Okay i bought my car a year ago from a guy who does his own engine work. It had a 350 with a turbo 400 trans, holley carb, aluminium intake. I put 250 miles on it and the altenator went bad and i have an electric fuel pump so i had no fuel going to the engine so i swapped out altenators and it ran fine for about a 50 miles then it would stall out on me when i was idleing. so i took it to our local engine shop and he tore it down and found out that the guy had to short of spark plugs in and the heads were shot. So i put new aluminium afr 75cc head on it. Then he dynoed it and he found that there wasnt enough fuel being pushed to engine so he put a external regulator on it and tweaked the carb a little and got it running okay.
I didnt think it was running right since i got it back so i took it back and he said everything looks okay.
I go to alot of car shows and everyone says that they think it smells like my car is running to rich and they say it sounds like it is missing. And i noticed that it has been running hot since i got it back and i know that running rich can cause it to run hot.
This weekend i went on rod run and ill be going down the road and it will just stall out on me and i can just start it right back up.

I think that it is flooding out but my friend thinks that it is not getting enough fuel and i would just like your guys opinion

 

Do you have a pressure gauge after the regulator to tell you what pressure is set at? If not he should have installed one, as there's no way to know without that. You should be a minimum of 4 psi, and max of 6.5 psi.
If you punch the pedal to the floor will it run out of gas and stall? If it does, then I'd say you are too low on pressure or volume. Your car can easily run rich, but still be starved for fuel at higher rpm's.
And running rich wont make your engine run hotter; just the opposite, running lean makes it run hot.

 

no i dont have a pressure gauge. It stalls out when i am just cruising around and it dont when i punch on.
I talked to the local mechanic and he seems to think that the float got messed up. he said that holley carbs tend to do that... is he just filling me full of smoke or is he headed in the right direction

 

I wouldn't say a Holley couldn't have a float issue, but they don't have a reputation for having float issues. I run nothing but Holley carbs on all 3 of my rods, and haven't had issues with any of them.

 

checking and setting the float level is easy... Remove the big screw on the side of the bowl. Running, you should have a little bit of seepage. If it's not seeping out just a little, then adjust your float until it just begins to seep out the port hole.

Holley has a great site, and you'll find that they are very simple and easy to work on.

I'm wondering more about your electric fuel pump though. Why not run a manual? Also, you need to know what your fuel pressure is before it gets to the carb. If you have the money for a set of new aluminum heads, then you've got a nickle to spend on a cheap guage. You know the line that splits for each carb bowl that your blue gas line hooks up to? It should have a spot to put a gauge. If not, get one that does. I'm guessing you could get the gauge and the fuel line for around 35-40 bucks.

This brings us to the fuel regulator. Please tell me you have a regulator...

As far as the car smelling like it's running rich, I noticed you have a single plane high rise. That's not the best intake for fuel efficiency at idle. But aside from that, if it smells gassy at idle, you could very well have the wrong power valve in the carb. Check manifold vacuume at idle with the car in gear. This will determine what power valve you should be running. If you have the wrong power valve, it could be dumping a lot of extra gas at idle based on your manifold vacuume.

And yes, they are easy to replace.

 

i will get a pressure gauge this weekend and check the pressure, as far as the power valve, would that explain why when i am in gear i idle at 500 rpm and when i am in park or neutral i am idling at 1800 rpm?

 

That's way too much swing between neutral and in gear. Sounds like you've got a big cam if it wont idle down around 1,000 or less in neutral. You need to adjust that idle down, or you'll tear the trans apart dropping it in gear at 1800 rpm. You may also have to low a stall on your converter if it drops that much.

 

the guy who did my engine said that it wasn't getting enough vacuum when it was in gear so he needed to make it idle a little higher. because it used to idle just fine until he messed with it..

I do know one thing i am not going back to the engine shop i went to last time if i end up having to take it in again