Decisions decisions... Need some help here guys (long)

[supkylesup]

The car: olds cutlass 3.8l V6
Hey guys I'm in sort of a pickle here and don't know what the hell to do.
Here is a little background story.
Ok so I rebuilt my carb about 2 weeks ago. It was my first carb rebuild so didn't know much of what I was getting into.
I finally figured it out (sort of) and got it all back on the car. Well it fired up and was idling high so after a couple tweaks I thought I had it right. Still idledsort of high and had a problem with dieseling (run-on). That problem somehow cured itself but now I had a new problem. The car would start up just fine on sometimes but on some occasions it wouldn't start at all I would try to start it and it would turn over but just would not start I tried several thing to try to get it to start also tried turning it over several tines well after a while it would fire right up. Then on some occasions it would fire up and I'd put it in gear and hit the gas and it would bog down and die. And I'd have to wait another roughly 30min of trying to start it again.
Also another problem I was having was when I started it it idled nice and low but then after putting it in gear then back to park it would idle really high (hot or cold).


So I finally admitted defeat yesterday and took it into the shop I live next to.
So after taking a look at it he says I have a very large vaccum leak at the Pcv valve (which I knew about because the gromet in the intake manifold that the Pcv plugs into was brittle and falling apart.
So after ordering the gromet that still doesn't fix the problem. However the car has started up just fine for them for the past 2 days now. So the mechanics concern was that the jets were just dripping. Like a slow drip of fuel but then when the throttle is pressed they spray just fine.

So here are my options
1. Send the carb off to get rebuilt ($250)
2. Go to a yard and try to find a 4 barrel intake manifold from a 4.3l v6 and put the 4 barrel Edelbrock 1405 I have on it
3. Buy a whole new carb ($500)

Here are my concerns/questions
1. I was told if I were to find a 4 barrel intake manifold and a 4 barrel carb on that it would be way over carbed and run too rich. The carb I'd be putting on is a Edelbrock 1405 600cfm manual choke.
2. I really do t think my carb needs to be rebuilt again.
3. Should the jets be producing only droplets of fuel at idle?
4. What do you guys think?

I'm in need of some real help here guys anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kornball426]

A 4.3 manifold won't fit on a 3.8 so there's that. Other than that I don't know.

 

[Pbngem]

It sounds like you may be having problems with the carb being out of calibration & possible vacuume leaks.Send your carb out to a trustworthy rebuilder who knows precisely what they are doing.replace the base gasket when re-installing the carb. You should then look over all your vacuum hoses & replace any that are questionable. You want to eliminate any vacuum leaks that exist.

 

[supkylesup]

Sorry I meant 4.1 liter
The 4 barrel intake manifold is a direct bolt on to the 231 v6.

 

[CHRIS.O]

If you had a vacuum leak when your were adjusting stuff then your way off from where you need to be. Assuming you adjusted more than the idle.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

First the eddy 600 will be far to rich on your 3.8, I put one on a 4.1 and it was aweful, lol, so that would take a lot of tuning rejetting and screwing around to get right, not worth the effort. Had you said 4.1 intake and a quadrajet.....now you getting somewhere. When you rebuilt your 2bbl, did you make sure you cleaned and re cleaned your idle circuits? Did you clean out the tubes that hang down from the horn? Those two things will give you a shitty idle, and poor start up characteristics alone. As mentioned though, you can't tune a carb very well with a vacuum leak....

 

[Joltcola]

isnt bogging down and hard to start signs of a float issue (espeically wiht quadrajet), accelerator pump, or timing issue?? These were all suggestions that were given to me by dudes on here when I had similar issues

I bought a Holly 750 instead.....needs a tune but at least she runs now...

Also, I have a Holly 600 carb for sale..really nice and I'm not gonna charge you $500 for it...unless you want to pay me that 😀

 

[Phoenyx]

Option 4. Find a car in the junkyard that has the same engine/carb and is still running.

 

[username]

Here is a option for you also, I'll give you the ccc carb off of the 3.8 I pulled recently you pay for its ride.It isnt super pretty but the car ran fine.