The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Why won't my streetrod sit still??

Now a new/old problem has once again risen to give me grief. Got the new to me Edelbrock sorted out and now I ready to cruise. Problem is...With idle set at about 750rpm, when I drop it into gear it dies. Just like letting the clutch out, in gear, while at idle. Have a 290hp Chevy crate motor, 350 turbo, and a Corvette torque converter (that's what they said). Have I got a bad converter? If not, what? When I do get to the road, when at a red light it wants to creep foward unless I put quite a bit of pressure on the brake. Thanks

I was searching the forums and noticed I posted this same question awhile ago on the HiPo forum. One answer was to dink with the Holley I was running at the time. Can that still be a solution> I sooo don't want to pull the converter.

You're idling fast enough to exceed the stall speed of the torque converter, probably. Either slow the idle speed down, if you can, or bite the bullet and get a torque converter that will accomodate the raised idle. "There's no free lunch" where camshafts are concerned. If the engine can't idle below 1,500 RPM, better use a standard transmission, or limit the engine's use to a race track.
Jerry

might help to know the size of the carb,
might check and make sure your timing is right on,
might check for a vacuum leak,
consider setting idle while in gear,

did this problem just start, or have you been jacking with other stuff

also the hi po would be the best place to post..

The carb is a Edelbrock 600cfm (1406) with factory calibration. In other words, jets and metering are as sent from factory. Old carb was a 600cfm Holley. Nothing wild about motor, 290HP GM crate motor bought new from a Chevy dealer (untouched by me). Torque converter was bought new from local transmission shop. It is suppose to be a Corvette converter with around a 1800 stall. Will run down box and check again. Question...I read up on a test to check stall speed of converter. You hook up a rpm gauge, put all the stoppers on, block the wheels, floor it and read max rpm on gauge. That's your stall. What do you old grease monkeys think? I think I'll start being proactive and order a NEW converter from Summit and have it ready just in case.

sounds like your vehicle would die when you floored it..

Not an " exotic " motor or cam - sounds more like a Carb thing to me. Have you checked the float levels - maybe its flooding out at low idle ?

Went back thru carb (float levels have been checked and adjusted), timing, and everything else I could think of. With a good clean idle at 775rpm, I drop it in gear and it dies. Did find out my booster is leaking, so something good came out of all this. Did the stall test (not for the faint of heart). Stall is 1700rpm. I've got to go the the hi performance store to replace the booster so I will buy a converter at that time. Now to find a couple of guys with nothing to do but get greasy. Will update with results. If it's not the converter, I'm going to sell all this stuff off and start collecting stamps.

You need more initial timing. What's your timing set at?
What distributor? Vacuum advance working! Hooked up to ported or manifold vacuum?
You might need to recurve the distributor.

Let see, I've cranked the distributor like a tank turret. I can't say what the timing is as I don't have a "good" timing mark on my balancer. Why I don't know because I bought one for the 350. But after installation the timing mark was not there. Distributor is a MSD HEI. Vacuum advance is working. Have had it hooked up to both the full vacuum and ported vacuun. At the present time...ported vacuum. Don't have a clue on how to recurve the distributor. What do you mean by more initial timing? Is that advanced or retard? Thanks

Initial timing is also called static timing. It's advanced.
Recurving means limiting the timing in your dizzy so you can use more initial timing. Some dizzies are set up with lots of mechanical advance. In this case you can't run too much initial without pinging. You want to run around 36* total with 12-14* initial. You want 22-24 degrees in the dizzy.
You'll need to find tdc on #1 on compression stroke and install a timing tab and acquire a good timing light to see where your timing is set at.
I'll search for a pic for you of recurving a dizzy.

Found this on recurving an HEI. Although it's for a pontiac the principles are the same.
http://www.pontiacstreetperformance.com/psp/distcurve.html

My 327ho did the same thing, so i set my in-gear idle to 750-800rpm. Have you checked to see how much your cars rpms drop when you place it in gear? Mine would go from the 750-800 down to 500 or less, then stalled. Just a thought...

If it's idling in neutral/park at that speed, it sounds like you've got a definite problem with the converter. Before you do anything else, try this- - - - -jack up one rear wheel so the axle can turn when you drop it in gear, and see if you can avoid the stall by letting the axle turn, then apply the brake gradually to see where the in-gear idle speed goes. It should settle down at 550-600, somewhere in that range. Instead of buying some ridiculously expensive converter from Summit, try Dacco converters in Cookeville. They've been rebuilding converters for at least 25 years, and they have a line of high-performance converters with higher than standard stall speeds. Dacco is a manufacturter, but I'm reasonably sure they will have a distributor somewhere in the Knoxville area. Their Middle Tennessee distributor is Nashville Transmission parts, but there's bound to be one for the East Tennessee area. You might want to try to find a converter with a 2,000-2,200 RPM stall speed.

Try these guys:
Knoxville Phone: 866-754-1245
ABC Trans Parts
1037 Wray Street
Knoxville, Tennessee 37917 Fax: 865-546-1744

Jerry

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice guys. It really gives you a feeling like someone who truly knows what's going on is holding your drop light. Called Edelbrock tech line. They tell me I'm over rich in the primary circuits because I can see gas droplets in one venturi. The same one that the idle air screw has no effect on. So, I'm gonna to tear that sucker apart again and crawl thru ever orfice and passage way its got. Jerry, my present installed converter is a Dayco (sic) from "Whatever it Takes" transmission supplier. Picked up a "Boss Hog" today but will not open until needed. Please see the HiPo forum for another question.

Why don't you take it to the transmission shop where you got the converter?

Guys, I'm have been and will be "out of pocket" for some time. Storms for three days have passed thru my home town and wiped out power/communication links for sometime into the future. I've dug out but my community needs my help so all this has to go to the "back burner" for now. Thanks.