M1tch

I have a 92 Camaro RS Heritage Edition and I just swapped the lame L03 to a built 358 smallblock.

Holley 650
1" carb spacer
Bored .060 over
Edelbrock Performer RPM
Vortec Heads
10.5:1 compression
Comp XR270
Flat Top pistons
stock sb rods
federal crankshaft

Stock 700r4

I should have around 380-410 horsepower with this setup. Now we got this baby fired up and running properly but we havent tuned the carb. The throttle response is pretty weak too. The transmission is acting goofy already and its not wanting to shift properly or kickdown when you give it some throttle.

Not only that but it feels like the L03 is still in the sucker. It feels like the motor is trying to pull but the transmission is not letting it, almost like the power is bleeding through the tranny. IS THAT possible?

I figured no matter how bad the carb is out of tune it should pull ALOT harder than it is..

Any ideas?

M1tch

The car is in fact running through the gears but for the power this motor has its just acting very strange, it feels like its trying to turn the transmission but the transmission jerks and acts like its holding it back from all the power, it occasionally slips and wont upshift properly.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

10:1 you don't have the TV cable hooked up properly to the carb throttle arm. Did you use a geometry corrector bracket?

What distributor are you using?

What are you doing for fuel delivery?

Are the carb floats set properly?

Take the carb spacer out and get it running properly. After you've base-lined it without the spacer, try running with it.

M1tch

Carb spacer has to be used for vaccuum purposes

The TV Cable is hooked up without any extra slack but the transmission is acting goofy.. I'm not sure if its perfect, the mechanic did it.

Same distributor used on the l03

mallory 4309 running on 6.5psi

Carb floats are stock

But everything is out of wack, it feels like im missing 200 horsepower

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Okay, same thing sent in a PM, so for the sake of others reading this, here was my answer to your PM:

You need a vacuum/mechanical advance distributor. Nothing else you do will matter until that is fixed.

The TV cable geometry is not right if you just attach it to the Holley throttle arm. Get a geometry corrector bracket and don't drive the car again until you have it installed and adjusted properly. You're going to burn out your transmission if you continue.

The carb floats need to be adjusted. They are only set "close" from the factory. If you don't know how to do that, look up the Tech Information on Holley's website.

I'm trying to imagine why you would need a carb spacer for vacuum hook-ups, but I'm not getting there.
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Perhaps we'd better know exactly what "Holley 650" carb you have. The "List" number from the front of the choke tower will do, unless you know from the box, invoice, whatever.

M1tch

Okay, same thing sent in a PM, so for the sake of others reading this, here was my answer to your PM:

You need a vacuum/mechanical advance distributor. Nothing else you do will matter until that is fixed.

So what is the stock L03 distributor? What effects the car without one? But that is on the to-do list then today.

The TV cable geometry is not right if you just attach it to the Holley throttle arm. Get a geometry corrector bracket and don't drive the car again until you have it installed and adjusted properly. You're going to burn out your transmission if you continue.

He did use a bracket,http://www.holley.com/20-88.asp, where can you buy a geometry bracket?

The carb floats need to be adjusted. They are only set "close" from the factory. If you don't know how to do that, look up the Tech Information on Holley's website.

I'm trying to imagine why you would need a carb spacer for vacuum hook-ups, but I'm not getting there.

We didnt have enough ports on the intake for vaccuum, he had to drill a hole in the spacer and use it for one of the accessories.
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Perhaps we'd better know exactly what "Holley 650" carb you have. The "List" number from the front of the choke tower will do, unless you know from the box, invoice, whatever.

this is the carb i have, holley 650 mech secondaries manual choke, http://www.holley.com/0-4777C.asp. I believe it had a 17 on the carb if that means anything.


thanks for the help man

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Incorrect distributor means you won't get proper ignition advance. If you set it so it starts and idles correctly, you won't have any power and fuel economy will be terrible. If you set it so you have power, you'll get kick-back in the starter when trying to start it, and fuel economy will be poor. You need a vacuum/mechanical advance distributor (very common, almost always come up on summitracing.com's homepage), or a programmable ignition (more rare and more expensive - as well as unnecessary).

I'm not talking about the bracket that holds the cable housing. I'm talking about a bracket that bolts to the carburetor throttle arm and to which the cable itself attaches to the carb. Without it, you will never get proper throttle valve operation, and you're likely to burn out the transmission.

I asked about the carb type to be sure the floats are the type adjusted on the car. That one is. You need to go through the float adjustment process, which involves a sight plug so you can see the actual fuel level in the float bowl. http://www.holley.com/data/Products/...199R7923-2.pdf Fig 4 shows both the float adjustment and vacuum ports.

I still don't think you need that spacer; you're either hooking up things that don't need to be hooked up, or have more "stuff" than the average bear.

89RsPower!

What type of fitting do you have in the vaccum port at the rear of the intake? I ran the same carb and intake on my old RS with no spacer, the fitting I used in there was sort of a T, the side that faced the drivers side had a larger opening for the brake booster and the other side which faced the passanger side had a smaller port that I had all of my other things that required full manifold vaccum hooked up to. As Five7 said you defently need a vac advance dist, it simply will never run properly without one. He is also dead on about needing the geometry corrector that bolts to the throttle arm. You WILL fry your trans in short order without one. I would suggest a new mechanic if he couldn't figure out something as simple as the necessity of a vaccum advance dist with a non CC carb. Any chance you could get us a picture of how you currently have everything setup so we can help you further?

M1tch

The ecm was pulling the timing out of it, making it a turd. So were fixing everything today. Thanks for the help guys.