308 Holden Carburetor problems help

mram, Nov 27, 8:06am
HI, Having trouble with a 308,have just put on an edelbrock 600 carb and doesn't want to idle,seems to cut down on cylinders and sound like a bloody vw beetle! Timing is correct,have altered idle mixture screws,etc was doing something similar with the holley I had on(squarebore as well) but it used to idle beautifully with a spreadbore 650DP. Question is now it has an adapter plate on,nothing seems to work, the 308 manifold has been mucked around with(ground where the butterfly cutouts were for the rochester and there is a gap between the 2 planes,could this be stuffing it up!

motorway, Nov 27, 8:14am
Sounds like a mother of an air leak.

mram, Nov 27, 5:13pm
possibly,i did run some oil around the base to try and find anything,as soon as you pick up the throttle it's sweet as

dave653, Nov 27, 10:14pm
Idle circuits blocked! (or words to that effect)

mram, Nov 28, 3:20am
Yes dave I think your right,gas running out of idle boosters at idle flooding the show,will check out the float levels and float needle for blockage,same it aint gonna be as simple as a holley!

petermcg, Nov 28, 6:07am
Have a check of the gaskets on the base of the carb and make sure things line up and also that the gasket covers everything, A vacuum leak should make it idle high so I dont think it is that,, it could be that there is something not cvered with the gasket that should be.

mram, Nov 28, 6:24am
Thanks peter I will do that,I didn't even look at the base gasket to see what it was covering or not covering,just used a holley squarebore gasket

zephyrheaven, Nov 28, 7:36am
put a quadrajet back on it, seems to be the only carb those old rattlers really work well with

patiki1, Nov 28, 7:55am
Put the holley back on.

mram, Nov 28, 9:26am
Doubt it spent enough on the bloody holley and still wasn't right-bogging when you put your foot in it and sick of the hesitation as secondarys opened(600 VS) and 650DP just killed it. yes the quadrajet did work well but they are long in the tooth and all the ones I have here have warped baseplates and bodys,a common rochester problem

skin1235, Nov 28, 9:33am
and ya think this may not be the problem!

it ain't gonna get fixed until you resolve the flooding issue - needle seats are not sealing would be my pick, that cound be broken gasket under the seat assembly perhaps, or just plain not tightened enough - course if you tighten them or alter them in any way you have to reset the float levels again

patiki1, Nov 28, 10:40am
What mods have you done to the motor!

mram, Nov 29, 12:30am
Bog stock 1973 308 virgin block with ulp heads and a new camshaft ready for the 355 stroker kit