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I told you guys my problem with my 289 was the carburator! Or, maybe I said something closer too, "I'm pretty sure it's not the carb."/forums/images/icons/blush.gif
In any case, as my earlier posts stated, my 289 wasn't wanting to wind out past about 4800 RPM. I decided it was the ignition, and specifically the fact that I had my Pertronix wired up "the easy way"...i.e. 6V at the coil instead of 12. I cleaned up my plugs (they didn't look dirty to begin with, really). Then I unhooked the 6V wire to the distributor and hooked up a jumper off the positive side of the battery in it's place. Test drove it. Didn't make a bit of difference.
So, I pulled the air cleaner and had a look at the secondary sight glass. I couldn't see a fuel line, even when I rocked the car, so I knew that it was either way too high or way too low. I unscrewed the secondary float seal and found the float was screwed all the way into the fuel bowl. In fact it was so far in I couldn't even grip the outside of it to adjust it out. So, the secondary fuel bowl was dry as a bone.
[The specifics are: Holley 4160, 600 cfm. Fairly new carb. I put it on about 4 years ago. Has about 12,000 miles on it.]
Why did the float get adjusted that far in, you ask? Well, because after I put my engine together I was getting a bad surge at idle, which I finally determined was related to the secondary fuel bowl level. I adjusted the secondary float in until the surge went away. I had no idea that I had adjusted it that low!/forums/images/icons/mad.gif
Evidently, the surge went away once I had the fuel completely shut off to the secondaries.
So, tonight, I reset the fuel level to the center of the sight glass, or maybe just a hair higher. The surge returned immediately. The idle bounces from 500 rpm to 700 rpm at idle. When I drop it in gear it gets much worse, with engine almost dying and then coming back up in a cycle every couple of seconds.
But, at highway speeds, the engine pulls like a log truck all the way to 5800 rpm, where the tranny upshifts, and it gets with the program in the next gear.
So...for now, I've adjusted the idle screw up to make the car idle at about 1000 rpm in neutral or 800 in gear with the brakes on. That tames the surge a lot, but it's still there.
It seems to me like the secondaries are leaking gas into the engine somehow. But then again, it was me that said I didn't have a carb problem to begin with...so bear that in mind!
What should I do next?
Phil
In any case, as my earlier posts stated, my 289 wasn't wanting to wind out past about 4800 RPM. I decided it was the ignition, and specifically the fact that I had my Pertronix wired up "the easy way"...i.e. 6V at the coil instead of 12. I cleaned up my plugs (they didn't look dirty to begin with, really). Then I unhooked the 6V wire to the distributor and hooked up a jumper off the positive side of the battery in it's place. Test drove it. Didn't make a bit of difference.
So, I pulled the air cleaner and had a look at the secondary sight glass. I couldn't see a fuel line, even when I rocked the car, so I knew that it was either way too high or way too low. I unscrewed the secondary float seal and found the float was screwed all the way into the fuel bowl. In fact it was so far in I couldn't even grip the outside of it to adjust it out. So, the secondary fuel bowl was dry as a bone.
[The specifics are: Holley 4160, 600 cfm. Fairly new carb. I put it on about 4 years ago. Has about 12,000 miles on it.]
Why did the float get adjusted that far in, you ask? Well, because after I put my engine together I was getting a bad surge at idle, which I finally determined was related to the secondary fuel bowl level. I adjusted the secondary float in until the surge went away. I had no idea that I had adjusted it that low!/forums/images/icons/mad.gif
Evidently, the surge went away once I had the fuel completely shut off to the secondaries.
So, tonight, I reset the fuel level to the center of the sight glass, or maybe just a hair higher. The surge returned immediately. The idle bounces from 500 rpm to 700 rpm at idle. When I drop it in gear it gets much worse, with engine almost dying and then coming back up in a cycle every couple of seconds.
But, at highway speeds, the engine pulls like a log truck all the way to 5800 rpm, where the tranny upshifts, and it gets with the program in the next gear.
So...for now, I've adjusted the idle screw up to make the car idle at about 1000 rpm in neutral or 800 in gear with the brakes on. That tames the surge a lot, but it's still there.
It seems to me like the secondaries are leaking gas into the engine somehow. But then again, it was me that said I didn't have a carb problem to begin with...so bear that in mind!
What should I do next?
Phil