Ok, first off this problem is extremely ackward, so you need good imagination to be able to help. I have a 1969 Camaro. 350 c.i. 280 comp cam, about 9-1 compression, about 1200 stall, 3:73 gear. I have been fooling around with my carb since it was stumbling off take off. I played around with the accelerator cam, booster, and etc and got it running pretty well. I have 65 jets in the front, and its a vacum secondary. I have a K & N air/fuel ration meter in the car. I have put a vacum gauge on the engine to tune in the idle screws, and as far as I know, got everything adjusted. My problem first!!, is that it runs rich while normal driving, and when I get into it for a sec, it pegs out on the meter rich. I have tried jetting it down till I lose power and it continues to run rich. The problem is that it only will run pegged out rich on the passengers side. I have an eldebrock dual plane intake. I have tried staggering the jets, still no luck. Any suggestions???? Next, I have pretty decent size tires on the back, and my camaro have only been able to bark tires from a pedal to the metal takeoff. I have just redone the suspension in the back, and cut the mufflers off. The car was up on stands for about a year, maybe a little less. I got it out of the garage, and floored it out on the road. It'll light the tires for -+40 feet. AWSOME!!! Well good for show offs but not for racing. I was wondering if this was able by cutting the exhaust off. I drove the car for about 20 minutes in the next 2 days. The last day I got on it, and it done the same as before, barely barked them. Put it in the garage, brought it out in about a week, now, it'll scorch the tires again. IS MY GARAGE REGENERATING THE LIFE IN MY CAMARO, DO I HAVE CHRISTENE HERE!!! ANy help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I am assuming that 1200 stall is a typo? I havent messed with a holley in a long time, but here is what I would do. Square your jets back up...smallblocks normally do not need staggered jetting. Make sure the floats and idle mixture are set correctly. Make sure you have a clean fuel filter and the plugs are reasonably clean. Set your initial timing around 14 degrees, if not already. It may like more or less, but this will get you in the ballpark with your compression and cam. Now, see what it does. You may want to experiment with different secondary springs (you can get a pack of assorted springs from about any speed shop or mail order) and try different sizes of squirters. If you have a large difference in a/f ratios between the different sides of the engine, you might have a leak around the intake gasket on the leaner side, then by fattening up the jetting to make the lean side normal you also make the normal side too rich. With a fresh set of plugs in the engine, try making a hard 1/4 mile run, then immediately shutting off the engine and seeing what the plugs look like. You should be able to see if any cylinder or cylinders are running leaner or richer than they should be.

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375hp 78 Chevy truck
77 Chevy Nova
95 Chevy Lumina 3.4L
and building a 78 Nova

First off is the 1200 stall a typo???

Second,do not stagger jet.

Third,we need to know more about your combo,carb size,heads,intake,header size,exhaust size.

Check your vacuum at idle in gear and install one that is at least 2 lower than the vacuum reading.

I am just going to throw this out here and see where it goes from here...

With a Comp Cams 280 you should be running AT LEAST a 11 inch 2600 stall.There is a posability that since your converter is too thight the motor is lugging and loading up at low speeds.Your plugs and the gauge will read this as rich.You leaned the jets based on what the plugs and the gauge said.

Still with me???

Now what I propose to be the problem is that you are in fact running lean,and you have too tight of a converter.



[This message has been edited by mutant 68 (edited 08-19-2001).]

OK, I was wanting to get this started so that I could answer all ?'s that came my way. I have a 350 thats 30 over, 600 cfm carb, small combustion chamber heads, but not the 2,02 1.60 valves, the smaller ones, exhaust is 2 inch with flowmasters, and the header size I cannot say.
I rebuilt my carb because I read where your idle screws would not work it the primary throttle blades were open too much. That was one of my problems. I open the sec a little more and closed the fronts. Now, my idle screws make a difference. I turned them down until I heard the engine bog, then brought them up to the highest rpm that it would make, then done the other side. I have bought sec spring kit, and have got it so that they open when they need to. By 1200 stall, sorry it was late and I was not thinking. What I mean is that its not much above stock. I want a 502 and I have the Arizona Speed Marine fuel injection for it, and I was not wanting to spend anymore on this 350 that i would have to. I know that I will need a stall, I just dont want to buy one for a 350 that will make a 502 stall too much/less.
Travis,, you said make a hard 1/4 mile run then check the plugs, would only that limited amount of diving make a difference, usually I drive it around for a couple days before I check them? Do any of you know how to check for an air leak around a intake besides taking it off. I would assume that it has something to do with water, because any time that you have a problem with an engine, you use water somehow!!!! Thanks for all you help so far. Hope that you will continue looking at this so that you could help me out. Thanks again