I added a crosswinds style intake and a four barrel edelbrock carb to my 318 LA engine. Runs great at 2000 RPM's, with 20 lbs of steady vacuum. Adjustments to the Idle mixture screws at this high of an RPM does nothing.
Thing is, I can't get it to idle anywhere below that. I also can't find the timing mark with the timing light. The mark is easy to see with the naked eye but isn't anywhere near the timing area while running. Turning the distributor even just a little makes the vacuum guage get real jumpy and then kills the engine.

I should also mention that I have no idea what the PO had done to this trucks engine.

So what's the bad news / what am I doing wrong / what should I try? Thanks

Hillbillybuddha

 

timing marks possibilities

you sure you on no1 plug, IE driver side front

balancer ring may have slipped

some truck/ motorhome engines had alternative mark and pointer positions

69? and earlier engines had timing pointers on opposite side (pass side)

so if any parts are mixed early to late, timing mark will not show on pointer
if plug is not no1 or if balancer slipped might not show up

also at high rpm will (should) be very much advanced

check for vacuum leaks including poor fit of manifold to heads and ports

try timing by ear or vacuum

 

Did it run and drive fine before you did the swap?
Also... Have you ever check or set the timing before to know that it did line up, before making the change?

 

What brand distributor do u have?
what size carb
are the intake and carb new or used?
Im assuming what u mean by cross winds is a dual plan manifold.
i cant see timming rasing the idle that high at least from my experiemce.
most likly.there is an obstruction in the idle circut .a small piece of debries

 

Worry about timing marks later. For now try twisting the distributor slowly with a helper behind the wheel. You can get it really close by ear/feel. Also, check the firing order

 

This subject has been gone over soooooooo many times in past posts... First you need to make sure you are on TDC of the #1 cylinder then point the Distributor rotor to #1 on the cap look and see where the timing mark is on the balancer. Small block Chryslers are either in time or 180* out the dist. can only go in one of 2 ways. UNLESS you pulled the oil pump drive out...Bill

 

There is not enough info on his situation
to give him a accurate solution
i can think of a dozen probble causes for this symptom timming being one.

 

Might be stuck on the fast Idle cam....

 

I guess he doesn't want to fix the problem?????? There has been no response since the first post....

 

My favorite part of this post is that I skimmed the original message and responded anyway.

Perhaps he fixed his car and hasn't responded because he's busy driving

 

Yeper ..

 

Really....lol

 

IMHO. the old Carter AFBs and the edelbrock carb. with most parts in the engine close to stock should idle at 500-700 RPM. if you kick the idle up to 2000 RPM the idle screws should not change the way it idles. and at 500-700 both screws should should change the idle quality.

 

I had exactly the same problem with the same manufacturer's carb but in my case I could screw the mixture adjusting screws all the way in and they did not make a difference. At that point I knew the car wasn't idling via the idle circuit. Fuel was sneaking by this circuit internally causing the engine to run at a high r.p.m. and quite rich. Battled this situation for 3 months with calls to Edelbrock tech and the place I purchased it. It was finally concluded that there was something wrong with the casting (or assembly) and replaced. Problem fixed but I lost faith in their quality control and claims of testing the unit and setting it up before marketing. I think their carbs are nothing more than offshore junk and wouldn't recommend one to my worst enemy. The rest of you can find out for yourselves.