The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk timing or carburator

i have a 1961 chevy apache which i put a 350 in i have the coil set up the problem i have is the truck runs perfect under throttle you will be driving down the road and the truck somtimes will sputter and spit and give off a real weird odor like almost a sweet smeell (like cotton candy) it seems to do this under heavy throttle more than under light throttle however it tends to do it while just under normal throttle. what could be the cause of this ive replaced the distributer and everything in it cap wires plugs rotor coil and coil pickup this is not a points distributer only 1 wire goes to it and thats the power to the coil.
now i have a stock intake with a pos qaudra junk carberator and i guess my only thought was it might be the egr valve maybe? has anyone ever had a simalar problem?

have you been working on the truck prior to this problem?

The only thing that smells "sweet" is anti-freeze. You may have a head gasket or a cracked head problem,
Scott

Going through a similar thing with the 327 in my 54. Occasional spit back through the carb, usually on light throttle. I have no sense of smell (mighty useful sometimes)so I can't speak to the old gal's fragrance when she blows off like this.

I kicked in some more advance and it's almost cured. So I'm going to try more of the same.

Might be worth a try for you?

Christian

I dont know what kind of electronic ign. changeover you are using but some are designed for use without the resistance in the circuit. You may have weak ignition. If you dont have the destruction sheet with it you may contact the company that made it. 61 models did not come with EGR. If its on there its manifold is 73 up. It would not lickly be causing this problem. It usually causes ruff idle. If it has a vacuum hose hooked to it try running it without it hooked up.

the engine is not from a 61 i converted the truck to a v8 the engine is a bf goodwrench crate motor it the sweet smell is not that of anti freeze but more of a strong smell of running rich or somthing as far as the conversion i believe the distributer to have come out a 1975 like i said befor the truck back fires interminitly somtimes it does somtimes not usualy when i put the truck under load is when it will start doing it. i also have already tried running the truck with out the vacume hooked up to the egr.
ive also messed with the timing because i was getting a ping under heavy throttle and it had no power now i get no ping and it has all the power in the world but at an idle it just doesnt want to run. it runs ruff like its camed out big time i have to keep it at an idle at 1000 rpm in gear which means it runs upwards of 1700-2000 in neutral

hey im lookin for somone who might be interested in a trade just found out my gf is preggo which would explain why lately she gets sick riding in my truck anyway i need to get into a family car or a car for that matter im interested in selling the truck or trading for a car. any idea's
i have pics of truck also

If it doesn't want to idle it's probably either the idle circuit being problematic or the secondarys are sticking open. Also the throttle shaft could be worn out causing a vacuum leak, which is a common rochester problem that is fixable. Check the float level first, then back out the idle jets and clean them out (the carb may have some kind of plug or stop keeping them in, being from '75, but there should be a way to get them out. Then start with them two turns out and adjust them both the same amount until the engine just starts to stumble and then back them out 1/4 turn each. This should give you a pretty good idle.

The quadrajet is actually one of the best factory carbs there is but a lot of people don't understand them very well because they are not as simple as a Holley. They are very good once they are tuned right.

Doug Roe has a good book that is probably in your local library called "Rochester Carburators".

Sounds like a serious vacuum leak. The EGR valve may be stuck open. The carb base gasket may not be right for the carb- manifold. You can block off the EGR valve on that model. Your wire going to the HEI ignition should be 10-12 gauge & not use the resistance wire originaly used in the harness.

well ima tear into the beast this weekend my brother gave me the go ahead to take the holly carb off his gto which we both know is good and see if that makes a difference with the truck let ya know what happens with that