Edelbrock 1405 carb running rich

[76n559]

my pops 76 c10 had 1405 with hot air choke kitsame 1406 being same except 06 is electric but anyway his 4bbl qjet had hot air choke off manifold with the hot air choke kit on the 1405..i switched to electric choke 1406 on edelbrock intake manifold non egr but use qjet carbs too

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Have the temp port plugged on manifold. Egr deleted. And there’s still no choke on this carb it’s manual choke but my cable still hasn’t arrived. It was supposed to be delivered the 8th, it’s now the twenty third. I don’t know what’s going on with the truck but it won’t run right to save my life. I had it running but it ran rich, leaned it out some and now you can’t touch the throttle

 

[potent rodent]

uneed more than 10degrees of timing try 14 and see how it runs

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Still wouldn’t be able to give it any throttle. It was at probably 20-25° when I got the light on it. It was a good inch and a half off the tab. I retarded the timing to around 10/12 and had no improvement. It will idle but poorly. I can’t figure out where the problem is but I’m fighting timing and carb. I’m going to temporarily wire in a tachometer to see where it’s idling.

 

[73c20jim]

Don't know if this applies to you, but I was told to add 1 degree of timing for every 1000 feet of elevation at your location. Also vacuum will read low 1" for every 1000 feet.

I'm at 4500 feet.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I’m honestly not sure about elevation. But I just took the distributor cap off and clean all the contact points and everything in there checked out. Since it has an hei dist. I assume they didn’t come with that factory, could whoever have installed it put it in wrong? I advanced the timing some and it runs better but still not good but at this point I’ve almost got the spark plug wires rotated it’s advanced so far. The firing order is correct, before you ask. I put vac advance yo manifold and plugged ported. Dad came and looked at it and he thinks the distributor isn’t right. He said “I turned the distributor one way and it’s backfiring out the exhaust I turn it other way and it shoots out the carb and I wasn’t turning it very much and there was no happy medium.” I admit the people before me didn’t have it long but it didn’t run when I bought it either. There was no carb when I got there and I had to ask so they went inside and got me a q-jet. I have no idea of any work done prior to me. All I know is I’m chasing a problem that isn’t getting better.

 

[Bextreme04]

I’m honestly not sure about elevation. But I just took the distributor cap off and clean all the contact points and everything in there checked out. Since it has an hei dist. I assume they didn’t come with that factory, could whoever have installed it put it in wrong? I advanced the timing some and it runs better but still not good but at this point I’ve almost got the spark plug wires rotated it’s advanced so far. The firing order is correct, before you ask. I put vac advance yo manifold and plugged ported. Dad came and looked at it and he thinks the distributor isn’t right. He said “I turned the distributor one way and it’s backfiring out the exhaust I turn it other way and it shoots out the carb and I wasn’t turning it very much and there was no happy medium.” I admit the people before me didn’t have it long but it didn’t run when I bought it either. There was no carb when I got there and I had to ask so they went inside and got me a q-jet. I have no idea of any work done prior to me. All I know is I’m chasing a problem that isn’t getting better.

They might have gotten the wrong balancer for the tab you have on the truck. You need to not trust anything at this point until its been mechanically verified.
There are two possible harmonic balancers on a SBC. One of them uses a tab at 12 o'clock position and the other is at the 2 o'clock position. The balancer outer ring can also slip. What you need to do is get a check tool, install it in the number one cylinder, and turn the motor over all the way until it hits the tool. Then make a mark on the balancer where it lines up with the tab. Then turn it all the way in the opposite direction until it stops again and make another mark. Halfway in between the marks is the mechanical TDC for #1 cylinder. This is the tool:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CPCA5G/

 

[Bextreme04]

Also... highly recommend pulling all of your spark plugs and seeing what they look like. While you have them out, rent a compression tester from the local parts store and run a compression test on all cylinders. Between pulling the plugs, running compression test, and verifying mechanical TDC... shouldn't take more than 1-2 hours of time and you'll have far more information about engine health.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I tried turning the engine over by hand to get to tdc and then just making a mark from harmonic balancer to the cover and going off that but the harmonic balancer is a bowl shape and I couldn’t get a ratchet between the fan and the harmonic balancer to turn it over by hand. I tried using the fan and holding pressure on the belt but it has a fan clutch. I did get the socket on the balancer once but I couldn’t turn the engine much. I pulled #1 plug while trying to get it to tdc and it was black( obviously been running rich) I cleaned it a little with brake clean and put it back in. If I take all the plugs out I should have no compression so I should be able to spin the engine easier correct? The timing chain cover has the 12 oclock tab. And when I got the timing light on it, it was showing farther down on the balancer(to the left) so even if it has the wrong tab or balancer it was showing advanced by a lot. The timing is off again because I took the cap and rotor out and cleaned them. I’m not sure at this point if the distributor isn’t just junk. When I had it running best(rich but running) the distributor was turned so far advanced that the spark plug wires were basically on the next spot on the cap. Is it a possible thing for the distributor to be sat in wrong and the firing order is on incorrect? It’s on the cap correct but inside the distributor could be I dunno a few teeth off? I’ve got no idea at this point. I can try to get my hands on one of those piston stop things and a compression tester and see if this engine is even worth messing with.

 

[Bextreme04]

I tried turning the engine over by hand to get to tdc and then just making a mark from harmonic balancer to the cover and going off that but the harmonic balancer is a bowl shape and I couldn’t get a ratchet between the fan and the harmonic balancer to turn it over by hand. I tried using the fan and holding pressure on the belt but it has a fan clutch. I did get the socket on the balancer once but I couldn’t turn the engine much. I pulled #1 plug while trying to get it to tdc and it was black( obviously been running rich) I cleaned it a little with brake clean and put it back in. If I take all the plugs out I should have no compression so I should be able to spin the engine easier correct? The timing chain cover has the 12 oclock tab. And when I got the timing light on it, it was showing farther down on the balancer(to the left) so even if it has the wrong tab or balancer it was showing advanced by a lot. The timing is off again because I took the cap and rotor out and cleaned them. I’m not sure at this point if the distributor isn’t just junk. When I had it running best(rich but running) the distributor was turned so far advanced that the spark plug wires were basically on the next spot on the cap. Is it a possible thing for the distributor to be sat in wrong and the firing order is on incorrect? It’s on the cap correct but inside the distributor could be I dunno a few teeth off? I’ve got no idea at this point. I can try to get my hands on one of those piston stop things and a compression tester and see if this engine is even worth messing with.

Yes, it will be much easier to get the engine turned over without the plugs in it. It is entirely possible that either the harmonic balancer has slipped and/or the distributor is installed one or more teeth off.

You should be able to get a 5/8" socket with a short extension on the balancer from underneath. It's tight, but should be able to do it. You can also take the pulley off for easier access, you just need to remove the crank bolt and the three 9/16" pulley bolts and it will come right off.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

When I get off work I’ll take the dist. cap off and spin it to #1 tdc and see where the rotor is pointing to start with and see if it’s on the tab. If it’s on the tab 1 piston at top and rotor pointing at 1, everything should be right? Is that a fair thing to assume after that test? Or should I go deeper to verify. I don’t want to take everything apart if it could be something simple. I’ve had the truck for almost a year and I got it running in 3 days, never good but it’s ran. If the distrivutor is off a few teeth how would I go about fixing that? I’ve heard of 180 off but I haven’t read anything about a couple teeth off. I know the oil pump has a flat part that goes into the distributor how could I verify that isn’t the problem?

 

[Bextreme04]

When I get off work I’ll take the dist. cap off and spin it to #1 tdc and see where the rotor is pointing to start with and see if it’s on the tab. If it’s on the tab 1 piston at top and rotor pointing at 1, everything should be right? Is that a fair thing to assume after that test? Or should I go deeper to verify. I don’t want to take everything apart if it could be something simple. I’ve had the truck for almost a year and I got it running in 3 days, never good but it’s ran. If the distrivutor is off a few teeth how would I go about fixing that? I’ve heard of 180 off but I haven’t read anything about a couple teeth off. I know the oil pump has a flat part that goes into the distributor how could I verify that isn’t the problem?

With the issues you've been having, I would check the mechanical TDC and compression first. My old engine had sat forever and I got it running within a few days too. It had similar issues. I could never get the timing right and it had knock and other issues. I had a valve spring break.. then it ran pretty well after I fixed that.. but still had timing issues. Once it completely blew up and I got it apart... I found I was having huge blow-by issues due to the compression ring being shattered into a million pieces on one of the pistons. That cylinder had always shown low compression.

 

[potent rodent]

could be timing chain jumped a tooth, u say u bought this truck none running , how many miles are on the engine what abought the dist what kind of shape is it in

 

[iamtherealJayy]

@potent rodent …mikes roll over after 100k, odometer says 12k, pedals show that’s atleast 112… the rubber on clutch pedal is missing. Distributor was on engine when I got it. I bought the truck as “would run” not necessarily non running, it needed a fuel tank put on and the carb cleaned supposedly. I didn’t decide that, I was told that by previous owners.
@Bextreme04 ill do a compression test if I can get my hands on a tool to do it. The engine has a little top end chatter but I assumed it to be normal for how old it is. I don’t expect the engine to run a 10 second down the strip, it’s a beater/work truck, I just need it to run to get me a-b. Do you know what around the compression should be? 150? Never performed a compression test before. I’ll see if I have a tester and do that and then check the tdc on #1 and see where rotor is. Where would the rotor be if it’s not at compression stroke? Would it be at #6? Or should I just make sure it’s compression stroke.

 

[73c20jim]

My SBC has 120 compression and still pulls the horse trailer up the hills without effort.