Drilling carb butterflies

Shoot, this is driving me nuts! The choke "vent" as I call it is to open air and the 12V is switched from the radiator. I threw another rebuilt carb on this morning because of the choke and its doing the same thing. Kicker is I can see the base gasket getting wet. Float is BELOW the sight plug hole. What gives? Its like they gave me the wrong rebuild kit but when I look it up on Holley's website its the right one. There are two gaskets in the kit, one with bigger throttle bore holes than the other. I figure 500 vs 350? Maybe I'm wrong?

pretty sm point re: this problem but
the ele. choke wire goes on stator lug back of the alternator,
choke has a lill tube goes down to exh. manifold to draw heat up to housing (bimetal coil inside).

Yes that's good if you're choke stove tube "vent" is open to the warm air from your headers, it can be coiled around a header tube or you can use one of those "Help Auto Parts Section" universal choke kits too. Yes you're right the carb kits have extra parts and gaskets that usually will cover many different car model applications and sometimes even several sizes of carbs. X2 you might want to try changing that electrical wiring power source for the choke just as Chad said. Good luck

"go team" lesss get this thing runnin right
(I even put a lill in-line fuse on that line just incase).

"...nother rebuilt …"
what is THIS one?
U don't have the 'LOM/SCV thing'

"...getting too hot for some reason if it's cracking the cover…"
AND
he said 'the car wont warm up' to run properly.

Uh oh Chad, your from Amherst? I lived in Amherst for awhile and then Hamp. I won't hold it against ya LOL I have the choke to the alternator and a in-line fuse to go in when I get the thing running right. I'm thinking hard on valve adjustment. I never got the adjustable hydraulic thing. I mean GM yeah but these don't seem right?? I adjusted them cold so I went a little loose for when they pumped up but not a tick cold or hot kind of telling me I have them too tight. I'll do the compression test first I owe that much. It'll give the wife something to do I'd put some pictures up but it seems like quite a pain?

you can always reset them with the engine warmed up good and running at idle, loosen one up until it's ticking good then tighten slowly until it stops then go 1/4 to 1 turn tighter depending on what you like, repeat on next one until finished. I always use a 1/4 turn on them and don't mind if they tick a few seconds after starting the engine until the oil pressure pumps them up. The job can be a bit messy doing it while running though unless you have an extra valve cover with top cut out or there are the clip on units that's what I use. Good luck

Hi Ronbo, so how are you doing making any headway?

Crap NO! Compression test: 1=120 2=135(H) 3=125 4=120 5=120 6=130. Valves ain't the problem, checked them all doing a "spin test" on the push rods, tighten until it barely spins lock it down. Even if its a bit loose it wouldn't cause the low vacuum eh? Cannot find a vacuum leak no way am I entertaining valve timing. Again, WTF!! This is too easy a car to be having this kind of trouble LOL Must be losing brain cells by the second! I'm going flipping mad!!!

You are right it wouldn't cause low vacuum if they were a bit loose, are they clattering any when you first start it up after its sat a long while like over night? However it if they are set too tight to start with then as the lifters pump up this could maybe cause some problems. It's becoming quite a Mystery, Good luck

Bubba, becoming a mystery? I'm thinking someone is screwing with my mind. Last night I was thinking fuel filter, wait too much fuel...float, below the sight hole....vacuum, low but steady...timing, dead on....

I'm going to put the plugs back in and start at square 1, AGAIN. This would be wicked hard to figure out without seeing the car but I'm right here

yes your right on that if you can't see and hear it then it's tough. Compression test is decent, vacuum steady, timing right. But you said it also ran real good before you changed to the 2V head? How many other parts are different from the origanal combo? Good luck

Ok, the car starts first try every time. It can be sitting for a week, ten minutes, hot or cold, me tearing something down and putting it back together, wham! Starts right back up.

Too much fuel, low vacuum at idle, elevation 5000ft...I've used a 8.5, 6.5, and a 4.5 power valve. The chance of all of them being blown is poor. I ran into the vacuum dilemma I've encountered here before. Had to use a vacuum canister to keep the pwr brakes working correctly. That had a cam with a 4 deg. advance on the valve timing so it was explainable. This one not so. I'm thin king weld the darned carb on (kidding) to erase vacuum leak problem. The best vacuum I can pull is 11Hg at idle. 6.5 power valve "should" be fine. Stock fuel pump so that should eliminate fuel pressure over powering the needle valve. Dunno, I'll keep war gaming until I get it.

Check that off the list, yes that stock fuel pump shouldn't cause any problems for a Holley. Sometimes it can be the Power Valve gasket that can cause problems from being too loose or they can get damaged from over tightening both will let it leak so be careful not to over tighten them. To test for a blown or bad Power Valve: with the engine idling turn the mixture screws all the way in until it's lightly seated. If the engine stalls and quits the power valve is still working good, but if it keeps running then PV is bad or not working right.

With an idle Vacuum reading of only 11Hg, then a 8.5 power valve is not going to work at all and a 6.5 PV's tip in is still not going to be the ideal it all depends on how soon the engine vacuum drops when you floor it. To get to the right rated Power Valve you basicly need have it warmed up to operating temp when taking your Idle Vacuum reading plus with an Auto trans the car it also needs to be in gear (In Drive with the parking brake set or even better still have your wife step on the brakes it's much safer) then divide that new Idle Vacuum reading in half. Example if it's still reading 11Hg when it's in drive then it's 11 divided by 2 equals 5.5 and that would be the right rating for your Power Valve. If you find that the math ends up to be an even number then you would drop down to the next lowest rated PV. That 4.5 was the closest to being right I am going to guess it needs to be more like a 3.5 PV (And Holley PV are made all the way down to a 2.5) you need let us know what you find out after your testing.

Do you have the Vaccum gauge mounted in your car so you can see it and test with it when your driving? Also now that I know about most of parts your using I have updated the above posts base tuning specs to be more specific to your parts combo. Good luck in your tuning I think you soon will be getting much closer!

"Steady as she goes", show that (WessMass) New England spirit
& start the walk w/us from the 1st step...

Hi Ronbo, was wondering if you made any more progress on your tune? good luck

Negative Ghost Rider! Still at the same point. I think I'm going to have to call it on this one. The darned thing fires right up but you know the rest of the story. Now I'm thinking its too much head for the engine. It's a highly modified 250 2V head on a bored .040 over, plain Jane (who is she anyways?) 200 with a stock cam. I'm beginning to think the head flows TOO much thus the jacked idle but good running at higher RPMs. I have a Goldwing needing attention and maybe I'll have better luck with that. Summer is a coming and it'll be too hot to be farting around outdoors. Down but not quitting I always have a direct mount large log head sitting there. I just SO wanted that Oz head to work. Flippin' idle

may B check in w/a few guys who have that head running right. Is there a forum closer to that topic here?
(sorry, I got no expertise on this equipped build).

One of my favorite set ups on my 200 was a 500 CFM Holley that I BLOCKED ONE SIDE making it into a 250 CFM carb (i think). Engine had a 250 factory cam (just a bit different from stock 200 some years), head milled .062, cyclone header dual outlet into a 18" long merge pipe connected to the right half of a boss 302 exhaust and muffler.
Worked great got the best fuel economy of any engine I ever built.

Wow, how did you "block" one side? I'm letting the car sit for now, ignoring it will make it work right?

Ronbo,

Those 2V heads can be tricky to seal at the manifold flange. All your symptoms seem to point to a vacuum leak, though I would like to see higher cylinder pressures as well.