HARDLUCK88

hi guys, i have been searching around and have found mixed answers. some of you might remember i did a olds 307 to a pre '77 350 swap in my 4 door cadillac. well it has been 4 or so months now, and i have been enjoying my 350. believe it or not i just took it to emissions yesterday and it passed only with a catalyst and an egr valve! i have been feverishly trying to tune this 4 barrel q-jet and it appears as if i did a good job,

but for some reason starting off from a stop when i touch the accelerator it hesitates and i have to let off and step on it again, i am running a stock rebuilt q-jet, but it has bigger jets to accommodate for the larger than stock but not too much bigger cam shaft. i am running an edelbrock performer intake, and a vacuum system. i noticed that when i have less than a gallon of gas in the tank it does not hesitate, but c'mon who drives around with less than a gallon of gas?? lol.

everything is brand new under the hood, i know the timing is correct, and everything, it does have hydraulic lifters. also it has been feeling a bit sluggish for a 350, from what my dad tells me this motor should scream, the heads are ported and polished and all that neat stuff, decked heads etc...

is it possible i am using to low a grade of gasoline? she does run at about 190 degrees also...

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svnt442

You say the timing is correct. Where is it set? With an HEI the base timing should be 20° @ 1100 RPM.

HARDLUCK88

i am not exactly not sure what it is because i had a friend of mine thats a mechanic do it, i did an okay job, but i wanted a second opinion and he ended up re timing it... it has vacuum advance as well...

svnt442

You need to make sure it is correct. That could account for it being sluggish off the line. You'd be amazed what a couple of degrees of timing can do.

HARDLUCK88

ok cool, i have a timing light, but i obviously did it wrong, what setting should i have dialed on the timing light, and what rpm does it need to be running at to get the correct timing?

could it be anything other than timing?

Creativeindy

My last Olds I had, when I rebuilt the motor and had the carb rebuilt, the accelerator pump was not setup right and was on the wrong linkage hole. I can't remember if it was dumping to much gas or not enough, but I switched it to the other hold on the Q-Jet and she was a beast of the line, no bogs or anything. Might try that.... About all the help i can give ya.

HARDLUCK88

im not exactly sure what the accelerator pump is

Creativeindy

It is the little piston looking thing on the front right side of the carb (if you are facing the carb) it has a linkage going to it, and on a stock Q-Jet it should have 2 holes in it for the linkage to be moved to one or the other.

Like I said, it may not be your problem, but on my old Cutlass this was the issue. It was set to either spray to much or to little and causing it to bog, hesitate from a dig as well as when I would kick it down. The guy that rebuilt it moved it for me, adjusted the Idle air screws so it would be smoother for Idle, and off idle and and it worked fine for several years.

Not saying this is the issue and I'm sure one of the vets around here could chime in with more knowledge, but I kow mine did same as yours and it was the issue.

HARDLUCK88

thanks man, ill go take a peak at it and see whats up...

HARDLUCK88

okay, i noticed that the front vacuum break had a pin hole in the vac line, i fixed that easy...
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and this is how the linkage is setup...

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HARDLUCK88

what does the dial have to be set to on my timing light in order to do the timing? thanks.

svnt442

If you have a dial back timing light you set the number of degrees back you want and then add that number to what you read on the timing tab. Those together are your total timing.

If you just want to set your initial then set it to 0.

HARDLUCK88

yeah it has a dial on it, i just want to set the timing to compensate for this camshaft and jetted carb i have, its acting sluggish, it seems to have more power when its raining... idk if that sounds weird or not... this is my daily driver!

HARDLUCK88

okay, i ended up advancing the timing, idk what it is at now, because its about an inch in front of the tab with the timing degrees, id assume its around 20 degrees now, im not sure, but now i am back to where i started, when its hot it turns over really slow, but eventually will start... i think i need a new battery, this one has been giving me some troubles with going dead...

if its not the battery causing this problem, what could it be? im so confused!

HARDLUCK88

anyone?

HARDLUCK88

you guys are the best.