All Small Six Weber 32/36 rough idle

This relates to all small sixes
B

beanmiester

Well-known member
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So i just put on a weber 32/36 on my 66 200 and unlike all the instalation videos mine will not run at all at the "default" settings. To get it to run even a bit I had to take the fuel mixture out 3 turns and the engine shakes like crazy in a sort of oscillating fashion. Playing with the carb settings hasn't fixed the issue and I have no idea what to do. It was running previously with an autolite on but they kept failing on me so I decided to switch (poor rebuilds and cheap Chinese parts).
 
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Where did you get the Webber from? Did it come with a regulator? Was it pre-tuned for your engine? With this info it will be easier to troubleshoot and narrow down the cause of your problem 👍
 
DON said:
Where did you get the Webber from? Did it come with a regulator? Was it pre-tuned for your engine? With this info it will be easier to troubleshoot and narrow down the cause of your problem 👍
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Sorry I didn't include more. I didn't know what to include. I got the kit from vintage inlines and it came with a weber regulator. I have it all hooked up with a fuel filter before the regulator. There was a vacuum leak at the carb that we fixed and that made it run a little better. It's only pulling 10 vacuum. We plugged off all other vacuum lines besides the crank case to check but it's still running rough.
 
beanmiester said:
Sorry I didn't include more. I didn't know what to include. I got the kit from vintage inlines and it came with a weber regulator. I have it all hooked up with a fuel filter before the regulator. There was a vacuum leak at the carb that we fixed and that made it run a little better. It's only pulling 10 vacuum. We plugged off all other vacuum lines besides the crank case to check but it's still running rough.
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Ok so it's running like absolute poo right. We take off the vacuum advance to the distributor and now it's idling high but otherwise perfect. Add vacuum back to distributor and it's running like poo. I genuinely have no clue what this means. I can also give it more gas and it won't bog down. The distributor is a vacuum advance distributor though so I don't understand how it's working
 
Are you running the stock load-o-matic distributor? If so, that’s not going to work with any aftermarket carb, you have to change the distributor too. It’s just the way it goes because the load-o-matic distributor does not have a centrifugal advance and requires a non-standard vacuum signal. Get an aftermarket HEI or a Ford Duraspark II system and you should be ok.
 
awasson said:
Are you running the stock load-o-matic distributor? If so, that’s not going to work with any aftermarket carb, you have to change the distributor too. It’s just the way it goes because the load-o-matic distributor does not have a centrifugal advance and requires a non-standard vacuum signal. Get an aftermarket HEI or a Ford Duraspark II system and you should be ok.
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It's some aftermarket distributor a shop put on for me because they broke my original. It has the spark advance valve thing built into it and maybe a centrifugal advance (that might explain why it seemed to advance without vacuum imput). I ordered a dui a few weeks ago. The carb just happened to come first
 
If it is running good with out the vac hooked to the distributor, sounds like a timing problem. A timing light would shed some light on what is happening ( pun 😬). If you don’t have one you will need it when you get your dui. I would leave it alone till you get it and hopefully you can get your carb adjustments back to where they started 🤞
 
DON said:
If it is running good with out the vac hooked to the distributor, sounds like a timing problem. A timing light would shed some light on what is happening ( pun 😬). If you don’t have one you will need it when you get your dui. I would leave it alone till you get it and hopefully you can get your carb adjustments back to where they started
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Update: we had the timing marked and checked it with a timing light from where the shop(when it was running perfect until the autolite gave out) had it and it was at 12-13 ish. It still runs horrible when the vacuum is added though as for the dui I have the tech article and a step by step from one of the members here printed out just anxiously waiting for it to come in. I was reading more and this issue seems to be improper timing like you said but 12 is what it's supposed to be at with an automatic transmission and when we move the distributor either way from where we have it we lose vacuum and it runs worse.
 
beanmiester said:
Ok so it's running like absolute poo right. We take off the vacuum advance to the distributor and now it's idling high but otherwise perfect. Add vacuum back to distributor and it's running like poo. I genuinely have no clue what this means. I can also give it more gas and it won't bog down. The distributor is a vacuum advance distributor though so I don't understand how it's working
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Assuming putting the vacuum advance on the distributor is adding vacuum right then, then it starts running rough, it means this: too much initial timing. Excessively advanced timing at idle causes an intermittent hard-misfire. forget the timing light: move the distributor at least 1/2 inch measured at the vacuum advance can in the retard direction. Lock the distributor down and see if it runs better. Retard= clockwise.
 
Before you run the engine any further, pull the spark plugs and check for deposit color to make sure the carburetor isn’t running rich.
 
pmuller9 said:
Before you run the engine any further, pull the spark plugs and check for deposit color to make sure the carburetor isn’t running rich.
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They are fouled from when it was running rough and when the old carb started dumping. I cleaned them off and the middle cylinders and 6 are darker than the rest. We leaned out the carb when we disconnected the vacuum advance
 
Others have mentioned to check fuel pressure. It should me no more than 3 psi. Did you check your fuel pressure? If not, that would be the first thing to do. Next would be float level. Get those two right first. Then we can move forward from there.
 
63 Sprint said:
Others have mentioned to check fuel pressure. It should me no more than 3 psi. Did you check your fuel pressure? If not, that would be the first thing to do. Next would be float level. Get those two right first. Then we can move forward from there.
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The fuel pressure is definitely less than 3 psi. I have a pre set regulator from weber that we tested before installing. The float level is also correct. Talking to people here we seemed to have narrowed it down to some strange timing issue. I'll play with it. And see what works. I might just have to wait for the dui
 
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