Went to Elsinore this morning to do a little tunnin. everything else aside it was a great day for the lake...  but its the everything else that got me. took off after we launched to play with the carb a little. bought a quick change kit for the vac. secondaries and played with that a bit but it didnt seem to cange anything. only gettin 2900rpm when im standin on it, WTF! 47 mph max!! this is bull shit. got some popin at the top end range too. but the bottom end is way better. so i said screw it lets have a couple cocktails ill deal with it later. take off about 3:00pm headin home and about 3 miles down the freeway my engine cover blowes open!!  flips all the way over punches a hole in my scoop, ripes out a hinge, and bends the cables to both my fwd/rvrs and my diverter. now there both junk. goin to the river in three weeks now i got this to fix and my carb problem is wors than when i started...    I just should have stayed home. but at least i didnt lose the cover on the freeway so its all repairable

This one looks like you should repair it anyways . This is how you DONT anchor screws to fiberglass.



-beerjet-

I would check the entire fuel system . Remove and check carefully all your fuel lines , tanks , tubes that come out of the tanks , fuel pump , everything ! I took a carb apart once , bowls , metering blocks , main body and soaked them in a can of "Barrymans " chemical solution for 15 min . Removed them and hosed it off with water . Put on a face sheild or at least some safty glasses and use an air compressor to blow out all the crevises and cracks and passageways . Assuming the carb is set up properly mine worked like brand new .

If that dont work . Me and my crew chief will get it running in one trip out to the lake .  For a small fee of course . A couple boat sodas should cover that though .

-beerjet-

hey sandaddict i have a holley  3310 750 vac secondaries i just had rebuilt. i'm not using it if you'd like to try it and see if it runs better i'm in yucaipa

hey sandaddict i have a holley  3310 750 vac secondaries i just had rebuilt. i'm not using it if you'd like to try it and see if it runs better i'm in yucaipa

   i might take you up on that if nothing else works. but i have a few things to go over first. and then ill drag beerjet to the lake and see what he says. guess ill hit the garage and see what i can see huh!?

If you have a base gasket that is too small for the bores, chances are real good it has the wrong holes for the vacuum passages too. I have quite a few spares and you're welcome to match up what you need. I'm in Anaheim, so it's not that bad of a drive.

yup wrong gasket oops. i had the right one here though.  anyone have some input about my timing?

ill disconnect my vac adv. but how do i set the total timing on my 454. its also supposed to be a low compression engine.

You use a dial back timing light. First, hook up the light and slowly rev your engine watching the timing advance. Typically, you want all your advance in by 3000 rpm. What you are watching is the mechanical advance in the distributor. Start out conservative... Chevy owners will have a better idea what may work on your combination, but I would think 32* total in at 3000 rpm is a mild tune. The marks on your dampener don't go that high, that's why you need a dial back timing light. Set the dial at 32*, run the engine up to where the advance stops, then advance or retard the distributor until the strobe is at the zero mark. Take it out and run it. If you have a GPS, that'll help you, but if not, watch your tach at WFO. Bump the advance a degree or two and take it again. Did you pick any more rpm at wide open throttle? If so, bump a hair more and retest looking for more rpm. Run as little advance as you can to give you max rpm to lessen your chances of detonation.

thanks a bunch now i might be able to get somewhere.

Put an 850 double pumper on it and use the vac sec carb as a tire chaulk.

well i found out who ever put the tach in didnt set the switches right on the back so the rpm was off so i fixed that and ran it against a digital timing light to make sure. so now the timming. it was set at 8* at idle and about 22* at full adv. now i have it at 14* at idle and 32* at full advance. im scared to go any more. dont wanna detonate it. still sounds good and no trouble at all starting it. it lights off real quick. does this sound about right and is it a good place to start?

thanks for all your guys help! hopefully i can get my cables changed by sat night so i can hit Elsinore on sunday to see what happens. i appreciate everything.