just finished cam carb intake swap....72 302. runs great from 1200 up. cant see any timing marks with the timing light. i dont know whether the pointer is just off or what. runs great though. got an edlebrock performer intake cam and 600 cfm carb. any help on what to do to get the idle lower would be great. rotating the distributor just makes it keel out at 1200 or make it race if i go the other way. thanks guys, this is for a friend of mine.


mike

 

Back the Idle screw out a liitle ?

Also,With the engine shut off, Find the timing mark and use a little White-out or liquid paper and paint the mark for easier visibilty.

Dennis



Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions As:
"I'm Saving My Memory For When I Develop Alzheimer's"


78 F-150 429CJ,Silver
w/Explorer Pkge.
641/2-Mustang 260,Pre-World's Fair Car.
64-Fairlane500 S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang 289-Sunlit Gold 80,892Mi
78-Buick LeSabre 403 4V
84 Volvo DL Wagon

 

Are you putting the timing light on the front passenger side sparkplug wire? Is it running rough below 1200, or the carb butterflies won't close enough to slow it down?

 

Hi there! have you checked for vacuum leaks yet? This would cause a high idle that is difficult to reduce without stalling the engine as well. Also, is the engine equipped with a vacuum advance? Are you removing it prior to checking the timing? You should be. Also, one last thing, if equipped with vacuum advance, where did you run vacuum hose from distributor? You need a "ported" vacuum source for the vacuum advance to work properly. Food for thought.

 

ok, the idle screw isnt even touching the linkage...cant be that. it does have a vacuum advance, i didnt know it needed to be plugged to set timing. and i cleaned the balancer and painted the marks so they would be easier to see. thanks guys for all the info, ill try to get it runnin this afternoon.


mike

 

You don't plug the vacuum advance.

You disconnect the hose to it and plug it.

Unless the vacuum advance has TWO fittings One for advancing and One for retarding the timing,in which case you disconnect both and install a vacuum gauge between the Two with a T-connector.


Dennis



Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions As:
"I'm Saving My Memory For When I Develop Alzheimer's"


78 F-150 429CJ,Silver
w/Explorer Pkge.
641/2-Mustang 260,Pre-World's Fair Car.
64-Fairlane500 S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang 289-Sunlit Gold 80,892Mi
78-Buick LeSabre 403 4V
84 Volvo DL Wagon

 

And as MrMotorsport said...make sure you're running off the timed port on the carb (probably the passenger side port at the base of the carb). If the timed port is working properly, you won't get any vacuum to the distributor until around 900 rpm....and you should check your timing somewhere between 600 and 750 rpm for base timing...

 

well guys, i got it runnin tonight. got the brilliant idea to consult the carb instruction book. told me to adjust the idle mixture screw, so i did, got down to 900...went for a ride, detonated bad under any load, came back and checked to see if i had any sort of timing marks visible. they were about 1.5 inches away from the pointer(maybe 15-25 degrees off). set it to initial 8 degrees, went for a ride, ran like a scalded dawg. thanks for all the help guys, have a good one

mike

 

You think it ran great at 8, bump that thing up to about 12 and she'll really jump out of the starting gate!!

 

yea, we are plannin on bumpin the timing up to 12 exactly as you said. but after gettin whacked in the hand by the fan, i really didnt feel like messin with the distributor any more tonight. thanks fellas for all your help

mike

ps, i dont know if i had mentioned this but it is a 72 mercury comet but the site had been so helpful in the past this was the first place i came.

 

Put an electric fan on, gain some hp, and save your hands...Glad you got it running so good. It's a good feeling,