Does this sound like float level is too high?

[shadango]

Car runs, warmed up.....usual low, choppy idle I have mentioned elsewhere.....all of sudden, while driving, engine just dies...seems to happen if I do a hard turn......but not necessarily...sometimes just when cruising along at 35 or 30. It doesnt seem to bog or anything..,it just cuts out, almost like an electrical issue.....but I took the electronics down to autozone and they gave everything (igniton mod, volt regulator) a clean bill of health....I installed a new coild since the other new one was leaking oil....so i dont think its electrical.....

If I leave it in gear, sometimes it will restart momentarily while coasting.....but not always.  If I try to restart immediately, no joy.

Remove air cleaner and there is usually some fuel vapor/smoke and I can smell gas in the carb...no external leaks on the carb though.....sometimes it will have a low pop in the carb.....and lots of smoke......Engine eventually restarts after a few minutes...usually is ok for a bit then might do it again...

When I put the eddy 1405 on it (replacing the 1407 that was on it), I set the float rise at 7/16" distance between the gasket and airhorn....drop seems to be a little more than it is supposed to be......could that be my issue?

I installed a fuel pressure regulator again (Holley 12-803) and pressure is now steady at 5 psi....when it stalled, the pressure gauge read 7 psi (!how?) but once it was running again it was back at 5.

At wits end here.

I guess my next step will be adjust the floats with less rise (bigger distance between top of float and carbgasket/airhorn body, right?)?  Maybe I picked the wrong spot on the float for the measurement?

I am running orange springs on the rods right now.....would it be worth going to a lighter spring ?

I have been sticking very close to home testing this....afraid to go further than a mile or so....its getting very frustrating. 

Thanks guys for bearing with my constant streams of questions......

[wagesofsin]

all the cars ive ever owned like about 6.5 - 7 

i would set it to 6.5 and try it, let it idle for a bit, change the rpms a bit and have someone watch the guage.
you may have had a starvation issue, and compensated for it, and when you actually had proper pressure, it was overkill.

just my  of course.
not actually being there, i cant say for sure.

[shadango]

Thanks....was doing the same thing before the regulator.

Edelbrock says that their carbs must be set at 6psi or less...they recommend 5.5 psi......

i thought it was odd that the pressure spiked on the gauge to 7 psi at rest, with the engine off, even with the good regulator...

[wagesofsin]

Thanks....was doing the same thing before the regulator.

Edelbrock says that their carbs must be set at 6psi or less...they recommend 5.5 psi......

i thought it was odd that the pressure spiked on the gauge to 7 psi at rest, with the engine off, even with the good regulator...

unfortunately, thats why i have 3 edelbrocks sitting in the shed, and holleys  or proforms on all my running vehicles.

[73Chally]

Mine was doing a similar thing when I would first start driving it.  The first couple stop signs I pulled up to, It would stumble and I would have to goose the pedal a bit to keep it running.  After the float level was lowered (quite a bit by the way) it has not done it since.

[shadango]

So when you say the level was lowered, which measurement increased?

[Chryco Psycho]

the distance between the toe of the float & the top body of the carb is increased whith the top inverted

[shadango]

Thanks guys.

I set the float again.....used the center /center of the float as the measuring point...which,m if anything, should mean the float is a little too low.....

The manual for the carb shows them measuring the float level somewhere around the middle....their instructions are not very clear as to the point at which to measure.....the measurement can be off, depending on if you measure towards the far end (opposite the needle/seat) or closer towards the middle.....

[shadango]

Well, not sure if what I did fixed it or not.

I lowered the floats......started her right up and instead of letting her warm up (7:30 sunday morning and I was in the garage) figured I would be able to get her to back out.....Got her out of the garage and then she promptly stalled...wouldnt start at all.

I started looking at things.......pulled a spark plug and found it was broken...well, I may have broken it when i was removing it....or maybe not....so I swapped all the champions (r n14yc) for the accell header plugs that came in the motor when I got it.   Still didnt want to start and the plugs looked dry though they smelled gassy....can a engine be flooded yet the plugs be dry?

Started looking at spark, assuming I was getting gas as gas sprayed out of primaries when moving the throttle....ballast read ok.....voltage at the + side of the coil was only 6.8 or so......coil resistance looked ok.....

tried cranking again and this time she started catching, then stalling.  A few rounds of this and I had her running....kept the thottle up by hand at around 1500 rpm and let her warm up a bit and then she was fine......double checked the voltage at the coil and it reads 8.5 or so while running...

Took her for a ride of about 30 miles out the highway and she is running Ok....still idles terrible but runs ok....

I dont know guys.

Stepping back from the situation here is what I have....

---a 318 modified with j heads and a eddy manifold and most likely a cam that is too aggressive.....i also have a oscillating vibration that is worst around 1500 rpms (car can be sitting still and I get the same vibration so its engine related and not the driveshaft....

Am I better off just leaving this engine as it is and starting to look for a more-or-less stock 360 or 340?

I feel like I have been working on this for weeks (I have) nd have gotten right back to where I was...LOL

[Chryco Psycho]

you are missing something here , seeing as you swapped carbs with no change I am starting to think you have a ing problem , did you check the reluctor gap

[shadango]

Well, I had swapped out the entire distributor --- which included a new pickup and reluctor......

I guess I still havent ruled out a leaking intake as I havent swapped the gaskets yet......though the tests that have been suggested have resulted in a "pass" for it......