Holley 1850 Carb Question

[wokeupscreamin]

Ok.. Here's what I got right now. The car idle's nicely in park. It drives nice with little throttle pressure, But when you get on it and open up the secondaries the car stumbles or stalls completly. After alot of research I narrowed the problem down to the Vacuum secondary spring. They say it has to be just right or the car could stumble. I just want a second opinion before I go messin with the carb. Everywhere I read it says the car will stumble but I've never read stall.. and well.. thats what it did yesturday. I was thinking (before my research) that maybe it was getting too much gas when the secondaries opened which flooded it out and made it stall. It also took a good minute before the car would start again. Is there an adjustment screw for how much fuel goes to the engine when the secondaries open or is everyone else right and Its a matter of finding the right spring? I know there is a set of 7 springs and its just trial and error to find the right one. Any help would be much appreciated.

[LFSADRG]

Check float level. The secondary spring wont make the car stall. The 1850 carb is non-adjustable as far as the secondarys i.e. jets and enrichment screws since it doesnt have a secondary metering block. Could be bad needle-and-seat as well. I am assuming this is a 350 in your GT-37. Try to get a Qjet instead. The 1850 is bleh. It was my first carb wayyyy back when and after I swapped to a Qjet things were much better. But if you need to stick with the 1850, then check the float and needle-and-seat on both sides. Also make sure the accelerator pump is adjusted properly. Plus if you are in wuv with your HoLlEy carb then there is a kit that allows you to add a secondary metering block.

[wokeupscreamin]

Actually.. I'm just looking to get the holley working good enough to hold me off until I can afford an edelbrock. Everyone I've talked to said Edelbrocks work Way better and are alot easier to tune. But I guess for now I'll just grab my handy holley manual and try to de-code everything you just said. :)

[wokeupscreamin]

Well.. I checked the float levels like you suggested and the front float was a bit high and the rear float was WAY too high. I adjusted the floats as per hanes specifications and the problem is solved. I drove it around the block and everything seems much better. The idle is real good and no stalling or sputtering. I do however notice the car has a sever lack of power. I'm going to guess this is due to the 2.56 gears in the rear end. It doesn't really "throw you back in your seat" like I would suspect it should.

So Thank you very much for helping me fix my problem and saving me the agrivation of messing around with those springs.

So here are my plans for the near future (after some finantial obligations)

New exhaust system -Summit has a full header back system with turbo mufflers for like $135. Doesn't seem like it would be the BEST system but it will be good enough for a while.

New torque converter and shift kit

Plugs/wires/HEI upgrade

3.73 open gears to build up the rear in the car

Then after a little suspention work I should be ready to pound some pavement. Everything is coming together nicely.. I'm happy :)

[LFSADRG]

Awesome! To really fine tune that carb get the Holley Metering Block Conversion Kit 34-6. It is only $41 from Summit. As far as the headers beware of the cheapos. Most come as three tube and have nasty flanges. I have a set of H-O Racing 1 5/8" coated 4 tube headers that have the flanges ground smooth so no leaks. The bottom part of the headers are dented a bit due to my LeMans pulling HUGE wheelstands...joking :D . Victim of evil speed bumps. I will let them go for $25. If not then I will decorate my garage with them. I moved up to the Hooker Super Comps now but the older ones still work fine. Get a set of ARP header bolts P/N 400-1101 and Fel Pro header gaskets P/N 1424 and you are ready.

I also have a B&M Holeshot 3000 converter but it may be a bit high stall with the gears. Again, it will be a decoration and will let it go for $50. I had a custom hand build converter made so thats why I am not using this one. Put in a Trans Go shift kit and WoW.

If you really want things to get interesting, I have an Isky cam (kind of like a RamAir III cam) and a CompCams Mega 280 cam. Oooh.

So basically for a couple hundred bucks you can wake up the Tempest, er T-37 (I hate when Shevy people call my car a Skylark), and do really long one wheel burnouts. I will help you wrench on it if needed.

[wokeupscreamin]

Hey man.. That sounds great. The car has 3 tube headers on it right now but the flanges are really ugly and leaks like a drunk girl. I have a set of header bolts and I bought & installed new gaskets but I'll probably need new ones again if I switch out the headers. I'll deffinantly be interested in the ones you have if the dents arn't too bad. I'm not sure what cam is in the car right now but it doesn't seem stock to me. Is there any way to identify a cam without pullig it out? If you have any leads on some cheap open 3.73 gears that I can throw in this rear let me know. I've seen them on ebay for around $50-100 so thats pretty much what I'm looking to spend. I'm trying to bust my ass on this car because I want to have it ready to run the strip at the next BOP at bremerton in october. That will give me plenty of time to test and tune, get her painted, get everything smoothed out and brush up on my reaction time.

[LFSADRG]

The ARP header bolts have 3/8 heads on them so it makes it easier when tightening the center ports. My advice is to do the gears right. I am using Richmond 3.70 gears and they work fine. Dont get some used ones PLUS you probably have the 2.56 unit so make sure the ring gear fits. Might have to get a new unit since it is the 8.2" PLUS the rear end housing may need to be notched, maybe. My 72 LeMans originally came with the open 2.56 and luckily I found a posi unit out of a 69 Firebird and a rear end housing out of a 72 Cutlass that had the larger carrier. The rear end project might get messy; Do some more research first on what you have.

BOP drags is a mandatory meet and I am wrenching like mad to make it. My project has gone haywire and its out of control. Check out the new stereo I bought: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-T6RAt1zy5dp/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&id=morephotos&i=113EZ500&pi=2&display=XL#Tab (out of control I tell ya)

*Not sure of how to check a cam in the motor.

[wokeupscreamin]

that stereo is pretty nice. Here is the one I'm planning on (eventually) putting in. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-O2CMk4E7u4N/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?readmore=true&g=62700&I=020DB455MC#Tab It has the music catcher feature so I can store my favorite tunes on the actual stereo itself and not have to worry about fiddling through cd's when I wanna hear them. What speakers do you have in that thing now and where do you put them? I know my car has spots on the rear deck that looks around 6X9ish and someone cut the rear arm rests to fit in a set of 6.5's But what about front speakers? Am I going to have to do something completly custom?

Do you have a digital camera so you can take pics of those headers, flanges, and dents for me? I'm interested to see how a 4 pipe would fit concidering the middle port is just one big port.

Well.. I'm off to research rear ends. Wait.. that didnt sound right. :D

[LFSADRG]

I chose the Kenwood deck due to its red highlights, since I have three red LED gauges below, and two chrome control knobs to look somewhat like stock. Back in HS I hacked the dash insert :( and put in a Pioneer deck. If I didnt do that then I would have went with the Custom Auto Sound stock looking deck. I had Sony 6x9's 160W but they were all nasty. Purchased new Kenwoods 240W 3 ways. I dont even know why I spent the money, car is too loud anyways. Bah. Three inch exhaust with 2 chamber Flowmasters :eek:

Tonight I will take some pictures of the headers and post them.

[wokeupscreamin]

What size engine do you have and what do you run in the 1/4? Do we have any header pics yet?

I too would go with the classic looking stereos but the car came with a chewed up dash and Tim ever so kindly threw in a real decent looking dash. Unfortunatly, the stereo was also cut in the good one. I dont mind though because the car is going to end up being Semi-Custom so having a good modern stereo wont be so bad.

Currently I'm working on custom fabricating all the metal interior parts like the A-pillar moldings and what not in fiberglass So I can cut down on weight but still keep a semi-stock look. Also, with the fiberglass peices I can modify them without feeling the guilt of ruining a piece of history. I'll keep all the stock metal and plastic pieces incase I decide down the road that it will be better to put it all back together. I have lots of work to do on this beast before october.

[wokeupscreamin]

Here is a pretty funny story. When I got the car I tried the wipers and they went really really slow. I thought the motor was shot. This would be a problem that I would have to fix before I could get her on the road due to where we live.

Well.. I went out to the car tonight out of bordom to rip out the motor so I could take it to work tomorrow and see if I could have the electricians at work take a look at it for me. I took off the wiper arms and started on the wiper transmission and with further inspection the transmission was completly shot. The bolts on the ball tentioner at the motor just broke right off and the rest was covered in rust.

Now.. a few weeks back I saw someone was looking for a wiper transmission and I offered him the one from the 68 that I still had. He never got back to me so I had it laying in my closet. Turns out to be a perfect fit. I put it in my car and now the wipers work great!

So I spent the last month and a half worrying about spending upwards of $70 on a wiper motor when the solution to the problem was sitting in my closet the whole time. Just one of those little things in life that makes for a good day.


BTW: The wiper transmission is no longer for sale.

[wokeupscreamin]

Is this what I'm looking for? They have both the 3.73 and the 4.11 but I think the 4.11 would pound alot harder. Not to mention they are cheaper... Still looking for some rear end suggestions. (and header pics)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Richmond-Street-Gear-4-11-GM-8-2-Rear-End_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ46104QQitemZ7919511 850QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

[LFSADRG]

Header pics! They are too large to pin on the site. Here are the links:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/jasonbravo/header2.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/jasonbravo/header1.jpg

Here is a link to Richmond Gear. Give them a call before you order gears:

http://www.richmondgear.com/01gm.html

The car has gone 12.8/106 at 5500'. NHRA correction is 11.9/114. Horrible to tune at that elevation. With the subtle changes I have made would like to be right at 11.5. On the nitrous with a 150 shot, possibly a low 10. We'll see. Dash is ready to go in this weekend then it is all down hill from there.

[LFSADRG]

Is this what I'm looking for? They have both the 3.73 and the 4.11 but I think the 4.11 would pound alot harder.

My suggestion would be a 3.70, 3.73 or 3.90 gear. Remember, Pontiacs make gobs of low end torque plus if you have a TH350 trans then the gears are lower then a TH400. Wheel spinnnnnn. If you are going to run a tall, full slick then I could imagine going lower than a 3.90.

How many guys out there rev past 6k for peak HP?