It could be the choke not working or set wrong, or a sticky float in the carb???

 

I seem to be having the same issue. It will start once, but as soon as I shut it off and let ie set for a few mintes, it will not restart again. After it happened today, I pulled each of the plugs and they were completely black, like a carbon build-up. Based on what they look like, my Haynes manual states it could be a rich mixture. The truck used to run fine before I took the engine out, and I didn't mess with any of the carb mixture screws, I just removed the carb before taking the engine out and had it sitting on my bench for the last few months.

It's an Edelbrock 1405 or 1406. If my plugs are getting black that fast, then is the mixture too rich? If so, do you turn the mixture screws in or out to reduce the fuel amount? I also put in new Autolite plugs before installing the engine. Is it possible I also have the wrong type of plugs (not a hot enough range, etc)?

I feel like I'm close to getting this running like it was before I took it out, but just can't seem to get it figured out.

 

This may be a silly question, but is the carb manual or electric choke. If electric, did you hook it back up again and is it working? If the choke isn't opening that could also carbon up the engine.

 

OK, a few things we need to know. does the truck have an elec fuel pump?? If so Eddy's are pretty picky about fuel pressure so you might need a regulator. The stuck float as mentioned before could also cause your problems. Look at the top of the carb, there should be 2 gold caps with torx screws holding them in. Take the screws out and there are 2 rods in there (stepdown rods) pull them out and shoot some carb cleaner down there to make sure you ain't got junk holding them open. Other than that it's hard to dignose from down here but I would look at fuel delivery issues first.

 

The carb has an electric choke, which I hooked back up and seems to work fine. It opened up all the way when the engine ran for 5 minutes yesterday.

It has the mechanical fuel pump with the filter mounted to the bottom. I'll look at the carb tonight and see if I can remove the stepdown rods and clean it out.

 

It may be possible that you have something under one of the needles allowing too much fuel into the engine. This can happen really easy if the carb was sitting for a few months. A spider could cause this problem!!
Mark

 

Yup, check the needle and seat also!!!

 

Update...having a hard time getting the engine started again. Had it running for about 5 minutes last weekend, but not it will not fire again. I have some new plugs to put in this weekend to hopefully get it started, then I can start to adjust the carb or timing a little.

When trying to start it, it's doing something wierd. I'll turn the key all the way to crank the engine, but after not starting, I turn the key back to the middle position. No problem there, but when I turn it left one more to the off position, the engine will 'bump'...almost like one of the plugs is firing and causing one piston to fire. I can see the fan blade turn backwards about a quarter revolution. Then when I turn the key to the on (before turning all the way to engage starter), the engine will bump again. When it does this, I usually see a little puff of smoke out the carb. I can usually turn the key off and on about 2-3 times in a row and have the bump happen.

Never had this happen before I took the engine out, so it still makes me think I have reconnected something wrong when I re-installed the engine. I don't think my carb is too far off in settings since it ran well before I took it off, and I didn't make any adjustments to it when it was off the engine.

Any ideas? Just in case anyone has nothing to do and wants to help out a rookie at getting his truck running again, I would be eternally grateful. I'm about ready to have it towed to a shop because I have no clue what I'm doing at this point.

 

Man I wish I was closer, i would bounce over and get her fired up for ya. As far as the "bump" I would double check wiring to the coil and dist.

 

You have checked your firing order? Remember the rotor in the dist. turns counterclockwise. also, it could be 180 degrees off.
Mark