We recently put my '68 back together and initially got it running fine. It was idling and taking fuel fine and I even made a few maiden voyages in it. Then, on the 4th of July while coming home from an event the timing slipped (I left the hold down too loose) and it began to cough and spit, including back through the carb. It blew off the vacuum covers on a couple ports and since then, I have not been able to get it to run right. It also seems to have burned a header gasket during this shenanigan. Ugh.

It now pops through the carb almost constantly and will not idle. Do you think a carb rebuild will take care of things? The engine is about 30,000 miles and 8 years old and the carb sat while the car was apart for the last four years.

The engine is a thirty over 350 with a Comp 280H cam (484/484). The heads are 1.94 fuelies. The intake is a performer RPM and the carb is an Edelbrock performer 1406 (the 600 cfm mech. secondaries with an electric choke). The ignition is an MSD 6al with a street billet distr. Taylor wires with Autolite plugs gapped at 50. The exhaust is Hedman headers (a little too big but great fitting and the price was right) into 2.5 inch 2 chamber flows.

Thanks for your help!!

John, with what you said, I first would go back to check if the engine is still in time. You did not say if the hold down clamp came completely loose. Pulle #1 plug and disconnect dist coil, with remote, get up to top of compression stroke ( put finger in empty plug hole and wait for pressure to build.) Either us a remote starter or have someone help you. Make sure transmission is out of gear. Check to see where #1 plug is pointing on dist cap. Check inital timing also. While you are at it, take cap off and check rotor firing tab. Come on back when finished and report please.

I agree with last post..you need to check and see if it jumped a tooth. I think it did by the sounds of it...

Thanks for the replies. We did what you said and it is in time. On TDC the rotor is pointing at #1. I did not check the rotor or the cap though. The hold down was loose but did not come all the way off.

So...The morning after it happened it occurred to me that the distr had spun so I thought all I'd have to do it put it back in time. What has freaked me out a little is that I can't seem to get it back in time. We did what you suggested and it's still popping back through the car and running cruddy. That really makes me scratch my head and look at the carb.

What do you guys think?

Popping out of the carb usually indicates a lean fuel mixture.....Does the engine respond when you adjust the air-fuel mixture screws?.....Did you run a vacuum check?.....Could be tight intake valve lash, leaky intake manifold or carb gaskets.

I haven't run a vacuum check. We replaced the carb gasket thinking it may be leaking. It seems to have fuel pressure, but I need to check that. The intake should be fine, but I'll check. I was planning to adjust the valves since I unfortunately left the pressure on the valves the whole time the engine sat.

Thanks for the replies.