78 cutlass W-31 build

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Well yesterday turned into a long day for me. Home made kabasi for breakfast at the farmers market then home to finish putting the car back together. This time I fully assembled everything and with every vacuum circuit I plugged in I started it to check for a vacuum leak. Well it seems like there is a leak in the HVAC lines so for now I plugged that port on the intake. Things seem to be going fine at mid day so I grilled up some lunch. In the afternoon my helper came out and we filled the radiator checked for leaks to find none. Then we took it for a ride. The trans shifts nice but I think I may have used the wrong tv cable so that I'll look into. WOT is just not a thing it's like the throttle cable is to long, again something I'll look into. As far as running...well it's better but it still doesn't run good. It has more power than before but it's still a slug. It's still stumbling and sounds like it's not firing sometime when driving basically it runs like a bag of hot steamy 💩. But I guess that's better than before.
I do have a question for you guys because my minde is slipping. What are the base settings for a Rochester quadrajet? Is it out 2.5 turns or 3.5 turns??? I can't remember and whatever it is this carb is way off.

I'd have gotten more done but I had to take the helper to a fabric store. She's making her own prom dress. Which reminds me I got to go get a new tarp some quick lime a shovel and zip ties today.

 

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Tried some more with this thing still no luck it's just Destin to not run good maybe it's the brand new distributor. It's a tiny little cam in it now it's got 40inches of vacuum I'm at just over 3.5 turns on both screws yet here I am misfire bouncing all over bag of .. well you know. I need to walk away that's all there is to it. Later tonight after my brother-in-law goes home I'll go to the building and gather what distributor parts I have maybe I can build one with gm parts if I have enough parts

 

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Ok so Jonny stopped by and we fooled with it a bit we played with timing and carb adjustment a lot of the stumbling is gone but not enough. It is overall better but still not good. Now I've also got a new problem it pops threw the carb when you bait the gas. Tonight after the inlaws go home I'll head to the building and grab a list of things to try like a spread bore to square bore adapter so I can try a different carb on it to see what happens. I'm grasping at straws trying to figure it out.

 

[DRIVEN]

Wish you were about 2500 miles closer. 40 inches of vacuum? Is the needle steady or fluttering at idle? What is your initial and total timing?

 

[Clutch]

Wish you were about 2500 miles closer. 40 inches of vacuum? Is the needle steady or fluttering at idle? What is your initial and total timing?

It was bouncing all over so yesterday we used a different vacuum guage and a timing light. To start with I had the timing way out to lunch because the more I advised it the better it took fuel now I'm 17°@780rpm 17" of vacuum and when I hit the gas it pops threw the carb and blows off all the vacuum plugs. It's much smoother running there but less drivable John doesn't trust my Chinese HEI distributor or my custom built carburetor.
Today Lauren is marching in the memorial Day parade so after that I'm going to go to the building and gather distributor parts and see if I have a spread bore square bore adapter to try the known good carb off johns 54 Chevy on it just to get an idea if that's that problem.

 

[olds307 and 403]

The Chinese HEI I had ran fine but I did swap in an Accel coil and a different module, I believe. My bet is that carb is a hot bag of garbage. What cam is it again? I pulled 19" with 204/214, about the same as you with the 214/214 cam.

 

[maxi426]

A lot of things will cause a back fire through the intake. A flat cam, or valve leaking or adjusted too tight come to mind. I would start by removing all of the plugs, and do a proper compression test an all cylinders. If you remove the valve covers, you can watch valve movement at the same time.

 

[Clutch]

The Chinese HEI I had ran fine but I did swap in an Accel coil and a different module, I believe. My bet is that carb is a hot bag of garbage. What cam is it again? I pulled 19" with 204/214, about the same as you with the 214/214 cam.

It a manual transmission 69 400 cam it's small. Smooth idle. Sounds week actually wish I didn't listen to my brother and use it

 

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Well I've got options I searched everywhere for parts and came up with some more junk. I've got 2 more olds HEI distributors of unknown origin but both seam to be in good shape and the vacuum advance works on both. I also located 2 spread bore to square bore adapters and found bolts to use them if necessary. Not that I'm going square bore but I really want to try a known good carburetor and see if the problem goes away. Never heard from John today but that's no surprise sumtimes we go years without a word. I was really hoping to try his carburetor today LoL tomorrow after work I'll try a different distributor if that doesn't work I'll build a carb myself and try that.

 

[Clutch]

A lot of things will cause a back fire through the intake. A flat cam, or valve leaking or adjusted too tight come to mind. I would start by removing all of the plugs, and do a proper compression test an all cylinders. If you remove the valve covers, you can watch valve movement at the same time.

Yes I'm familiar and went down that road in fact if you look back from the beginning of the thread to now the car has only been driven maybe 5 miles and if I listed everything I changed and checked you probably wouldn't believe me. 3 miles on this engine approximately and it has new cam and lifters pushrods adjustable valvetrain oil pump fresh crank and bearings new distributor and custom carbs built the carb I'm thinking it's the carb because I at one point had the same problem with the last fresh motor. I don't think I corrected the problem then ether that motor just ate itself apart when the oil pump failed while trying to make it run good. The only thing that is the same is the carburetor.