snot" ( Yellow weatherstrip adhesive ) to seal the intake ports. My machine shop does not recommmend it as it will dissolve over time if placed around the Intake ports.

 

Thanks for the info Chickenman. Of course that is EXACTLY what I have (Fel Pro & Gasga-Cinch). Well if ditching the Chinese valve covers doesn't fix things that will be next. I'll just need to find a good adhesive.

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