truck idles fine dies when put in gear

[rich weyand]

Do you have the vacuum advance line plugged into the passenger side of the Edelbrock, or the driver side? Should be driver side.

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[Pats1987c10]

That cam doesn’t require a stall speed converter does it?

 

[Cyrillious]

I have. The best I could get was 15 at idle.

Just check and make sure your vacuum lines are connected proper to your sticker under the hood. There is probably a vacuum leak in a hairline crack in an old line. If you say idle is at 800. Any way to bring it into the 700's? That'll improve your vacuum reading a bit.

 

[MrHorsepowerLSx]

That cam doesn’t require a stall speed converter does it?

That’s a small camshaft for the size of motor, it’s also small for a 350+. It wouldn’t need more than a 2000-2200 stall, you could use the factory converter and still be good.

OP maybe you have a problem with the trans or converter fitment in the front pump. Or a problem in the trans all together. I would jack the rear off the ground and see what happens when you shift from park. You may have already said this but you could also try revving up to 1200 rpm or so with the tires off the ground and try a shift.


It kinda sounds like the converter acting like it’s in lockup or not “stalling” at all
What trans is in the truck, I don’t believe you listed it

 

[crazy4offroad]

The Edelbrock idle circuit is sensitive to dirt. You may have to blow out the idle circuit with 40 psi compressed air and install a good paper element fuel filter. The "cleanable" screen filters let a lot of garbage through and eventually clogs it up. You can tune one that has a plugged idle circuit to idle pretty good but it usually runs hot (lean). If you give it plenty of gas and it takes off and drives ok, at least till you let off the gas, I'd just about bet that's the problem. One method involves removing the idle air mixture screws and applying air there at the screw holes. The other method involves removing the carb top and applying air to the primary jets. It would also give you a good opportunity to check the float level and drop while the top is off.

Might not be your issue but it was common when I had one, might be worth checking.

 

[iforsman]

Just some more information. Talked with comp cams and they say it is made to operate with the stock converter. The truck currently has a fresh th350 that has about 1500 miles on it before we did the engine rebuild.
Haven’t had the time this week to try all the suggestions on narrowing down the issue but hopefully will get the time next.

I did rebuild the carb prior to starting the motor and replaced the fuel filter. I haven’t seen any junk in the filter.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Just some more information. Talked with comp cams and they say it is made to operate with the stock converter. The truck currently has a fresh th350 that has about 1500 miles on it before we did the engine rebuild.
Haven’t had the time this week to try all the suggestions on narrowing down the issue but hopefully will get the time next.

I did rebuild the carb prior to starting the motor and replaced the fuel filter. I haven’t seen any junk in the filter.

The 1406 I had, had a section of rubber fuel line between the filter and carb. When I removed the top I took a long piece of coat hanger, hammered a little flat hook on one end, and dug a lot of what looked like black sand out of the fuel passage that goes from the fuel inlet to the float bowls. That "black sand" was actually fine bits of black rubber hose. The ethanol in the gas had it's way with it. Once I upgraded all the fuel lines to ethanol-safe fuel line I never had problems again. And it's worth saying twice, those serviceable screen filters with the clear housing are junk and let a lot of tiny bits of trash through.

 

[MrHorsepowerLSx]

Those cleanable clear glass filters are a great way to burn your truck/house down. Just use a 3/8 clear plastic throw away filter and replace when necessary

 

[Ricko1966]

Those cleanable clear glass filters are a great way to burn your truck/house down. Just use a 3/8 clear plastic throw away filter and replace when necessary

I'm always telling people something very similar. If for some reason you can't use hardline at least mount your fuel filter down by the frame so a leak would be under the truck instead of spilling onto a hot engine. At minimum I would use a hand bent hardline using 2 inches of rubber line at each end.I learned this the hardway,don't want you too also.

 

[MrHorsepowerLSx]

I didn’t learn the hard way, but I did learn never to trust those pesky things when one broke and almost did the deed. A close friend of mine, I witnessed his
Luckily for him I ALWAYS keep a small fire extinguisher in every vehicle I own, You just never know when you or someone may need one. His build was salvageable and he is forever grateful I happened to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[70SBUDGET]

HEI ignition? does it only die when it warms up or imediatly after startup?

 

[MrHorsepowerLSx]

Have you made any progress? I thought of this the other night, if your lifter preload is to tight it can cause the engine to stall when you put it in gear. I would go through and double check you lifter adjustment

 

[iforsman]

Have you made any progress? I thought of this the other night, if your lifter preload is to tight it can cause the engine to stall when you put it in gear. I would go through and double check you lifter adjustment

Finally getting back to working on it. I did plug all vacuum lines and no changes so my plan today is to double check everything starting with the timing marks and then checking the valve adjustment, and working my way back through the systems again. Hopefully I come across something I've been missing or overlooking.

 

[iforsman]

Update:
Found the issue. Pulled the valve covers to ensure that all the valves were working correctly and check valve adjustment and sure enough I had one valve #7intake that was not fully opening. Pulled the intake and the flat tappet lifter is toast. It was the only one so am going to pull the cam and see if it survived. Hoping everything else checks out ok so i don't have to start over on the engine.

Really appreciate everyones advise for this problem. Wish it had just been a cracked vacuum line right about now.

 

[Ricko1966]

You need to check that lifter bore. The lifters are supposed to spin as they lift so the aren't just wiping metal to metal. If your lifter bore is to tight or has a burr it can keep the lifter from spinning.