yes, the plugs seem to be good, but only based on the fact that it runs very smooth and nice if I stuff a cloth into the secondary barrels and adjust the cloth a tiny bit to allow small amounts of air. when its running that way the engine sounds great.

 

mmmmm not saying much. My 4.9l inline 6 ran pretty good with 2 intake rocker arms missing pushrods. It sounded great when running fast though:P

 

Another question just to be clear, the throttle cable connected to the linkage, when the cable is relaxed should the linkage plate be opened at all or completely shut?

At idle the plates should be cracked open a bit correct?

 

I set the mixture screws at 1 1/2 out from seat, then was asked to move out to 2-2 1/2, after doing this no changes were noticed in the running

and when I pulled the vacuum plug off and it died, that was with the cloth in the secondary's, without the cloth the idle got faster when pulling the same pcv plug

 

if it can run without cloth remove cloth completely from now on
the cloth was only to get it running

 

OK, right now, I can get it running without the cloth in the secondary's, I turned the mixture screws out to 2 1/2, would start then die, I turned both out to 3, and it starts but runs rough in idle and dies in gear..

while it was running, I turned the drivers side mixture screw all the way in, it didnt change anything at all, I then turned it back out to 3 turns and did the same to the passenger side, as the passenger side mixture screw got to about 1/2 a turn out the engine started dying.



I turned it back out to 3 and started it and just let it run to temp with rough idle..

should both mixture screws act like the passenger side screw? drivers side screw did nothing to change the idle at all.

 

set screws to 1 3/4 and try again? start with choke, then ease off the choke after about a minute?

 

ok 1 3/4 with choke, be right back

 

set mixture scews to 1 3/4 with choke, engine starts at around 1500 rpm, choke starts to open and it sputters and dies

 

........ and i was hopeful too

the fact that it runs when starting is good... if there was a vacuum gauge we could see if an intake is sticking or open

 

while doing this, I did notice that when its running and I touch the throttle linkage the engine revs in slow drawn out spurts, if I push the linkage to rev it, it will rev but idles back down long after I have released the linkage, by long i mean about 3 seconds after letting go of the linkage.

I have a tune up kit coming with vacuum and fuel pressure gauge dist cap rotor and plug wires, only bought it for the gauges but cant hurt to add the rest while im not driving.

 

Good work the gauges! i know sometimes gauges cost mega money but at this point they will really help to figure this out and fix it for good!

about the linkages.... how were the mixture screws when you did this? how was the choke? was the cloth still blocking secondaries?

 

Idle mixtures were 1 3/4 out from seat, choke was open and no cloth in the secondary's.

 

It was able to run without the choke?
How To Adjust The Idle Mixture On Holley Carbs - Blogs - Holley Performance Products Forums

It should be able EASILY to idle with "1 3/4" idle mixture screws without choke. That is what is confusing me so much. It might take 3-4 minutes to warm up, but it should able to idle without choke eventually.

Once it idles w/o choke and w/o rags then everything else is simple to adjust a bit here and a bit there. ofcourse this doesn't mean it will always be able to idle the minute choke turns off automatically. My 4.9liter inline 6 takes 4 or more minutes of high rpm to warm up enough to actually idle normally, it has always needed this time to warm up enough. I have to mash the gas pedal for a few minutes until i feel it has warmed up enough. No it isn't optimal, and yes fast cam should be set higher but it works correctly once warmed up.

 

Its to dark to do anything else tonight, but tomorrow I am going to try this and see if the adjustments will help, Im sure the first problem is still present, but once I can get the carb to work right, maybe the other problem will be much easier.

I am going to keep the manual choke handy cause it might be a better option with my truck.