I knew what you meant on the timing, but it's still impossible to get exactly what you think you have by doing it this way. You will be in the ballpark, but could easily be 5 degrees off once checked with a timing light.
Are you so far out in the country or from a small town that you can't get oil at an Oreillys or Autozone? With shipping charges, I can't imagine Summit would be cheaper than $6 a qt. for Valvoline VR1 racing oil, and it doesn't need any additives to use in our older engines.
Don't recall the specs on your cam, but if it's got lots of duration and overlap, it might never run without some unburned fuel smell. Just not possible with some big cams.

 

I gotcha on the timing settings Vall. For some reason the smilies won't work on here for me anymore and I wanted to show that I was just playing about where it was set. I simply chose the 4 mark on the balancer since the time before I was at 10 and was spitting out the carb. I truly believe that the timing is not what's causing my problems as well. It should have at least started at literally any of the settings I've had it at.


We don't have any of the large chain parts stores up here, yet. They are opening an Advance Auto Parts here soon which will be helpful for some things. The local parts store would have to order in any of the oil that has the ZDDP for our engines. I got a 5 quart jug of Lucas Hot Rod oil for $28 and shipping was free since my order included other things to bring it over $100. I thought $28 was pretty darn good for 5 quarts and will definitely order more of that stuff to use. Local store wants almost $11 a quart for Joe Gibbs and $14 for Royal Purple. I have total confidence that the Valvoline you speak of would be more than $6 at this place too.


The cam I'm using is pretty big for a hydraulic flat tappet. 295/295 with .534/.534 @.050. Lobe separation is 108. Again, I'm expecting some issues with idling and/or minimal vacuum. Didn't know about the fuel smell with bigger cams. I love the smell of older vehicles because of the smell of fuel but what I've got going on right now is ridiculous. One of the times I was trying to start it, literally 2-3 minutes worth of it left me stinking so bad that people made comments to me shortly after while at the store.


I am trying to figure out what, if anything is wrong with the choke linkage. When I first put the carb on the engine the linkage on the throttle side would sort of ratchet when I opened the choke from there. This probably won't make any sense but something happened and now some of the linkage for the choke seems to just flop around on the throttle side. Sure wish I had another carb to compare mine with. If I have carb problems I believe that's where they are, with the choke.

 

Well if the choke isn't closed when you start, and open after a few minutes, then it's either not got 12v. to it, or it's got a problem. I agree that the carb is a major issue, and needs to be sorted before going through anymore expensive oil! That is a very good price on the oil, and Summit is usually great. I just hate that I have to buy $100 every order to get free delivery. If I'm building a car it's never an issue, but if I just need some parts it's always an issue.

 

I pulled the carb off today and took the airhorn off to have a look see. Surprised to see quite a bit of black residue from the fuel lines that I blew out good before putting fittings on. It wasn't terrible but more than I would've ever thought. Not sure if I "fixed" anything but I did see that the float drop was a lot more than 15/16" like recommended. Level was spot on at 7/16" though. I am also thinking that the choke linkage was not working completely, it would open but didn't close when I hit the throttle. Still trying to figure out exactly how all that works but hoping that I have everything adjusted properly. Before I removed the carb I did notice that there was fuel by the idle speed and fast idle screws? Wasn't dripping but still there. Not sure what to think about that since there's no way to "seal" that area on the carb? Have to go and get another base plate gasket tomorrow and I'm going to reinstall and give it a go. Here's hoping for a more positive experience!


Finally got ONE of the seats installed this evening, nice to have a place to sit other than the floor to try and start the Camaro now. Sure was easier working with the wiring under the dash with the seats out though. I only have one other minor issue with the electric fan override switch that I installed. Not sure why it's not turning the fan on when I push the button. Light will come on when I push the switch, but no fan. Shouldn't relays have a ground on them? The relay wiring kit that I got for the fan does not have a ground on it, just the ground from the fan. The kit has the temp sensor to turn it on at 180 I believe and the switch is just a manual override that I wanted to add. Switch is grounded well and I even swapped out switches to make sure that wasn't the problem. Figured I'd wait until the car was running to see what/what not with it.

 

The relay has to be grounded in order for the signal wire to close the circuit, will be marked 85 if it is an automotive style relay.

 

Do you have a wiring diagram for the fan wiring? Not all fan wiring will have a constant ground. Some wiring setups use a thermostat, or bypass switch with a ground on them, so the relay or thermostat is wired with a constant hot, and then either is grounded to make the fan start.
Here's a wiring schematic showing a constant hot system, where the t stat or override switch grounds to start the fan.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles.../photo_06.html

 

Yes the wiring did come with a diagram for the fan. No ground mentioned on the relay. The only thing different between the diagram you posted and the one I have is the ground off the sender unit. On mine, the switch is grounded. I'm sure I'll get it figured out at some point here, really focusing on this carb going back on this afternoon. I've now spent um-teen hours reading Edelbrock manuals, watching tuning videos, comparing mine with pictures I could find etc. and from all that I know to be true, I have assembled my carb to function properly. Pity parties aside, think I'm about due for some good luck here.


As always, appreciate the insight gentlemen!

 

If the relay doesn't have a separate ground lug, then it gets it's ground from what it's bolted down to. If it's not mounted to a good ground source, then run a wire from a mounting bolt to the frame.

 

You make a good point Chuck, never thought about it that way sir. It's definitely mounted to a good ground source, however the relay mounting tab is actually plastic on this one. When I had the Camaro running for a few minutes last week the fan did turn on but not from the switch. I'll check it out more and get it figured out, just focusing on getting this carb back on there this afternoon. I stopped at the auto parts store to get another carb gasket and compared my carb to a new one they had there. I can specifically say that everything on the new carb matches mine with regard to choke linkage, setting, idle speed screws etc. I blew all the air bleed valves, jets and that stuff out last night to be sure nothing was clogged. Got the floats all adjusted properly so the drop isn't so much so here's hoping it works!

 

Well, if I want to take the negative route, I'd say you couldn't even tell that I took the carb off the engine and pulled it apart. Still doing the same (pick an expletive) thing. However, I'm going to remain optimistic here! In all actuality I do believe that things are a little bit better off than before. Camaro didn't start, came darn close, until the battery got really low and I threw the charger on it for the night. I am confident that I'll get it to at least start tomorrow, but don't know about idling. When I stopped tonight, I still had to put the pedal to the floor for it to fire. It would then die right afterward. However, wasn't getting much of anything out the top of the carb this time. Think I broke my fuel pressure gauge in the process of removal/reassembly. It had gas in it so I blew it out with air. I checked and fuel is definitely there. I'll take the one small positive here. Every time I pumped the throttle I could hear that shot of gas hit the spark and it would chug. I had advanced the distributor a little more and it was trying to run but again, battery sort of stopped me short of getting it started. I'm pretty confident the carb is functioning properly at this point. Fuel smell wasn't half as bad as the other times so who knows? Maybe I did have something out of whack on it? I'm going to pull the plugs tomorrow and at least wipe them off and see if that helps any. Not expecting that to be a miracle cure but it can't hurt.


I'm curious (grasping at straws) if this might have anything to do with a ground that isn't making good contact? When I first tried to start the Camaro I didn't have a ground connected to the distributor case (between coil wires) and once I did that it started to fire. I'm just wondering if grounds could possibly play a role in the problems that I'm having? I didn't think so initially since it does fire but I'm pretty much out of possibilities if it doesn't start and run tomorrow.