got my new carb... idle really high.

I put a new Edelbrock carb on my 350. It started right up but seems to be idling really high. Does screwing the idle screw in slow the idle or speed it up? The old quardajet I had was a piece of junk. I took the truck out last night when I thought the idle was good but after cruising for a few minutes the truck died when I slowed down for a 90 degree turn. Do you think this is due to bad timing or bad carb adjustment? By the way, when I did take it out last night the horsepower is MUCH better than the quadrajet... I just can't get this timing and idle speed figured out. I'm not experienced enough to tell if the timing needs to be advanced or retarded and which way I need to go with the carb settings.

HELP PLEASE????

Check for vacuum leaks

I usually wouldn't say this, but I would recommend getting some help from someone who knows what their doing!! In the long run it'll work out better!
Ask everyone you know who has some experience to look at it! You can have them show you what their doing and maybe itwill help you learn a little!!
If you insist on doing it yourself, what screws are you adjusting? Are you sure it's the fast idle screw? Doesn't sound like it would be a timing problem, (as far as dying on you). If you could post pics of what you are adjusting it would help! Wish I could help you more, it's just not enough info!!

One other thing, are you sure when you adjusted the idle the first time the choke wasn't set? That could explain why when it warmed up it could have idled so low it died!! What I'm saying is there is another screw for adjusting the fast choke idle!

What rainman said. Post picture of what screw you are talking about. It should be the one right at the throttle linage attaches to the carb. Also make sure all vacuum ports are hooked up or capped.

The idle screw is a mechanical stop on the throttle mechanism. Far right hand side of the piccie.



The idle air screws are on the front, in the centre, the screwdriver is sat in one.

You may have an air leak, or you may simply be screwing the wrong adjustments. You use the air screws for optimising tuning at idle, but you set the basic idle with that single screw.

Oh dear God! The Darwin award for the year goes to................ME!

I've been super busy with work with the holidays coming up and working on the truck really late at night. I forgot one major thing here........... the freaking adapter plate! I had a spread bore Q-jet on there and the Edelbrock carb is square bore......... Duuuuuuhhhhh! So I'm going to try it with the adapter plate and that should clear things up.

I've set the idle and mixture screws before, but for the life of me couldn't figure out why it would not adjust much.

I'm so ashamed! hahahaha.

King Herald said:

The idle screw is a mechanical stop on the throttle mechanism. Far right hand side of the piccie.

The idle air screws are on the front, in the centre, the screwdriver is sat in one.

You may have an air leak, or you may simply be screwing the wrong adjustments. You use the air screws for optimising tuning at idle, but you set the basic idle with that single screw.

Click to expand...

I have found it best not to mess with the idle adjustment screws on these carbs (see screwdriver in foto) & typically run them out of the box. If you messed with these... return them to factory specs. All the way in & then out 1 1/2 turns I believe!

Good luck & I hope the new spacer does the deed!!!

BoB