del91_305

I just got my engine running again after cam, head, intake and carb swap. I am new to the carb world so i need some advice and help. Im running a edelbrock 1406 carb and edelbrock intake. To start it up i have to hold the gas pedal to the floor, then when i get it running and rev the engine a little i can see some fuel comming from the top of the carb. I have played around with different pressure setting but it does the same thing every time. And by the way the electric choke is hooked up. Im sure it probably needs some tuning, but i have never tuned a carb before and dont know where to begin, any help will be appreciated.

Angelis83LT

if you have gas coming out the top of your carb, you need to adjust the float levels down a bit. (since it is a new carb i am assuming the needles/seats are good.) Only time i have ever seen gas come out the top of a carb (where you could actually see gas not the mist) was when my holleys' floats got stuck on the secondaries and it shot gas up through the overfow tube into the air cleaner... which i then needed to get the fire extingguisher from under my seat to stop the fire.

(no damage done other then a burnt air cleaner element thank goodness..)

del91_305

ok, so how do i do that?

Angelis83LT

I am not positive actually.. I have never worked on an edlebrock carb, just on the holley carbs. but fuel coming out of the top of the carb is ussually because the fuel bowl or bowls is overflowing causing fuel to be forced out instead of drawn out. Best thing i can say is to get a book for your carb, or ask a knowledgeable auto parts guy about it (one who has an edelbrock carb himself)

del91_305

Well, i did some research and talked around and got some info. In the instructions for the carb it says that, through shipping the carb will usually get some dirt in it causing the floats to stick. Basically that it will work out of it on its own. Im gonna give it a try plus im gonna buy an inline filter

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

An in-line filter is a must.

Debris working itself out is not likely. A piece of junk gets caught between the needle and seat, the float goes up because the fuel level is too high, the float jams the piece of debris in the needle and seat, and the dance goes on into eternity.

You need to get the fuel bowls empty at the very minimum. You can do that by removing the carb and dumping the fuel out, or stopping the flow to the carb either by disconnecting power to the pump (assuming it is electric), or disconnecting and plugging the line - then start the car and run it until it dies. That will empty the primary bowl but not the secondary. Reconnect the pump, the float will be at the bottom releasing the debris, the initial flow may flush out the debris, but you may have to repeat all this several times to get it out.

The best bet is to disassemble the carb and get those needles and seats cleaned out properly, then reassemble.

Angelis83LT

I agree.. I had a float stick open in my holley. but those area ease. you just take off the adjuster nut and such and u can pull the needle and seat right out the top of it and clean it off..

del91_305

Ok i will definitly give that a try and see if it works.

del91_305

Ok well i got the inline filter in and it solved my problem. I got the timing set at about 10 degrees and today i took it down the road. It felt like it really wanted to move, but i could tell it was bogging down some. I got back home and pulled the number one plugged. It didnt have alot of buildup at all, in fact it was kind of a white color. Is this what it should look like? If its running too rich or too lean, do i adjust the fuel pressure or the idle mixture screws or both? I have the pressure set at about 3 PSI

Angelis83LT

depending on the fuel run (if it has alot of ethanol in it is can leave a white res on the plug) It might be running a little lean, in which case adjusting the mixture screws would help that. a vac guage is helpful there. as you basically want to achieve max vac while doing that with the car running

del91_305

Yea, im eventually gonna invest in a vacuum gauge. But let me ask this also, when i was driving, i noticed that sometimes it would idle real high then i parked it and tap the pedal and it idled down like the choke was sticking, is this normal? It was up to running temp, and had been running for a while, im new to carburators so i dont know much

Angelis83LT

If it idles way high, perhaps it is sticking on the fast idle cam. I had a problem where my holley didn't have enough sping force to pull the butterflys closed all the way, and it would idle high.. i could go out to the carb. push on the throttle (mor like a tap) and the throttle would close all the way.. like it was hanging up.. put a tighter spring on the spring return and it solved that.

85cmroz28

What kind of distributor are you running?

del91_305

Ok, well im running an edelbrock 1406 carb. Where is the fast idle cam located? Maybe theres a way to adjust it?

I bought a used HEI dist. off ebay

Angelis83LT

again. not sure on edlebrock stuff... lol. just throwing out possibilities.. like i said a good investment would be a rebuild book for the edlebrock carb.. I have one for my holley. I wouldn't know what i would do ith out that thing

del91_305

Well, the carb is brand new, i was just wondering if maybe i could just adjust it

Angelis83LT

just because it is brand new does not mean there might hae been a defect in some part.

del91_305

Yes i am aware of that but first i would like to eliminate other possiblities

Angelis83LT

like i said. best way then is to get a book. there are several adjustments that can be made on a carb. and all it takes is one not to be right and everything will be off... And then if you go through and change everything and then finally get to where the original problem area wqas and fix it.. then you get to start all over.

del91_305

Yea i will eventually get me a book. I know you said your not too familiar with edelbrock, but im sure there designs are close to the same. You mentioned that there should be a spring on the fast idle cam, is it near the linkage? I ask because i done even see a spring.

Angelis83LT

oh no. must have not been clear and that is my fault.

the spring had to do with the throtle return spring not being stif enough so it would not pull the throttle closed all the way.

the fast idle cam is underneath the choke on the carb. Sometimes that can get stuck too for several reasons.. might be hung on an edge or something, the choke might not be set properly either.

as far as design... the edlebrock are clser to Quadrajets. the differences between holley and edlebrock are many... most notably are the fuel bowl setup. If you were to set an edlebrock next to a Vac Sec holley (mine is the 80457-1, or holley 4160 600cfm Vacuum secondary carb). They really do not look anything alike. Also edlebrock uses metering rods, where my holley does not. the list of small differences goes on and on..

the sypmtoms that they display though lead to the same possible areas. fuel metering circuits, choke, fast idle cams.. ect.

How ever.. I have noticed some edlebrocks do not have fast idel cams, instead it is just a linkage which must be bent.

del91_305

Well this time i set the timing to about 12 degrees advanced and tried to richen the carb some. It felt a little better than last time but still not right. However this time i think i found the problem, i could tell it was missing. It sounded like there was a cyliner not firing. I have check to make sure i dont have plug wires crossed about 3 times, im gonna check it again but i doubt there crossed. The plugs are all new and wires are fairly new. Also im gonna replace the dist. cap and rotor. When the car is idling and i rev it up it doesnt sound like its missing, but when driving and putting under load i can tell its there. Any suggestions?

Angelis83LT

asd in missing like it rattles a little bit.. like the cyl is not fireing properly? I have found that ignition can cause alot of problems in hat area.. might want to really inspect the wires. make sure there are no cracks in the shielding anywhere ( you will have to take you time and roll the wire sometimes to find the crack as it will then spread apart.) Also I have had ignition moduals in the older HEI stuff give out and cause oddities in firing too. I myself have an odd problem with mine. Like when it is before 2700 rpm it shakes and then after it is fine and dandy.. and only thing left is ignition.. so I am going to fork out the cash for a nice MSD or Mallory digital ignition system and distributor... just so i do not have to deal with the OEM stuff which in my experiences are a pain in the neck when doing anything like engine conversions or swaps.. at least in my experiences

del91_305

Well, it wierd becuase it doesnt sound like it misses at all at an idle or when i rev it, but when i drive it i can tell, under moderate to heavy throttle its a constant miss. Also right when i pull out it hesitates.

Angelis83LT

Just a question.. I will know more next weekend.. but that is exactly what mine was doing before my tranny burned itself up. I will know more though this comming weekend when i get the new tranny into the car.