Just passing along what I was told and provided when I bought the car. I will be removing the manifold shortly to look and see what type of CAM I got. Just about everyone I talk to questions if is a 625, but its definately not stock from the sound of the engine and the original owner swears up and down thats what he had put in. Where do I measure the lift from?

I do believe that its a single plane manifold with the AFB carb and I would like to switch it to a dual plane manifold (have an Edelbrock) and add a Holley carb if it will gain HP. Or do I simply keep the existing manifold and switch to a Edelbrock Carb for a replacement? Before I get into buying anything I probably need to know exactly what I have before I go dropping some $$$ on parts.

Is it worth it to buy a carb kit and try to rebuild or just buy a new one? Any idea on the likely hood of success?

 

I think you will need get with an engine builder/machine shop if you want to measure the cam lift (intake and exhaust) unless you can come up with a brand name and serial number but you'll learn pretty much squat just pulling the intake and looking at it.
Measuring the lift will only tell part of the story anyway,there is much more to a camshaft than just the lift.
I'd be more concerned with finding out if it's got hydraulic or solid lifters and making sure it's adjusted properly.
As for the intake an carb,if it's single plane it's an intake designed for higher rpm operation (read drag racing) and not the best for street manners especially with an auto trans but should make more peak hp than a dual plane intake albeit at higher rpms before it really works best.
The dual plane intake will make more low end power (off idle) and have better street manners but may lack a little at the top of the rpm range where the single plane really shines,still it's better suited for a street engine where most of the time you are not wide open and high revving your engine.
Carbs of the 650cfm range are all going to make pretty much the same as far as hp is concerned be it a Holley,Carter or Edlebrock doesn't matter.
It's more of a preference thing.
I like Holleys especially manual secondary double pumpers for racing but for the street the Edlebrocks are nice carbs or even a well set up Rochester Quadrejet, done by someone that knows how to tweak one just right they are hard to beat for smooth operation and gas mileage while still able to perform quite well.

 

The p.o. was obviously referring to lift at the valves, but that's still a good sized lift. Since you're going to have the intake off, you can measure the amount of lift at the lifter with a dial indicator if you have one, or down to the cam lobe (checking one intake and one exhaust). Then multiply those lobe lift figures by the ratio of your rocker arms to give your total valve lift (per my previous post).
Cam Lift Indicator

 

Just a note on the intake manifolds. If you are going to use a Carter or Edelbrock carb on a spread bore manifold you need to get a block off plate to keep a vacuum leak from occuring. If you look under the carb you will see 2 ports that have been plugged with a rivet or what have you. This area sometimes will not seal properly to stock manifolds and will not seal to the Edelbrock performer series spread bore manifolds the EDB part # is 2732 and you can buy them from your local parts store such as O'Reilly's or Advance Auto. This plate will save you alot of headaches in tuning your engine.

Massey

 

I pretty sure based on the above posts that and what I have heard, seen, and had others look at that I dont have a 625 cam. Im in process of replacing my manifold with a dual plane and a holley 670CFM vaccum secondary carb and was wondering what I should set my timing to. A buddy of mine said that he is guess that I have ~224 degree cam with 0.050 lift. Still not sure however.

Based on the info above what should I set my timing to? Or is it imperative to know exactly what CAM I have to set the timing?

 

Set your timing at maximum advance without getting any "pinging" under a load.
Start with a base setting of 10 degrees btdc, and work your way from there.

 

I will try that. I was able to start the car last night and get the idle set and the engine would fire up immediately when starting.

I did run into a couple problems.

1. I have a powered choke, and ran it temporarily straight off the battery. What do I connect the hot for the choke off of?

2. I cant rotate the distributor cap anymore because the diaphram is interfering with the manifold and will not allow us to rotate it. I was very diligent to mark/measure the rotor and housing in reference to itself and the firewall so I could reinstall it in the exact position. After about 20 minutes of messing around with trying to get it lined up exactly I was forced to have the distributor rotated about 30 degree counter clockwise while still keeping the rotor referenced to the distributor.

Tonight I'm going to attempt to reposition the distributor so we have more range of motion and reset the timing. The problem the car is having is it boggs or gives a delay when the accelerator is pushed. Does that sound like a timing issue? Knowledgable gear head neighboor is very confident it is with some minor carb tweaking. Any additional information would be appreciated.

 

1. Any keyed power source. Is the choke is opening all the way?
2. It doesn't matter in what position you drop the distributor in, as long as the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire on the cap, with #1 cylinder at tdc compression stroke (move the wires one terminal on the cap if you have to realign them). Pull the distributor and rotate the rotor one tooth clockwise. You'll have to reach down with a long screwdriver and turn the oil pump shaft a little bit clockwise as well so it will mesh up with the dist. shaft.
Good thing you have a gearhead neighbor helping. The hesitation could be timing, and that's the first thing you need to fix anyhow. Also, is the vacuum advance hooked up, and to what source? Then you can start messing with the carb, if you need to.

 

If you've got an aftermarket cam you wont be able to set the timing at 10 degrees by the factory timing mark. The mark will be off, and wont give you 10 degrees true advance. Only way to figure out what your timing should be is a degree wheel, and the specs for your cam.
You can time it "by ear" and advance it until it pings under acceleration in gear. Then back it off a few degrees until it stops. After that try starting the engine hot to ensure it starts easily.

 

Got the new manifold (dual plane EB) and Holley 670 CFM Carb (vacuum secondary) installed. Installed pwr conn for electric choke, and it does open all the way once shes warmed up. Got timing all set tdc on the #1 cylinder is ~25 degrees advanced. This cant be seen by the timing light as its too far up on the harmonic balancer. Also appears that the balancer is not oem and timing mark may not be correct, either way its idling good in park. One other thing, I noticed that there is no ground from the motor to the chassis, only from motor to negative on battery. Will be installing ground, could this cause any of my below issues?

New issues:
1. In order to idle w/o car quiting I had to set it around 1100 RPM in PARK. Which puts me at about 750-800 in gear and gives me a relatively rough idle. This is back to where I was with the old carb and manifold and is fine with me as I dont know what CAM I truely have. Any reason for me to be concerned with the 1100 RPM in PARK and 750-800 in gear? FYI the transmission kick down linkage is not and wasnt ever hooked up since I bought it.

2. When I hit the gas the car almost dies then slowly accelerates and shifts through 1, 2, and 3 very quickly. I dont even get upto 3500-4000 RPM before it shifts. I'm using the full manifold vaccum located next to the PCV vaccum line for the tranny. Wrong, only available port besides the brake one? With the old setup I would reach about 3500-4000 and in first and it would chirp and shift really fast into second (Was awesome). Im in 3rd now before getting up to 30-40mph and have little acceleration. Any ideas?

3. Range of motion seems to be limited when I press the gas. By that I mean there is plenty of room to give more throttle at the carb. If I simulate pressing the gas all the way to the floor theres plenty more room to move the throttle by hand at the carb. Double check connections and all looks fine. Is that normal or is the gas peddle supposed to utilize the full range of motion on the carb?

Few things I have tried for T/Sing.
-Verified all spark plug wires were ok
-removed vacuum line for tranny to dis. advance to see if there was any change, nothing.
-adjusted mixture, distributor cap to get timing, and idle relatively correct. Did not set floats yet.
-Verified timing sequence is good.


I have had a few friends, relatives, neighbors, etc who claim that this stuff is "easy and anyone can work on it" and still with all that i find myself relying on the expertise of this forum before I drive it over to a shop. Again thanks for any and all advice.