Ok fellas here it is I'm asking for a little help. Problem engine dies under load. Engine 350 sbc bored 40 over, 461 heads 2.02/1.60 valves ported to hell. .512 lift hydraulic, 1.6 roller rockers,1 3/4" headers, balanced rotating assembly. 4 deuce 4gc 1 1/8 venturi, vertex magneto fresh from them,plug gap .21, solid core wires, idle @ 900 rpm, all 4 carbs pulling same cfm. Trans new th350 with 2500 stall, car weighs 2500 lbs, 3.89 rear 9 inch. Runs at 200 deg. at idle and will pull 7000 rpm out of gear. Problem:: As soon as I put it in gear she dies regardless of rpm, advance,retard. Idle fuel mix. So I pulled the stall and it checks out ok and so does the tranny. WTF is wrong with this thing. I need some real answers I'm running out of nerves. When you see the guy talking to himself on the street don't worry he is just a old hot rodder.
look for your shifter to be hitting something electrical and grounding the ignition. other culprit could be a vacuum leak - doesn't cause a problem at high idle rpm, but kills the engine when a load is put on it...
no neutral safety switch. shifter is on tailhousing of trans. Vac leak ? I'll have to check a little further but, man I don't think so.
Just curious, how'd you check equal CFM on all carbs? On your actual problem, how'd you check the converters stall? I'll guess something to do with those multiple carbs not being synched, but still curious how you determined the torque converter's OK
Thanks for the input fellas. I pulled the converter and sent it to the company in Denver who built it. They split it open and checked it out today. They say it is cool. They build the mid stalls out of early 6 cylinder cores. Took the trans back to the builder and he had it all apart on the bench this afternoon when I went bye. They are waiting to put the stall back together when I tell them that 2500 is good. I called comp cams when I got home to check with them on the stall speed for the cam and weight of the car. And I checked the cfm with a Edelbrock carb tuner cfm guage with a little adapter so, it will fit the 2gc's. I don't get it. Dirty I will try the rear end. I've been all over this thing for weeks and can't find anything wrong. I call vertex, I call comp, nothing turns up as this is what it is. Hey Thanks guys for helping me. I really do appreciate it.
I was just thinking guys I should send all the beer I would drink trying to find out what is wrong with this thing to the guy who figures it out.
Do you have another intake / single carb setup you could use to rule out the 4-2's? I know it would be alot of work, but it sounds like you are ready to try anything. Also- check the parking brake...lol. You never know.
Maybe have the Magneto checked again. It might be losing some of it's umph under a little load. Id have it checked.
Or stick a simple points distributor in. Make a list of possibles, and start with the easiest first (not the trans and converter for example)
Yes I have another intake I could try and by now I should. The mag is a old ronco just rebuilt from vertex which means nothing. Shit I'm 33 and still put the wrong shoe on. I have a mallory unilite I could try instead. I checked the resistance of the wires and cap. Good. Anyone else running a mag. Maybe my plugs suck. I went with champion just because they were recomended by Ted at vertex. Mechanical fuel pump. 5/16 feeds to the carbs, from a block, any more info anyone needs to come up with the formula for this? Thanks
One thing I left out. When I put it in gear it wants to go right now. Like the trans is an in and out box. It will churp the slicks then die.
Had a 1981 toyota 4 x 4 in high school that my dad and I put a 231 Buick V6 in. Ran great at idle, but ran rough / not at all when in gear. Tried everything under the sun to fix it. Then one day we checked the plugs. Looked ok, but decided to change them because we were at the end of our rope. It worked. Apparently one had a small hairline crack, that we couldn't see. Just another option....
I'd yank the magneto and drop in a points type distributor for grins. Simple to wire up, and if cures the problem, send the magneto in to be reworked.
doesn't sound right to me? maybe I'd be looking at that trans a little closer after hearing that. btw what is your idle? old magnetos aren't the best setups for reliability. throw in the distributor to get it running right then try the mag after you are sure the carbs and tranny are setup the way you like. make it drivable before you make it look pretty.
Sounds like a vacuum problem or something is wrong with the converter or trans... i'd suspect more the later... step 1 will probably be the most telling Try these steps 1. Jack up car and see what happens when you put it in gear. If the stall converter mechanicals are locked up some how the tires should spin and the car won't stall. 2. put a vacuum gauge on the engine. see what you get.. it's hard to tell you what a good number will be for your motor since it depends on the carbs, cam and various other factors.. you should be seeing at least a few inches.. 3. Try plugging and disconnecting the line to the modulator on the trans 4. if by chance the iginition is the culprit, try putting a volt meter on the lead into the ignition and make sure it doesn't drop out while moving the shifter linkage and other mechanicals around... i doubt this is the problem since you'd probably blow a fuse.. 5. Make sure the trans is not overfilled.. you can get some strange behavior if the trans is severely overfilled. Make sure that the dipstick matches the trans.. it should extend about 1/2 below the bottom of the dipstick tube. trans dipsticks came in many lengths depending on year and application so it's easy to mismatch...
I use starting fluid to check for vacuum leaks. Use a focused spray around the iintake, carb, on all hose lines, etc. If there is a leak the car will increase revs noticeably. Be careful to use this in a highly ventilated area and not too much at once for safety sake. Hope this helps! Glenn
hi, just curious if you jack the back wheels off the ground does it still act the same? I'm not real sure about how the mags work and rely on. But maybe with the good size cam you have. when putting it in gear may pull the rpm down a bit to where the mag doesn't work well. but the stall should help you out there. anyway, i was just curious thanks Bo
what is it idling at? sounds very much like vac leak, too little timing (turn it Cclockwise a hair) and/or too high an idle-"tire chirp n dies" will it start right up again? if so, its a settings thing
I had a car that would do that. Would rev perfectly and sound strong until you put it in gear and would die. Drop it back into neutral and start it and it would start right up. The problem was it was very lean. The engine would run fine until any load was put on it, then would just die. Too big a cam and the wrong gaskets in the holley were to blame.
Did he say Champion? Hell I don't even like having to use them in my lawnmower! At least try another plug.I've seen too many good strong motors run like crap with Champs and run great with others,I dunno why but they don't seem to fire well under load in high performance engines. Could you be running too cold a heat range??
If it's REALLY (you don't have a Lamborghini tach or something, do you?) idling at 900 rpm and it dies when you drop it into gear with a 2500 rpm conv., you are either WAY lean, or converter isn't working. I know the converter guys told you it's OK, but it should be unhooked at 900 rpm regardless. If it tries to chirp at 900, something's wrong there somewhere. How will you stop in gear if it's locked that tight at idle?
Ok I called Jerry at TCI and explained to him what was going on. He said there is a huge difference between a stall altered to 2500 and one built to be at 2500. HE also says if you run a altered stall all it is doing is slipping longer and building heat and it will not transfer the power and torgue the right way. Well since taking out the trans is a pain in the ass I'm going to take his advice and install a converter he recomended. I'll put it in tomarrow and then let you guys know if it worked. Shit part is the new converter is $380. I hope this works. Thanks for the feedback fellas.
Lesson learned. It worked. Car is now running great. Don't you just hate it when some other jerkoff doesn't do his job right. The thing hauls ass.
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