Expert: Roger J.M. Warrington - 12/15/2006

Question
im not sure if it is solid or hyd. cam. I tryed adjusting the carb the way you said but i closed the screw all the way and it stayed on. is that right? also tryed adjusting the timing and nothing.
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-----Question-----
I just bought a chevy 350 engine with a racing cam, rocker rollerarms, a 4 barrel edelbrock 1405 carb. The car has to be idling high for it to stay on. If the carb choke is closed it will idle at a lower rpm. anyways when i shift it into gear the car dies. If i apply gas and shift the car will stay on but dies if i take off gas. the car engages gear and wants to go but dies short after. I cant seem to figure out the problem. I cheked all vaccum lines and all are fine. Please help.
-----Answer-----
Daniel;
HI  well first off, thats a BIG carb for that 350. and as far as the choke being closed when running thats no god. it should be full open when warm. have you adj. the valves, and set the timeing, and also did you adj. the carb. do not forget you have a cam so you do not get it smooth like a std.motor, it might rev  up to 1000 rpm s + - the berst way I found to get the carb close to a good setting is to let it idle when warm and choke open than turn one adj. screw in at a time turn it in till it stalls or till it stops than back the screw out 1 1/2 turns no more no less than do the other side this way it should be  set at a semi good setting. than how is the timeing ? and is the cam a solid or hyd.

Answer
Dan; Hea- well if you can turn the screws in all the way and it still runs ,there is something wrong with the carb.
I think that you might have a carb problum. can you get a differnt carb to try on it. do not start taking stuff off and looking at this and that , check the carb first. and the cam , if you can loosen up on a rocker when it is not running than tighten it up till it gets snug than go slow and watch the push rod and see if it moves down when you tighten it up about 1 full turm    as that can be a big thing also you must know what to adj. it at. but check the carb first. get back 2 me  ok