xjpearl

I've read some posts concerning sudden stalling on carbed 302's, but various conditions were the culprits. I'm trying to pinpoint a definitive solution, so any suggestions will help.

History: bought an '85 LX vert with a rebuilt V8 conversion already done to it. I don't know who did it, but by the looks of things, it was done by a weekend wrencher who just wanted to chew some rubber up as quickly as possible. So, while hitting the pedal hard (like anyone who's been driving a minivan for the last 7 years would), I shattered the distributor gear. Apparently, the mechanic of the V8 swap/rebuild did not know that there were two types of gears that specifically matched certain cams. Well, at my expense,he got it wrong. Swapped distributors and everything seemed okay. The car started to stall. Replaced electric fuel pump, fuel filters, fuel line. Stalling continued. After one stall, it fired back up and backfired so bad, I thought I was going to doctor to make sure my a$$ was still intact. So, I assumed the powerbands were gone in the Barry Grant Demon and didn't want to continually mess with them and replaced it with an Edelbrock. It went well for a couple weeks, and then stalling occurred again.

Now, this was occurring during the cooler months and I originally thought that it was the ignition module. Stalling would occur after about 5 minutes after taking off. After a tune-up, it seemed to be doing okay. It has been running great all summer (heat). Now that it has been dipping down into the upper 40's/lower 50's, it is starting to rear its ugly head again.

This morning, I ran about 2 miles and it stalled right when leaving traffic lights. I opened the hood, checked for fuel flow and that I wasn't suddenly missing any important pieces. As previously, I waited 5 minutes or so, turn the ignition and it fires right up. Pulled out of the parking lot, went another quarter mile, stalls again. Repeat above process, then I actually made it to work, which was another 10 miles with no problems.

I understand if ignition modules heat up, this could be the culprit. But I've gone ALL summer with no problems. So now what? And I suppose I should mention that when I mean "stall", it isn't the sputtering type. It is like I have a gremlin under the hood flipping a switch. Just dead. I then wait a while and fire it back up. So I'm leaning more to an electrical issue, correct me if I'm wrong. Please. Anyone?

projectresto83

So lets get this straight, carbed 302 with a elec fuel pump and it sounds like you are running an EFI dizzy to. Is that right?
What size carb are you running?
Whats type electric pump and what is the fuel pressure set at?
What is your timing at?
Yes if the carb isn't tuned right you can have stalling issues when it gets cold. Usually because your choke isn't adjusted right and the motor is still cold. It sounds like it is flooding by your description.
What is the rest of your setup???????????????????