Hey all, well after almost 7 months of my '66 not running, I finally got it running yesterday after some extensive work of replacing a ton of parts.

A quick rundown..... 289 V8, Holley 4bbl (brand new), new 4bbl. intake, Pertronix electric ignition, new plugs, wires, distributor cap, coil, solenoid, battery, and all electrical wiring under the hood.

I can start the car just fine, but here is my problem.... I have to idle the car really high in order for it to stay running when putting it in drive. In drive, it idles pretty good but if I put it in reverse, it immediately shuts the motor off. I am not sure right now what the timing is set at, so that may have something to do with it, but overall the car fires right up, it just idles to high in park in order to keep it idling in drive. Again, reverse immediately shuts the engine off.

The engine has not been run for about 7 months and before that it ran for about a total of 20 minutes when I first got it home after sitting for 9 years.

The only thing that I don't have hooked up (that I know of) is the vacuum advance coming off of the front of the distributor. It is just open right now on the distributor and on the carb side, that is just capped off.

I know the car hasn't run much in the last 9 years and that may have something to do with it, but I am wondering if there are some other things I need to check in order to get the idle a little better both in park and when in drive.

What are the basic ways to troubleshoot this problem right from the start? Is there other information that I need to provide in order to better troubleshoot the problem? I am no engine man by any means, so all help would certainly be appreciated!!!

 

You've got a vacuum leak. make sure you didn't forget to connect your vacuum line from the manifold to the rear of the tranny, vacuum modulator. That would cause a huge vacuum leak. Use carb cleaner to locate your vacuum leak. The idle will smooth out at to point of the leak.

 

did you follow the proper torque sequence for the intake?

 

I am pretty sure that I have the vacuum hooked up to the tranny, but I will check it again just to be absolutely sure. The car is not here at my house but I can check it out this evening.

--Cory

 

Given that the car has set up awhile, you may very well have a vacuum hose rotted off. I would bet big money that the problem is a vacuum leak.

 

You've already pointed out one major problem: you have no idea what the timing is set at. Fix that (8-10* @ idle), hook the vacuum advance back up, then report back.

 

Yeah ,+1 to Starfury. get the timing done (try to set it with the RPM under 1K if you can). Take the carb idle mixture screws and turn them in all the way and then out 1.5-2 full turns. Start the engine and set the curb idle to about 850 max. Recheck the timing and then increase or decrease the mixture screws until you get best rpm and then in (lean) a 1/16 of a turn. (keep the rpm under 850 at all times while setting the mixtures) Put the car in drive or reverse (the engine doesn't care which) and set the idle speed to about 600-650. This should be all you need to do.

 

Ok, the vacuum to the tranny is hooked up properly, so that is not the problem. The timing is currently set at just about 10* according to the guy that set the timing for me.

I will be hooking the vacuum advance back up on Friday to see if that makes any difference.

Also, just to be sure. The carb now has an electric choke on it and I currently have that wire run over to the solenoid and hooked to the "S" (Switch) side of the solenoid. Is that correct or should it be hooked to the Ignition side?

I will report back after I get the vacuum advance hooked back up, Thanks for all the help so far!

 

Q:I will be hooking the vacuum advance back up on Friday to see if that makes any difference.

A:during idle it should not make a difference in timing whatsoever . if it does you probably hooked it up to wrong port of carburator. use the upper one on holleys (check holley manual)

Q:Also, just to be sure. The carb now has an electric choke on it and I currently have that wire run over to the solenoid and hooked to the "S" (Switch) side of the solenoid. Is that correct or should it be hooked to the Ignition side?

A:there are several possibilities to hook up the electric choke, but the 'S' port is probably one of the worst to pick. you'll have that thing working only for the short period you have the ignition key in "start" position. the ignition side on the relay 'I' is similar bad as that only delibvers 12V during start to coil ijn original setup.
if you had to bypass your resitor wire fgor the pertronix ignition then the coil+ side is a valid port to pick it up (that's the cable going from ignition switch 'ignition' position to the coil. Holley recommends to pick it up at the 'STA' terminal of the alternator. reason for this is that the choke will only be warmed when engine is running. and only then