Koda

I was given a 73 Club Wagon Econoline of my Dad's in Nov of 16 and hauled it up here to Evansville/Terre Haute. Decided to replace the Autolite non-original 2 barrel carb after the following symptoms:

1. Fuel pump bog.
2. Took forever to get gas to it after sitting for long times (like over 2 days)
3. Finally started dying us randomly.

Van is very rudimentary, manual everything, and the automatic choke had been converted to manual. I selected a Holley 0-7448 two barrel 300 CFM manual choke. The van's native fast idle solenoid had to be
ditched, and that tab of the throttle linkage sawed flush because a van's throttle linkage pushes from the front, not pulls from the back. Attached to the carb is:

1. Aforementioned throttle coming from front, ball socket on stud.
2. Throttle return spring in usual place.
3. PCV to large port a la power brake port for mucho manifold vacuum (car is manual brakes)
4. Distributor advance to the one ported vacuum port (only port) on carb. (I'd like manifold, but, whatever, it was on ported).
5. Mechanical choke driven by brand new smooth choke cable.
6. Fuel into the inlet via a 90 degree fitting since the coil is right there.
7. Bolted down.

Pretty simple. Car runs like the proverbial raped ape. Idles a little high, but smooth. Started IMMEDIATELY after sitting for a week, which is nice. Rough idle for first couple minutes, which leads me to my questions.

1. Idle. Tuning for max vacuum makes it idle too high for my liking by a hundred rpm or so. Holley has two mixture screws for that, and a curb idle set screw, which, backing out, still does not lower it to my liking.
Holley tech and common wisdom say "Max vacuum and lean it out by 1/4 turn." I may have a vacuum leak somewhere, I just put the carb on the old engine with a new gasket, but it could be. My tach got fired,
got another one, so I will check with both tach and vacuum next time. I may lean it out by half a turn from max vac. Advice?

2. Choke and fast idle. Holley manual choke, I have it set for choke cable handle ALMOST seated to the bracket on the dash and that is 90 degrees all open choke. Problem is, car does not seem to like full choke,
but the fast idle only will engage its cam at 90% or more of full choke. I guess I may have to start cold under choke, back choke off, and hold the idle high for a couple min manually with the accelerator. The old carb
did at least do that part well. Oh well, I'd rather have it awesome when warm. Advice?

Thanks.

oldcutlass

Did you follow the installation instructions? If its idling too high and the curb idle screw does nothing to lower it then disconnect the accelerator linkage and choke cable to see if that's not letting the carb linkage drop low enough.
http://documents.holley.com/199r7950-7rev7.pdf

Battenrunner

cherokeepeople

this is why it is called a "manual" choke.once it starts you will need to adjust it accordingly to run its best till warmed up.

Koda

I will address more this weekend. Thanks for advice so far.

Additional comments:

Yes, I did follow that manual, Eric, they sent one. I also have the 6 volume 1973 Ford shop manuals.

I did speak with Holley. It is within the realm of possibility that the fast idle cam is installed backwards. I will check.

I may have a bad vacuum hose like Battenrunner says. I am unfamiliar with the engine and it is covered in some grime. It idles really nicely, just high. And it runs GREAT. So there's 2 things, the mixture screws and the throttle stop screw. Adjusting for max idle and backing stop screw all the way out is too high idle in my opinion, but I will put a tach on it. It's an acceptable idle, but is probably 850 rpm in neutral. It could be left alone.

As Cherokee says, it IS a manual choke. I am good with adjusting it. The choke currently goes 0%-10-20-30-40-50-60-70-80-90-100% as I pull on the cable. This is good. However the fast idle cam goes 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-80-100% and I would like it come on proportionally to the choke. This is why I think the cam lobe is *** backwards.

I'll grab some pictures this Sunday. I think I'll get it all good then.

Koda

Talked with Holley again. Got a new tach, it works.

Looked at the choke, there is no way the fast idle cam can be backwards. It works as described above. Good enough. I can control the rpm via the gas pedal for a couple min on a cold start.

Hooked up tach and vacuum. Leaned it out about half a turn from max vacuum. Went from 1000rpm in idle to 800. Good enough. Accelerator linkage causes no limiting to the throttle arm, tested by removing it.

I think I'm happy. Went for a drive. It does start immediately, and has plenty of punch.

Koda

Well, not happy. Does not do well starting when cold. Starts ok, but must rev for 3 min to achieve a running idle. Worse, car does not do hills or anything above 55 without stuttering. I may be running out of carb, or I may have fuel issues.

And the back half of the master cylinder blew out, so it's time for brakes, too! Oh well, it did its job this weekend, so now I can work on it in peace.

oldcutlass

Have you double checked your ignition settings and the condition of the parts?

Koda

Car is notorious for not making a timing light work, but I think I shall try anyway.