Tuning Help

[Anchorism]

Ive got a friend with a 1979 Camaro 350 with a 4bl Edelbrock carb and it needs to be tuned... BAD!... Im wondering as to how hard tuning a carb is. Ive tuned small engines... lawnmowers, fourwheelers and such, or would it be better to have a shop tune it. Also, what shop would be a good place to bring this car in the Hampton area???

[Jazz]

Edelbrock's are pretty easy to tune. First questions are is the 350 stock, does it have a cam, that sort of stuff. Most Elelbrock's are pretty good right out of the box so I'm wondering if his ignition timing might be off.

Set the ignition timing and then adjust the idle mixture. If its running really rich the carb could be too big or jetted incorrectly or not functioning properly.

I hade a 5.0 Mustang with a 600 Elelbrock. Best carb I ever owned.

[Anchorism]

Its a stock 350. No cam. Right now, it runs really rough and smokes white a little when revved up. And on top of that, it goes through gas like a mofo just idling! I put a gallon in it just to do a little work on it, and it ran out on me before i could get anything done! lol... unfortanatly i have to sputter to the shop to do any work on it.

[novajoe]

White smoke is most likely bad valve seals. Did you check the plugs. If not pull the plugs one at a time and look at the end. The color of the deposit and wear of the plug will tell you a lot. As far as the carb, the Edelbrock is a great carb. I have had nothing but good luck with them, If I remember corectly the factory setting is 1 1/2 turns off of the seat.

[Jazz]

It's starting to sound like there's more going on here than just needing a tune. White smoke is burning oil. You definitely want to check the compression in each cylinder. You could enough wear on the rings and cylinders that you are seeing problems with vacuum at idle. In general white smoke is NOT a good thing in general.

[Anchorism]

Well seeing as how he picked the car up for like 1400$ i dont expect much... Ill see what i can do in tests this weekend.