Need Help With Fuel/ Carb

[80Cutty]

So Im coming home from work tonight about a 9 mile drive home not to far but further than my normal job site halfway home i notice my car starts sputtering like its out of fuel or choking itself and i had 3/4 of a tank of gas so i stop at the light that was coming up and i go to take off and it starts dieing out on me so i starting going down this hill and it dies i pull off into a little parking lot and leave it running. I pop the hood and nothing seemed out of placed i revved it up a little and it purred so i go to leave turn around start going uphill out of the parking lot and it backfires and it dies. I Put It Neutral going back to the parking space and it will not start so i pop the hood and loosen the adjustment screws on the carb. i did tighten these a few days ago and its been running fine. im just curious as to what would cause it to backfire and possibly starve itself of fuel? My Setup Is a 455 with a 350 cam edelbrock performer intake eldelbrock 1406 carb 600 cfm thats was rebuilt 4 years ago and has been on and driven daily for the past 4 years. for the past two years ive been going to the same gas station other then two times these last few weeks but just friday it got filled up again with the regular fuel at the exact station i always go to. The car i have noticed has been running weird for a few weeks like sluggish.

 

[jacobdavis1979]

Is the Fuel filter dirty?
Any crud in that edelbrock floats adjusted right?
You said you adjusted the carb a few days ago? Did you hook up a vacuum gauge and adjust them for the highest reading and then adjust the idle to compensate?
Is the timing ok?
Could the fuel pump be weak?
Heat soak? Todays crap gas is good at that
Vacuum leaks?


Theres a number of things that could be goin on here but if you played with the carbs adjustment screws and it ran fine before that id start there

 

[80Cutty]

Fuel Filter Dirty Well its a clear view filter its a little dirty but not very the filters been on there for 4 years around 5000 miles. Floats are good i run fuel cleaner once a month through the fuel tank. No Vacuum gauge just played it by ear. timing was just changed from 12 degrees to 10 was stilling testing that haha. Fuel pump could be weak its likely but not very likely its only got probably 7000 miles on the fuel pump. Heat soak well my fuel like is far away from my exhaust and part of the fuel line next to the manifolds zip tied to the inner fender well is wrapped in heat tape to keep heat out. no vacuum leaks sprayed carb cleaner on all vacuum ports and lines and nothing.

 

[jacobdavis1979]

If youv only put 5000 miles on that car in about 4 years id try changing that filter. Find out what your fuel pressure is. Check your plugs wires cap rotor. Make sure they look ok and change or clean if you need too. And todays gas has alittle ethanol in it you might try and see if theres any of that nasty green deposit in the carb

 

[80Cutty]

Ok So Change The Fuel Filter, finding out the fuel pressure may be a little difficult haha. My Plugs Are look fine granted they are really old they look good hahaha. Where Do I Look For this green stuff in the carb ? cap and rotor are probably older than the plugs lol i know it sounds bad and probably could use a tune up haha it does have new wires because 3 years ago the back of the engine bay went up into flames haha so the wires are good

 

[jacobdavis1979]

Holy cow it went up in flames lol dude i wouldnt know what to think if mine did that id probly start running and pray it didnt explode lol.

But yea i think id give that thing a good tune up. Adjust your timing to spec and adjust your carb mix screws after the tune up just to be safe.

As for the green crud todays crap gas if it goes stale can really ruin a carb. Take the top of the carb and maybe inspect the fuel bowls just make sure they are clean and what not. If it had the green junk in there you would notice right away trust me.

To me from the way you described it sounds like its either getting to much gas edelbrocks are sensitive to fuel pressure. Or not enough gas. If it only did this once the car was warm i cant help but think somthing is going on in that carb

 

[80Cutty]

Well The car is a daily driver it rarely sits haha i know the low milage and how many years its been i dont drive far but i do drive haha. Yes the fuel line to the carb failed soaked the back of the engine and poof fire extinguished the whole engine haha well a tune up will have to wait haha ill get to it soon but time is tight as well as money haha. thanks for all the advise man

 

[80Cutty]

Need an opinion on these spark plugs they appear to be overheated but im not sure do these look normal ?

 

[jacobdavis1979]

Looks almost how a plug should look. Id clean them though

 

[80Cutty]

This Spark Was The #1 spark plug and i already threw them back in haha. But Im Just slowly checking everything you told me to check if i find anything bad itll just have to wait i took it for a test drive around the block got on it and it ran fine but once the transmission does this thing at 15 it loses its power unless you really put your foot into it.