Holy $^!# I bought a turd

[Zed Head]

18 hours ago, mattjcr240 said:

hahah it does run and stop. seems to be running lean. and I'm not sure if I'll be able to sync the carbs properly with that tie connecting them. ill look into getting pcv valve. do you think the valve cover vent going in the carb will make for a lean condition? I should probably do something about that.

I'm not a carb guy and I think that somebody has already addressed it via the PCV valve comment, but there might be various openings in to that vacuum tube that allow air in after the carbs.  Like EFI, you want all air that enters the intake manifolds/cylinder head during normal driving to pass through the carburetors, otherwise non-enriched air will make things lean.  One way to look at things that allows you to see potential problems without knowing exactly where all the hoses go.  If you can't get all of the hoses reconnected correctly, it might be worthwhile to block the PCV system off, and just run a vent on the valve cover.  Until you get the right parts, like the air filter housing.

Another thing to think about is that the carbs aren't designed to take the weight of that kludged together CAI system.  If it's not hanging unsupported it might be attached to the body.  When the engine moves it will be torqued.  Could be creating vacuum leaks.  Things would probably be a lot simpler if you got rid of it.  

[Patcon]

I would blank off the brake booster port at the manifold until you get it running right. The booster might be blown and like ZedHead said unmetered air is bad. I wouldn't drive it that way but it will help you determine if the booster is good or not. If you hook the booster back up after getting it running good and the engines runs more poorly the booster is blown or the hose has a hole

[mattjcr240]

in regards to all the vaccum linea connected to the intake and the float which ones actually need to be there?

[jfa.series1]

1 hour ago, mattjcr240 said:

in regards to all the vaccum linea connected to the intake and the float which ones actually need to be there?

In that these cars had NO vacuum lines other than the brake booster, the quick answer is none are needed.  Look closely and you'll see that they are attached to the overflow ports on the carb float bowls.  Normally these ports would be connected to the factory air filter box so the PO connected them to the CAI tubing.  Right now your safe bet is to leave it all in place.  Long-term,  clean it all up by removing the CAI setup as previously recommended and get a stock air filter box back on it.  Here's a pic of a heat shield missing from your set-up, it bolts to the intake manifolds and provides a significant barrier of exhaust heat to the bottom of the carbs.  It can be installed with a header as on your car.

[siteunseen]

There's one on the front carb that works the vacuum advance on the distributor but it's ported vacuum and only increases when the butterfly opens.

If it were my turd I'd take that "cold air intake" off first then start figuring it out.

When I was getting my carbs set I ran without an air cleaner for a week or so. I did cover the throats with rags everyday when I was done though,  bugs and whatnot don't need to get in there overnight. 

[jfa.series1]

31 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

There's one on the front carb that works the vacuum advance on the distributor but it's ported vacuum and only increases when the butterfly opens.

If it were my turd I'd take that "cold air intake" off first then start figuring it out.

When I was getting my carbs set I ran without an air cleaner for a week or so. I did cover the throats with rags everyday when I was done though,  bugs and whatnot don't need to get in there overnight. 

Thanks for correcting my rash statement on "no vacuum", I overlooked the dizzy advance.

[siteunseen]

You were Sunday Lunch punch drunk. 

[mattjcr240]

2 hours ago, siteunseen said:

There's one on the front carb that works the vacuum advance on the distributor but it's ported vacuum and only increases when the butterfly opens.

If it were my turd I'd take that "cold air intake" off first then start figuring it out.

When I was getting my carbs set I ran without an air cleaner for a week or so. I did cover the throats with rags everyday when I was done though,  bugs and whatnot don't need to get in there overnight. 

 

[87mj]

These things so far are nuisances, annoyances and so on. They can certainly be frustrating. But they don't mean the car is a turd.

If it makes you feel any better, there is a sure fire way to determine whether or not you have a turd.   What determines it is the quality of the underneath, floorboards, frame, sheet metal and so on.  If those cost more to fix than you are willing to pay, then you have a turd.  Otherwise, enjoy the journey of putting the poor neglected thing back the way she was intended. 

Don't forget.  Just a few years ago, these cars were not worth anything.  Consequently, they didn't receive much love.

[mattjcr240]

what's the big rush in removing the CAI it isnt being supported by just the carbs. but because the car had a 14 Inch magnaflow that was soooo loud you couldnt hear anything we just welded in a glass pack I had laying around to act as a resonator. I took the valve cover vent off and plugged the hole on the balance tube. added 20w oil to the carbs. holy $^!# the turd runs decent. waaaaay better. now when I hit 4000+ rpm i hear a noise which i think is the water pump from searching the forum.

[mattjcr240]

4 minutes ago, 87mj said:

These things so far are nuisances, annoyances and so on. They can certainly be frustrating. But they don't mean the car is a turd.

If it makes you feel any better, there is a sure fire way to determine whether or not you have a turd.   What determines it is the quality of the underneath, floorboards, frame, sheet metal and so on.  If those cost more to fix than you are willing to pay, then you have a turd.  Otherwise, enjoy the journey of putting the poor neglected thing back the way she was intended. 

Don't forget.  Just a few years ago, these cars were not worth anything.  Consequently, they didn't receive much love.

this thing seems solid. it has had a ton of body work done to it I can only found one hole about an inch square right above where someone welded in new floor pans.

[Captain Obvious]

I figured out what's the deal with the damper stalks. The "normal looking" one is from your typical 240 round top carb. The other "top hat shaped" one (with the protuberance) is from a 73or 74 flat top carb that your PO has "repurposed" to use in one of your round tops.

Problem with this plan however, is the damper stalks or the flat top carbs are longer than the ones for the round tops and will bottom out if you try to do this. So your PO punched the damper rod out the top of the cap to shorten the effective length and be able to use it on the round top carb. Then it appears he applied epoxy to attempt to seal the rod and lock it in place.

So, the cap has been punched through, but what I said before about it happening accidently was incorrect. It appears to be an INTENTIONAL misuse.   Mother of invention and all that...    Also explains the different fill level markings.