[demonstang76]

Finally got my 65 289 rebuilt and in the car, was going to break her in but for some reason i cant keep her cranked.

it has a new edelbrock performer plus cam along with edelbrock performer manifold and 600 holly with vac secondaries

she will crank and run as long as you keep her reved up, i know the break in on a new cam is supposed to be 2000 rpms for 20 minutes but my 289 wont idle at all, only way we can keep it running is to keep choke on (long after its warmed up) or keep feathering it, but more around 3k or even 4k rpms

any suggestions? im new to 4 barrels so maybe an adjustment on the carb?

[ubugme19]

All that Edelbrock stuff and you go with a Holley carb? Anyway, is it a new carb? If ti is it should've came with a book or pamphlet to give you a starting point. If not? There are several places on the net you can look for more info. My cousin bought a 600 cfm off a guy at a swap meet for $50 and called Holley support to get his right. He just told them it was new. Worked for him.

[demonstang76]

i havent figured that out either... summit intake and carb kits come with edelbrock intake and holley carb...

[Golfer/67coupe]

I'm sure this is something you've already checked, but it sounds like a possible vacuum leak issue. Get a can of carb cleaner and spray it around all vacuum hoses/connections and see if the speed of the engine changes. If not, you can download a PDF file of the manual for your carb on their website- if you can't find it PM me- I've think I've still got it saved on my computer-

Good Luck

[The Greek]

If you've got the choke on to keep it running, you've got a substantial vacuum leak. It's easy to get an intake manifold gasket out of position, especially if the port openings on the gaskets are larger than the ports on the heads and/or the intake.

I would do as previously mentioned and spray either carb cleaner or WD-40 around the base of the intake and carb. You did check to see if the vaccum advance canister is holding vacuum, right? If the diaphram is ruptured, you'll have a vacuum leak there. And of course you checked all of the vacuum ports on the carb to make sure that they're capped off, if not in use.

How about the PCV? if it's leaking, another source of a vacuum leak. Cap that port off, at the carb, for testing purposes. At least that will eliminate one leak source.

Some Holley carbs have a timed vacuum port on the side of the primary metering block. It needs to be plugged or have the vacuum advance canister connected to it.
Good luck

[demonstang76]

all ports on carb are capped, we did disconnect the vacuum advance from the carb and plug it.. but my dad capped that off while i was doing something else, i remember seeing him leave the hose there but i dont know if he capped off the vacuum advance on the distributor, ill def check that

distributor is brand new summit ready-to-run distributor so it better not have a ruptured diaphragm or im gonna be an angry customer

one other thing i need to check is i did not gap the plugs like a newbie, just looked it up and the plugs are .10 over engine specs recommendation so that could be causing a misfire, i have a good feeling this is alot of the problem

if spark plug gap or going over vacuum again wont get it to idle a lil better ill try the carb cleaner on the vacuums

this is the video of it running on myspace, tried to upload it but wont upload a .mov file

289 first start Video by Damian. - MySpace Video

[k0rupt3d]

i watchd ur vid man sounds just like a vac leak. I just went through the same problem last weekend. just re check and its a easy fix

[The Greek]

You don't need to plug the vacuum adv. canister itself, just the port or line that has vacuum. Plug gap being too wide will place a lot of stress on the ignition system. Get the plugs gapped to spec before running the engine any more.

[steve sturgin]

Hi,

Firing order?

Steve

[crittermustany]

gonna have to agree with steve, also make sure your carb is bolted down tight i over looked that once and about tore my hair out tryng to find the leak, my fiance found the problem.......and she only knows where the oil goes......

[lswartzi]

I had the same problem after my rebuild two years ago. It ended up I had the distributer in 180 degrees backwards. As soon as I put the number one cylindar at top dead center and drop the distributer back in it fired right up and ran good.

[demonstang76]

1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 is the firing order, it has a new edelbrock performer plus cam

ill gap plugs then ill look it over with a fine tooth comb for a vacuum leak, thanks for the tips guys

[atraudes]

There's 2 possible firing orders that block can have. I spent a whole night figuring out the cam I was using had the other one. I can say from experience that if the engine's firing, you've got the right firing order. I might double-check to make sure they're all hooked up to the right cylinder, though, for posterity's sake.
Is it possible you're running way too lean? The Holley manual recommends backing out the mixture screws 2 1/2 turns from bottom and working your way in from there. I would definitely check your carb manual and see if can shed any light on the situation. Also be sure to check the manual and quickstart guide. Each of them had info the other didn't.
I've heard the Holleys are a much better choice on this engine because of the vacuum secondaries. Edelbrock's a better choice if you're doing strip racing, etc. but Holley's a better choice if you're doing more cruising.

[demonstang76]

found the leak, when we were taking pictures for my senior project my dad decided to go ahead and sit the carb on the intake for the picture... well he sat the washers under it so it wasnt bare metal to metal and when i put the gasket on i failed to see the washers

so in a way we have had a carb sitting on a gasket with 4 spacers under it... sadly my 1966 heads gave out on me and chipped off a small chunk of my threads when i tried to torque the intake back down

taking a couple days as a little break, alot of things went wrong today but when i get her running right ill let yall know