[jade76]

Well, 3 long years of working on my baby, 2nd 350 and I finally got her to crank up tonight.

Man she sounds like a [email protected]## Harley right now with the 292 Comp Cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap and Holley Street Avenger. Couldn't keep her idling without my foot on the pedal though, but I'm sure since it's the first time she's ran since the rebuild that it just needs some fine tuning.

Can't wait to get her on the road, but I've still got a few things to do before I can do that: set the valves, break the cam, intall my rear disc brakes and I should be good to go.

Thanks to everyone here that's been so much help with this 76 SS project, which is also my 1st restoration.

Hopefully the next one I'm getting ready to start, a true 78 Rally 4 spd, will go much smoother.

 

[Nova Bob]

ill bet it sounds tough,,open headers or?i would love to have neighbers like that,instead they like harleys and boom music,yuck.

 

[Novajay]

Glad to hear you got her going.

 

[jade76]

I got neighbors like that too Roberto, but fortunately for me the county hasn't made any visits in over a year (knock on wood). Supposedly they tell us we can't even change our oil in our driveway, so I told them I'll send the bill every time I have to take it to the shop for service. As long as I properly get rid of the waste, I didn't see the problem.

It's become a game of cover-your-own-a#$. I have a trailer park on back side of my property and county officials were living there, but I think it back-fired on them when we pointed out all the code violations in the park, not to mention the drug activity that has become a problem there, but cops are doing a good job of cleaning it up. They've been spending several thousands of dollars trying to get discrepencies updated, and have a long ways to go, so I don't think they'll be making any more complaints for a while.

At the moment I have one muffler and one open header. It's getting a set of Cherry Bombs I had laying around until I can afford another set of flowmasters. I think I'm gonna go with an 80 Series this time so I can mount it in stock location with dual inlets/outlets. I sold my 40 Series Flowmasters to a friend for his 77 Rally which he traded for 50 Series instead.

Had x-pipes on it before with the 40 Series Flowmasters, but I want to tame it a little so I'm not heard 3 miles away like before. It sounded great, but too cop attractive. I'm not sure the 80 Series will be much better with the engine combo, but I'm not planning on driving it every day since the 350 with the setup I have is gonna suck gas like it's going out of style.

I'm gonna put a diverter valve in pipes after headers for open-header dragging or at least to be able to put a set of racing mufflers on if track won't allow open-headers.

 

[Zoom]

Congrats!! Drink a :beer:! Hell, I'll drink one for ya tonight when I get home.

 

[jade76]

Cranked her up again today to get her tuned-up. I can keep it running as long as I keep my foot on the gas, but can't get it to idle on it's own for nothing, not sure why yet. Wants to stay at about 500 RPM and die out, despite adjustments to fast idle and vacuum adjustments according to the Holley instructions.

I've also advanced and retarded the distributor, but only made it worse or wouldn't crank at all.

I want to do one thing at a time so I can figure out what's affecting it, and keep it simple for me to figure out since I'm still an amateur at this.

I haven't hooked up a vacuum gauge yet either, but I was hoping to get my valves set first to eliminate that as the problem, and that may very well be the problem since this engine is the first I've ever built on my own with a hydraulic cam.

I also need to add a fuel regulator. My pressure is at 10-11psi right now and Holley recommends 5-7psi for the Street Avenger I'm using. I discovered a small leak coming from throttle assembly which I figure is from excess the pressure. If not, I may have to take the carb back to Summit. I did buy a remanufactured one to save some money, but it came with same warranty.

If you have any input on this, I would appreciate it.

 

[Nova Bob]

it almost sounds like its flooding out a little,excessive gas then clears when you give it more throttle,maybe.i know thats way too much fuel psi,i would get a reg,asap.do you have another carb to try?that you know is good.

 

[Zoom]

Float level? Vaccum leak?

 

[jade76]

Yep, installed a fuel regulator and pumping 6psi now. Got her to half-way idle to check float level which was way too high, at top of the site glass. I love those clear site plugs, make it so much easier than removing the screw and dumping fuel all over. These carbs are supposedly pre-set and wet tested from the factory, but I don't think this one was touched.

I had to adjust idle mixture and fast-idle to get her to idle on her own and then had to adjust float almost one complete turn to bring it to bottom of site glass. I still need to fine tune it though since now that I got her idling, it wants to hesitate when I begin to open the throttle, it revs up for a bit and then idles back down again. No smoke or backfiring, so I think I'm pretty close on settings. At least I can adjust my valves now and finish tuning her up. I also have a friend coming to help me tune it up tonight and we're gonna perform a vacuum test as well.

Should be taking her for a test drive tomorrow. I can't wait!

 

[novaboy009]

Make sure you give it enough initial timing before you start playing with the transition circuit in the carb.

Kev

 

[DriveWFO]

Did I hear you say you couldn't get it to idle without giving it gas and then you said you need to break-in the cam?!?!

Please tell me you had already broke-in the cam.

 

[novaboy009]

Oh CRAP! I missed that! Dont' do anything until you set the idle speed to 2500 and let her rip for a while (20 minutes or so)!

Kev

 

[69NovaSS]

Couldn't keep her idling without my foot on the pedal though, but I'm sure since it's the first time she's ran since the rebuild........ set the valves, break the cam.

Did I hear you say you couldn't get it to idle without giving it gas and then you said you need to break-in the cam?!?!

Please tell me you had already broke-in the cam.

Oh CRAP! I missed that! Dont' do anything until you set the idle speed to 2500 and let her rip for a while (20 minutes or so)!

Kev

ouch.....thats not good

 

[DriveWFO]

ouch.....thats not good

I'm assuming it's NOT a roller cam too

 

[jade76]

Hey DriveDFW, she has hydraulic with roller rockers. I went with a complete Comp Cams Magnum setup.

Did I hear you say you couldn't get it to idle without giving it gas and then you said you need to break-in the cam?!?!

Please tell me you had already broke-in the cam.
Today 02:54 PM

Wasn't able to initially do much cause the carb was flooding out, so the only thing I was able to do there was run the RPM's up to around 2000RPM to keep her running for a while, which I figure broke the cam in. Once that was done I proceeded to adjust my carb, and once the floats were set properly and idle set, I adjusted my valves and she purrs like a tiger now.

Are you suggesting I messed something up in my process?

I guess I put them in the thread a little backwards, but yes, I did break it in first once I was able to keep it running long enough to get from the driver seat to the carb since I don't have a remote switch, no help at the time and headers block the starter. I initially tried setting the idle up, but seemed to just flooding out that way. I don't think the 30 seconds it idled at 1200 RPM while I bumped it up to the 2000 RPM will make much of a difference, but I could be wrong. All the other adjustments I made came afterwards, so I feel pretty confident everything's in good order now.

 

[Nova Bob]

its a chevy,,,,,,,dont worry about it!run it like a rented mule!!