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Is the motor fresh? If so there shouldn't be any puff of blue smoke on start-up, should there? That seems a symptom of bad valve guides or seals. Maybe you have oil getting in where it shouldn't? Have you confirmed what is fouling the plugs?
Just a thought.

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are you sure it's blue and not just 'smokey' until it warms up? it might sound silly but i would smell it to see if it's oily smelling or just gassy smelling. that sounds so ridiculous !!

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Oil or carbon fouled plugs?
If carbon then is ignition problem or carb is dumping to much gas.
Any exhaust smoke? If so what color.
Really should take a vacuum reading then choose the power valve.
Plug wires? New and not touching the exhaust anywhere?

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Carbon Fouled, get blueish colored smoke when starting cold but doen not smell like oil burning, only lasts a second or two. I figured it was rich from choke being closed.
Plug wires are new, everything is new!!
Wires are not touching the headers.
I fouled a set of plugs out in 14 miles of cruising 35 MPH avg, goosed it a couple times.

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either oil sucked up past the valley pan or carb issue

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Are you referring the oil being sucked up past the valley pan as a oil foul condition??

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What rpm is it idling, and what is the timing when it's idling?

I'm going to guess it wants to idle around 1K.

Put a timing light on it and find out where it's timed at idle..

Disconnect and plug the vac advance when doing this and don't hook it back up until you get it sorted out.

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I believe at idle it is at 34*

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I believe at idle it is at 34*

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I doubt that if it has springs in it.

If it smells like a fuel factory out the tailpipes, it's not close...

I wouldn't mess with anything else until you know where the idle/initial timing is set.

If you reach in at idle and twist the distributor clockwise and it picks up RPM, it want the timing you just twisted in.

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Ok tomorrow when I get off I will put a light on it. Thnx for the help, will update ya on what I come up with!

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I believe at idle it is at 34*

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I doubt that if it has springs in it.

If it smells like a fuel factory out the tailpipes, it's not close...

I wouldn't mess with anything else until you know where the idle/initial timing is set.

If you reach in at idle and twist the distributor clockwise and it picks up RPM, it want the timing you just twisted in.

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I believe at idle it is at 34*

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I doubt that if it has springs in it.

If it smells like a fuel factory out the tailpipes, it's not close...

I wouldn't mess with anything else until you know where the idle/initial timing is set.

If you reach in at idle and twist the distributor clockwise and it picks up RPM, it want the timing you just twisted in.

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really? any time you can turn the dist.and the rpm increases your engine wants more timing?

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Its just smokey, fresh motor smells in no way of burning oil.
The guy who built the motor opened the dist up and changed the springs and has it set at 34* total.
Vac. advance is unplugged.

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Its just smokey, fresh motor smells in no way of burning oil.
The guy who built the motor opened the dist up and changed the springs and has it set at 34* total.
Vac. advance is unplugged.

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How do you know this when you haven't even put a timing light on it?

Why is the vacuum adv disconnected?

And imo rOBBx4406 KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT, more people should listen to him.

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Oil or carbon fouled plugs?
If carbon then is ignition problem or carb is dumping to much gas.
Any exhaust smoke? If so what color.
Really should take a vacuum reading then choose the power valve.
Plug wires? New and not touching the exhaust anywhere?

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Carbon Fouled, get blueish colored smoke when starting cold but doen not smell like oil burning, only lasts a second or two. I figured it was rich from choke being closed.
Plug wires are new, everything is new!!
Wires are not touching the headers.
I fouled a set of plugs out in 14 miles of cruising 35 MPH avg, goosed it a couple times.

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Rob Just came in from garage. Had neighbor behind car when 1st started it and while revving motor, he and I agree smoke is black not blue, that being said kneeling in front of the exhaust smells like fuel not raw fuel and burns eyes and throat.
Ok...car at temp I put the light on it at idle 975 RPM and it goes to total advance 34*, revving motor with light on it it retards 1-2*'s
I have 12-13 inches vaccum at idle
jets are 68 rear 70 front.
And just so ya know this is my 1st motor and had alot of people giving me crap advice and spending my money. I was told to put those springs in and I wouldn't need to run vaccuum advace and my car would run so much better.
With that being said can you help point me in the right direction with this dist. Do I return it to its original state and use the vac. advance?
Thnx Chuck

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Rob Just came in from garage. Had neighbor behind car when 1st started it and while revving motor, he and I agree smoke is black not blue, that being said kneeling in front of the exhaust smells like fuel not raw fuel and burns eyes and throat.
Ok...car at temp I put the light on it at idle 975 RPM and it goes to total advance 34*, revving motor with light on it it retards 1-2*'s
I have 12-13 inches vaccum at idle
jets are 68 rear 70 front.
And just so ya know this is my 1st motor and had alot of people giving me crap advice and spending my money. I was told to put those springs in and I wouldn't need to run vaccuum advace and my car would run so much better.
With that being said can you help point me in the right direction with this dist. Do I return it to its original state and use the vac. advance?
Thnx Chuck

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Don't let people hammer you. EVERONE had to start at the begining.
Myself I like a vacuum advance on a mild street motor.
Black smoke and as fast as your fowling plugs leads me to think you have a carb problem but you need to make sure the ignition is correct first. Process of elimination.
Take the steps of elimination that Rob and I are stating.
The jets are probabaly close for where you live.
What is the timing at idle?

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OP, are the fouled plugs shiny or dull Post a picture of them, if you can Shiny is oil, dull is no oil To much fuel or oil can and will foul plugs Oil can be suck into the combustion chamber several different ways, one common one on B and RB motor, especailly freshly rebuilt ones, is from the intake valley pan

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I'll give it a shot for a dumb down version.

The more radical your engine the more initial timing can benefit your idle RPM and crispness. If you go too far advanced you will have trouble with starter kickback and slow hot starts. There are several strategies to deal with this in a street car the simplest is don't set it too high. After you figure out what initial (idle) timing you want to run you can set the total for a reasonable number and possibly fine tune it at the track. Stock distributors are set to a wider spread so they need to have slots shortened inside. Different aftermarket units use different methods.

Once your timing is good you can tune the carb. Hopefully it's in the ballpark so you can get the timing! On a holley style carb the circuits 'stack' up. As you open the carb more fuel flows out of different spots.

At idle the fuel emulsion (pre mixed with some air) comes from a small hole below the butterfly and also from the bottom of the transfer slot exposed below the blade. You want to keep the t-slot exposed under there small, looking like a square. Then tune for highest vacuum with the idle corner screws.

As the throttle opens the transition slot begins to flow, and then the mains. If it is opened fast enough you will shoot the accelerator pump to cover a lean spot as the fuel begins to flow. Drop the vacuum enough and the power valve will flow too.

A holley is pretty easy to tune for racing. For street driving the more time you spend driving like a normal person the more the carb is unnecessarily rich. If you drive like them Duke boys you'll be fine. Thats why some people want you to follow them to a race- they know boppin around will foul out your plugs and your rig will run like poop...

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I believe at idle it is at 34*

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I doubt that if it has springs in it.

If it smells like a fuel factory out the tailpipes, it's not close...

I wouldn't mess with anything else until you know where the idle/initial timing is set.

If you reach in at idle and twist the distributor clockwise and it picks up RPM, it want the timing you just twisted in.

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really? any time you can turn the dist.and the rpm increases your engine wants more timing?

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Yes Dodgem but he has 34* of initial timing and what I'm gathering is no advance?
Thats not going to work. Would think he'd have alot of pinging going on too.

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At idle it has 34*?

Don't rev it at all, just point the light and read what it says when idling.

Float bowl level set properly, no fuel dripping in from the boosters on your carb?

Another thing to do, remove the cap and see if the rotor will move clockwise. That's the advance mechanism.

If you have a vacuum gauge, use it to set the idle mixture screws, sides of metering blocks. You want the highest vac where those screws are furthest in, evenly set on both sides. You should be able to run them in and kill the engine.

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You need to check your spark poor spark will allow plugs to foul.

Quick compression check can't hurt.

Your harmonic is verified at TDC??

was the cam degreed in and where?

I'm really thinking it is poor ignition spark.

Do you have another carb to try??

you could throw the new coil on quick to try. good ballast connections
I had similar problem once with a poor connection.

You could try a double mail spade to jumper/bypass the ballast for a short period to see if it clears up with a hotter spark???

Seems puzzeling but my gut feels spark.

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Yes Dodgem but he has 34* of initial timing and what I'm gathering is no advance?
Thats not going to work. Would think he'd have alot of pinging going on too.

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I'm confuse on to weather he has mechanical advance or is locked out?? Said Mopar performance springs so at 1000 neutral idle it would be close to full advance.
wonder what he has at 2000?

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Yes Dodgem but he has 34* of initial timing and what I'm gathering is no advance?
Thats not going to work. Would think he'd have alot of pinging going on too.

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I'm confuse on to weather he has mechanical advance or is locked out?? Said Mopar performance springs so at 1000 neutral idle it would be close to full advance.
wonder what he has at 2000?

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WOW you have to degree a cam now days with production tolerances dot to dot can be out as much as 20 degree 2 or 3 make a big difference on a tight 108 LSA cam

To check your harmonic O/TDC line with heads on you need to buy or make a piston stop. On compression stroke or better valve train off driver side
turn up from BDC till piston stops agains stop mark balancer then reverse back to stop and mark balancer again 1/2 way between the two marks is true 0 TDC.
you can buy one of these
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRN-99412-1/

or make one out of a gutted spark plug
taping it out with 3/8 threaded rod or a bolt with threads cut to head.


IS it a stock damper or nicely new??

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With aluminum heads you may have to give your adjusters another 1/2 turn to 1 turn more of pre load to quiet tappets down.

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Yes Dodgem but he has 34* of initial timing and what I'm gathering is no advance?
Thats not going to work. Would think he'd have alot of pinging going on too.

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I'm confuse on to weather he has mechanical advance or is locked out?? Said Mopar performance springs so at 1000 neutral idle it would be close to full advance.
wonder what he has at 2000?

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He stated than the timing retarded 1-2* with rpm increase. Is that how a locked out distributor works? I've never ran one so you'd know better than me. The mechanical advance ones that I have ran usually had around 6-8* of advance.

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FYI if I do hook up the vac advance it will effect the timing, dont know if that helps

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Check the voltage at the coil key on.

then I would try the new coil

try advancing timing (turning Distributor clockwise) to see if it runs better??
It may be a slipped outer ring on the harmonic balancer or improperly marked.

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What voltage #'s do I look for/normal...full 12 volts.
I am making a list here of all to do. Can I degree the cam in car?
Still unsure if I do all this with old plugs or new

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Check the voltage at the coil key on.

then I would try the new coil

try advancing timing (turning Distributor clockwise) to see if it runs better??
It may be a slipped outer ring on the harmonic balancer or improperly marked.

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What voltage #'s do I look for/normal...full 12 volts.
I am making a list here of all to do. Can I degree the cam in car?
Still unsure if I do all this with old plugs or new

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Its just smokey, fresh motor smells in no way of burning oil.
The guy who built the motor opened the dist up and changed the springs and has it set at 34* total.
Vac. advance is unplugged.

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How do you know this when you haven't even put a timing light on it?

Why is the vacuum adv disconnected?

And imo rOBBx4406 KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT, more people should listen to him.

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Sometimes I wonder why people bother to offer up anything around here.

Some people don't even have an idea of why idle timing is important. It's been explained numerous times around here and the disaster in waiting that is mechanical advance. Hey, if you want your stuff to run based on bad info from a performance book written in the 70-80's, go for it!

Two words for likely what's causing the OP's issue... TRANSFER SLOTS.

If you don't get why the idle timing and the amount of transfer slot is showing, then you don't understand the relationship of the systems on the car.

And, NO, engines don't always pick up RPM when timing is advanced. It's about finding the efficiency point of the engine at idle. You'll run into limits doing this, namely starter issues. I'll bet this particular engine could run pretty good with 22 initial and 34-35 total all in by 2500.

Pick your way to skin a cat. Your way, IMO, may suck, but, it's still your way. Grab that MP manual and follow the rotten way to time it up. More, or likely, less power to you!

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I think the pistons are in backwards.

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Naw...I'm pretty sure the cam is in backwards.

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I think the pistons are in backwards.

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Thread started out good, but slowly has gone a million ways. I'm watching this, as I need to understand the basics of tuning also. Mainly on the distributor end of things. Thanks for all the good info and good luck to the OP

I had been chasing a surging problem for a long time in my carb. Decided to get rid of my FBO coil for a blaster II and it fixed it. Or I just don't notice it since my new cutouts grab all my attention.