Carb Stalling Troubleshooting...Flooded ?

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Tynan918

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Aug 2, 2021
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Agree about the fuel filter. +100 on using a metal canister filter. The glass ones are cute and dressy but dangerous in a closed environment like an engine bay.
I have a metal canister filter attached near the fuel pump, the glass filter is in the engine bay... It was recommended to use the glass filter in the engine bay vs the clear plastic one...
 

Tynan918

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Aug 2, 2021
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Here is the engine running for a moment, whistling, and stalling

 
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Tynan918

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Aug 2, 2021
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Timing light.
I have one but it's too confusing to use, the way I did it shows timing is correct on both 6° BTDC and 0° TDC... Rotor Pointer pointed at Cylinder #1 at both of these marks on compression stroke... No timing light needed.
 

DRIVEN

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You have it in the it all assembled correctly but haven't timed it until you put a light on it and twist the distributor. The rotor is supposed to (theoretically) point to #1 cylinder but doesn't need to. You could point it anywhere as long as the wires were places to correspond on the cap. The only thing that really matters is that it jumps the spark from the rotor to the #1 contact in the cap at the right time. That's why you need a light.
 
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69hurstolds

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Here is the engine running for a moment, whistling, and stalling

Wrong vid. You have a crank no start condition video here.

Whistling means one thing to me....air is going in fast somewhere. Somewhere could be somewhere you don't want it, meaning huge vacuum leak? Can't see it so not sure.

Noticed too that in the crank no start vid you don't have the choke mechanism activated. Why not? Forgot to look but is it an electric choke? Leaving the key on heats up that choke and allows it to open when it needs to be in operation when the engine is cold and first cranks. When jacking around with a problem child no-start condition, if it's an electric choke, unplug it (and keep the wire from grounding by wrapping the end in tape or whatever) while you're troubleshooting. Otherwise it will heat up and stay open when the rest of everything is cold.

You're fooling yourself if you can "time the engine" by setting sh*t to 6 BTDC on the crank and pointing the rotor to #1. That just gets you in the ball park. If you're off on that distributor housing movement by even 1/4" you'll see a wild swing in timing. BARELY loosen the distributor housing hold down bolt so as to just be able to turn the distributor housing while you have someone crank the engine. Then while it's cranking, you can slightly rotate the distributor housing until the engine is happy enough to crank up. On a Chevy, IIRC, the distributor rotation is backwards (Oldsmobile is my standard, so someone correct me if I'm wrong). So the rotor turns clockwise. Turn your housing slightly counter-clockwise to increase the advance, and clockwise to reduce the advance. Once it gets running, you will need to use a timing light. If yours is "too complicated", then go to the auto parts store and get a basic timing light. Otherwise you're just guessing. Or borrow one or learn how to use yours correctly before you go any further. Otherwise you're pi$$ing up a rope.

SAFETY TIP- And that "glass" fuel filter? (I'm betting it's actually polycarbonate) When you get done with your test n tune, take it out of the line. Put a metal canister one in there if you feel you absolutely need to have one there. You have one back by the tank so you really don't need one at all under the hood. Sure, keep the glass one around if you ever have to troubleshoot, but as others have stated, those things are an accident waiting to happen. It's better than plastic, true, but you don't want to keep it under there all the time. Use those see-through deals only when you need to see and verify that you're getting gas flow to the carb. Then get it the f*ck out of the engine compartment.
 
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Tynan918

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Aug 2, 2021
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Wrong vid. You have a crank no start condition video here.

Whistling means one thing to me....air is going in fast somewhere. Somewhere could be somewhere you don't want it, meaning huge vacuum leak? Can't see it so not sure.

Noticed too that in the crank no start vid you don't have the choke mechanism activated. Why not? Forgot to look but is it an electric choke? Leaving the key on heats up that choke and allows it to open when it needs to be in operation when the engine is cold and first cranks. When jacking around with a problem child no-start condition, if it's an electric choke, unplug it (and keep the wire from grounding by wrapping the end in tape or whatever) while you're troubleshooting. Otherwise it will heat up and stay open when the rest of everything is cold.

You're fooling yourself if you can "time the engine" by setting sh*t to 6 BTDC on the crank and pointing the rotor to #1. That just gets you in the ball park. If you're off on that distributor housing movement by even 1/4" you'll see a wild swing in timing. BARELY loosen the distributor housing hold down bolt so as to just be able to turn the distributor housing while you have someone crank the engine. Then while it's cranking, you can slightly rotate the distributor housing until the engine is happy enough to crank up. On a Chevy, IIRC, the distributor rotation is backwards (Oldsmobile is my standard, so someone correct me if I'm wrong). So the rotor turns clockwise. Turn your housing slightly counter-clockwise to increase the advance, and clockwise to reduce the advance. Once it gets running, you will need to use a timing light. If yours is "too complicated", then go to the auto parts store and get a basic timing light. Otherwise you're just guessing. Or borrow one or learn how to use yours correctly before you go any further. Otherwise you're pi$$ing up a rope.

SAFETY TIP- And that "glass" fuel filter? (I'm betting it's actually polycarbonate) When you get done with your test n tune, take it out of the line. Put a metal canister one in there if you feel you absolutely need to have one there. You have one back by the tank so you really don't need one at all under the hood. Sure, keep the glass one around if you ever have to troubleshoot, but as others have stated, those things are an accident waiting to happen. It's better than plastic, true, but you don't want to keep it under there all the time. Use those see-through deals only when you need to see and verify that you're getting gas flow to the carb. Then get it the f*ck out of the engine compartment.
I edited the video post and posted the correct video now.

Yea I'm thinking vacuum leak too, and I suspect it's the passenger side front mounting bolt is the culprit. I'm almost bottomed out but it stopped free spins. It isn't cross threaded it went in easily and straight. Going to back that out this morning and inspect it.

Yea it's an electric choke, ok I'll unplug it because the choke does stay wide open when I'm starting it. Is it (choke cap) supposed to be too hot too leave your finger on ?

I'm familiar with timing, distributor rotation, advancing, retarding, etc... I've just never used a timing light to do it, and its confusing to use, mainly being able to see the harmonic balancer. I have a dial timing light, I'll grab it and record it later and you guys tell me what you think. The car had no driving issues, just high fuel pressure, carb flooding, and stalled out after 8-10 miles of in town driving, and on the highway I've done 100 mph with no issues.

Here's a 3 min in town drive I recorded not too long ago...

And the glass filter, the car came with an inline filter and I've never dealt with inline filters. Since it came with it, I figured I needed it, just needed something better.
 

69hurstolds

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If you have a dial timing light to show you advance, then set it all the way to ZERO and just check your timing straight up that way and set it to whatever the recommended BTDC setting at whatever RPM it should be, and that's usually 700-ish rpm.

Make sure any vacuum advance can vacuum hose is unplugged and capped when setting initial timing. Inductive pickup on the plug wire (note any direction arrows if equipped on the pickup), and the two leads to the battery terminals are the usual hookups. According to GM, your tuneup specs should be with an R45TS plug or equivalent, and 6 degrees base timing, 500 RPM curb idle speed in drive.

Tuneup specs also show your fuel pump should be 5.5-6.5 psi output.
 
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Tynan918

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Here is the mounting bolt... Looks to have shavings around it...

20210925_103543.jpg
 

Tynan918

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Aug 2, 2021
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The bolt still doesn't bottom out, just free spins...

Maybe that's why they had this thicker base gasket on the base with the thin base gasket.

Should I put this back on or use something to make it work ?

I used something simular once to fix a loose bolt on my Vortec TBI Spider Injection rebuild by wedging some small metal grated sheets/strips and it acts as a re-threader, giving a proper sealing... Never leaked gas again.

Worked then, and wonder if it would work now and if I need it now to seal this air leak caused by this loose bolt...
20210925_105132.jpg
20210925_105103.jpg
 
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