Aceshigh

Guys,

I have a rebuilt Rocket 350 #'s matching in my 1970 Cutlass. I was told it's better then stock but I have no real ideas on HP level in it. I have a Holley 1850 carb on it which is a 4 barrel vacuum secondary. This carb has a notoriously weak idle circuit from what I've read. I had a problem getting my car to stay running once I started it even in the summer. I had to physically keep my foot on the pedal to keep it revving for a minute or two. THEN it would run fine, no problems whatsoever......just a initial idle issue.

So, I bought a rebuild kit for the carb. This is the carb rebuild kit I bought Part # 37-1542 which is says is for 4160 models and mine is an 1850 4 barrel Va secondary which is a 4160 I rebuilt it, soaked EVERY piece except the jets in Carb Cleaner for several hours after I wire wheeled all the old gaskets off. I cleaned them thoroughly, sprayed EACH AND EVERY channel out 2x each with compressed air. Pieced it back together. New power valve was the same, and I used the same jets I had.

NOW.......it's been on the car since October and the car didn't want to start, and it was raining. So I left it alone for the winter. Now it's Spring, and the car starts, but will NOT stay running AT ALL without my foot on the pedal slightly. I'm having issues with this idle.

Each idle mixture screw is 1.5 turns out from the start like it's supposed to be. The Curb idle screw was turned higher and higher until it was racing damn near, and it's STILL dying after a few minutes. I hooked up a vacuum gauge to the port directly under the primary fuel bowl. I had 13-14 lbs of vacuum with it idling fast. (No tach , so guessing)

I cleaned the idle bleed valves today with carb cleaner and used a wire to rout them out just in case. Nothing changed. Any ideas ??
Should I consider a STRONGER idle circuit carb for this engine ?? If so , any suggestions ??

Aceshigh

Just got antsy and decided to buy this instead of dikking around with this Holley.
I tried.......I'm done.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_500wt_1182

I'll just sell the 1850 rebuilt with the electric choke I just added.

copper128

Are you absolutely certain the floats were set correctly and the needle valves weren't stuck or crusty from sitting over the winter? Current pump gasoline leaves a nasty white residue inside the carb when it evaporates.

I've run a very similar 4160 Holley (0-80457) on my 330 for about 5 years now and it works very well. You can try the Edelbrock, but I think you may find it a bit too much carb for your engine. Expect it to be quite rich out of the box.

firefrost gold

that 750 might be a little rich for your car But the carb is very easy to work on edelbrock has a good web site . I just pulled an e carb off my 66 pontiac with a 77 400 from a t/a to put a quadra jet on it cant say that there is much differance alote of hatters out there when it come's to e carbs but they worked for the early muscle cars

Aceshigh

Yeah out of the box it might be a bit rich.
I'll have to contact Edelbrock or get some help figuring out what jets or metering rods I need to use to adjust it properly.
I honestly have no idea how my motor has been rebuilt or what kind of HP #'s it's working with. Stock was ~325hp IIRC
I know it's not stock anymore.

I basically held each bowl upside down and turned the screws until the bowl was perfectly horizontal. This obviously put the weight of the bowl on the pins to be 100% closed. Then I flipped it back over. That's how I adjusted the float bowl pins. If that's wrong, I'm not sure how else you're supposed to do it.

Each float bowl pin was new. So I'm not sure how much they'd stick. But I can pop it off and check.
I've just had NOTHING but constant idle issues with this carb, and I'm really tired of dealing with it. I had a 70's era Chevy 350 built with iron heads and a Carter 750cfm carb on it, and it ran fine. I think it's just a matter of jetting it properly.