I have a 71 Nova with a 355, and just put on some ported double hump heads, with a Lunati solid roller cam (.591/.597) and some other things. I wanted to get the car going because I'm impatient, so I put the old carb and intake on it to drive it down the road. It is an Edelbrock Performer Int. and 600 carb. The car has a 3K converter in it so as soon as it picks up, it dies. I have a Team G intake on the way, and a 750 Holley I am in the process of getting rebuilt. Do you guys think this is the problem? The baseline timing is right on, although the curve is stock. It has an HEI with Accel Supercoil and 300+ box and Accel wires. Thank you in advance.
-Also, I have the parts I took out for sell....Comp cam, lifters, pushods, heads for $325.

 

Do you have a solid 12 volts to the HEI? Was the car converted from points to hei? If so the make sure and bypass the ballast resistor that cuts the volatage back for the old points.

What do you have the base timing set at? The advance should be all in by 3000 rpm and 36 to 38 total.

I don't see the carb and intake as the problem.

 

All the above is good advice. Fuel pressure should be checked during a run, and what valve springs do you have? That's a pretty big camshaft. Wrong springs will make it not rpm, although 4000 rpm is pretty early for a valve spring problem to occur. If they're stock springs or worn out it would make sense.

Jody

 

I've got good power to the coil and timing is at 36 degrees. The heads have 1.55" Comp Cams roller springs shimmed for this camshaft.

 

you didnt specify anything about the fuel pump ive seen engines suck the pump dry and almost die then run again cause the pump finally got enough fuel to the carb

 

Now that I think of it, it very well could be the fuel pump. It just acts like it doesn't want to rev any farther. Does anyone on here have a decent one for cheap? I am getting ready to backhalf my car and use an electric one, but could use a good mechanical one for now. It just has a recently replaced stock replacement.

 

How about the really basic stuff... what do you have for a fuel filter and how old is it?

 

If the 600 is a vacuum secondary Holley, check to see if the secondaries are opening:


http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...ight=cardboard

 

600 is an edelbrock, and the secondaries are opening. fuel filter is good. car ran good before with the old heads and intake and carb, only thing I changed was cam/lifters and heads. changing intake and carb tomorrow.

 

I see you have some heads for sale? More info please, that's what I need to be on the road again.

 

Are your rockers ajusted properly? I've heard that having rockers too tight will cause engines too fall on their faces at higher RPM's. Just a thought.

 

Got the car out today, did a burnout and got it to about 6200 and threw the fan/waterpump/alt. belt. I put the Team G intake on it and still had the old carb on it. It wouldn't hardly idle, but seemed to run fine till the belt threw, and the temp went crazy really fast.

 

Not sure if your Edelbrock is the same but mine had a problem with too much fuel pressure. It would run fine until I mashed the fast pedal. The floats would drop. The 'needle valves' would open allowing fuel to fill the bowls. But the 'needle valves' aren't really needles. They're flat on the ends and if there's more than 5 pounds of fuel pressure they won't close fast enough. Then the bowls overflow. It spews gas out the breather on top of the carb and chokes the engine. It took me forever to figure this out. A pressure regulator fixed all the problems. Performer 1405 BTW.

That sucked hitting the gas at the last yellow light and having the car stall on the line. I'm sure everyone in the stands was like, "can't drive a stick, hahaha."

Joke was on them. I can even stall a TH350.