Hey everyone. I had an edelbrock 1406 electric choke. I had it on my truck and my truck ran any drove, but the carb ran way to rich... There was a leak somewhere cuz i could see bubbles coming up from one of the bowls.

I bought a reman holley, but took it back because some things were stripped so gas leaked... But when i had the holley on i would try and run it at idle with vac adv. off. It would run and i would time it. put the vac adv back on and it revved way high.

Bought a brand new 1405 manual choke edelbrock. did the same thing as holley, I finally got it to where it would almost be the same timing as when vac adv. was off/on. But vac adv. would go up on itself. so the timing would say it was at like 35-55 on timing.

I mean it sounds fine when i have it in park and all, but when i put it in gear it flat out dies. The other edelbrock didnt do this. I am very frusterated cuz its problem after problem. And after this prob is over it may be my last one to finish the rebuild.

When i had the old edelbrock on there it would drop 2-300 rpm when i put it in gear and thats it.

another question i had was.. Can i take my electric choke stuff off my 1406 and put it on the 1405?

 

You need to find a carb expert and have them look at your carb. Most carbs will run fine right out of the box. They may not have an optimal tune but they will run. Having three failures points the finger back at something you are doing.

You can transfer the electric choke from the 1406 to the 1405. Unfortunately I would have a professional do it for you.

 

Are you hooking the vac advance to manifold vacuum or ported vacuum?

 

The vacuum advance should be hooked to the passengerside front port. Sounds like your mixture screws need to be readjusted to correct the idle. Also, check for vacuum leaks.

 

it is on the passenger side of the carb, ive been trying to get a hold of edelbrock but there phones are too busy so it tells me to call back again... I checked the timing chain, i have a new dizzy. So i am stumped. Im thinking about just taking it to a mechanic but i really dont have money for that.

Im having a mechanic come over and check it out again today, hes a mobile mechanic, and has seen what i have gone through. He says weve checked everything and checked again. So he thinks its something internal. He wants to check timing chain again just to make sure.

if everything checks out i was wondering if it could be the harmonic balancer??
it is just a thought, Anyway other suggestions would be helpful.

 

I finally drove the thing around the block today!!! looks like i have some tranny things i need to work out, maybe just needs fluid but slips in and out of gear.

Anyway, I can get it to where the vac only pulls between 18-28 at idle. and that is at 8 btdc and when i time it at 12 btdc. Seems to run better at around 14 btdc. Only thing is that the rpms go up on vac advance by a lil and it goes around 28 btdc. I called holley, since carbs had similar probs, and said with a bigger cam it can suck more vac at stock settings, so he told me there is a screw on bottom of carb on the passenger side on the bottom. Told me to turn it 1/4 inch and it would pull more air to secondaries and less air at port at idle. only problem is that this is an edelbrock. Edelbrock has a screw on the driver side on the bottom... Would that be the same thing?

 

How hot of a cam do you have in it? If you run the throttle a little too open to maintain idle, it can wind up bridging the ported vacuum ports and cause a false high reading at idle. You may want to try adjusting the stop screw for the secondaries to open them up a little bit, maybe half or three quarters of a turn, and close the primaries a little bit to bring the idle back down. Let me know what happens.

 

It is a comp cam xe274h the specs are
274/286 advertised duration
230/236 duration @.050"
.562/.565 lift
110 degree lobe separation

where would i adjust the secondaries and the primaries? on an edelbrock is the primaries usually your main idle screw on the driver side and the secondary idle screw is below that one? the screw i was talking about in my last post? if it is, do i tighten it or losen it?

 

The screw you adjust is the one that the throtlle arm rests on at low idle. The secondaries should have a similar screw, but it may not be as accesible.

 

do i tighten or losen the secondary screw? I know on primary idle you tighten for higher rpm, so i think you would also tighten the secondary one. Also is the secondary screw touch like a half circle thing that moves the choke?

 

thats a healthy sized cam, if you have an auto trans without a stall of maybe 2200-2500 that could be why it dies in gear.

 

oh shoot, did i forget to mention that i drove it around the block and it didnt die? ya, well i got it to not die, anyway i think my stall is in that range anyway. i know it can drive fine. I just need it to idle fine without pulling all this vac, anyway, i have the whole day ahead of me to see what is going on.

 

There is no screw to adjust the secondaries. The screw that is below the idle stop is for the fast idle when the choke is closed. This will just increase/decrease the idle speed untill the choke opens.

 

I dont think its my carb anymore so if someone can move this post to the fe motor section that would be cool.

Anyway, it seems as if my cam timing is off. That is what it seems like to me anyway. I have a stock timing set... Im mad cuz the chain has a little slack. But this wouldnt effect timing too drastically. Its either my timing light is off, it was cheap, or the cam timing is off somehow. in the stock timing set (came from cloyes) i do not know if the stock sprocket came with a 0 degree adv or if it was retarded, or what. But anyway the cam has a 4 degree advance. so i need to work that out.
Checked and re-checked timing marks
checked and rechecked firing order
Checked and placed #1 piston to tdc by static. Did this before everything i mentioned.
Checked the valves to see what they were doing and to see if they are adjusted right.
Checked and set timing using static from a minimal of 8-10 degrees.
Im really just boiling down to see if my timing light is off or what.

*Im really an ameteur at all this, but i know i did everything correct. I had it watched over by my friend mechanic. But there is one thing that concerns me. On the harmonic balancer how you usually mark tdc with chalk or whatever to see where it is (i always use this and go by that), I noticed there was a yellow paint like line on about 8 btdc, he said it was an ameteur mistake, but im really running out of options, and i was just wondering maybe that is where the real zero is. Assuming that it is not an ameteur mistake, What could it mean?

 

Sounds like a cam timing issue. Also, a large camshaft like that will hold much less vacuum at an idle than a stocker. You need to put in different metering rod springs in the carb if it is a Edelbrock. If it is a Holley, you need to put in a smaller # powervalve that won't open as soon. That will cause it to run too rich. Big cam, low vacuum is not enough to keep the powervalve closed.