'72 pickup, 318 & 727, recently rebuilt top end. Mild Voodoo cam, 4bbl intake & an edelbrock 650 (1405) I rebuilt a couple months ago. Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, currently set to 5.5psi. Electric choke is firmly closed when cold. I live at 4000' elevation.

When I rebuilt it I corrected the float heights to what they're supposed to be. Both idle jets are 2 1/4 turns out.

Now that it's cold here (high of 25*F for the next week), it's been rather hard to start. I also can't think about putting it in gear until it's completely warmed up. If I do put it in gear it dies immediately . When it does finally start, it's very rough until it warms up. When it doesn't start, it does act to me like it's flooding.

Currently, my jetting is set to #9, with a .101" jet instead of the .100" (I didn't have a .100"). Secondaries are .095".
A friend recommended I go a bit richer than base to account for the 10% ethanol in our gas.

After doing the math for elevation (), it looks like I should actually be 5% lean, and closer to #22 or #24, rather than a step rich. I was talking to a guy at the parts store who said he didn't change anything to account for ethanol.

page 12 here has the calibration chart. http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/mc/carbs_acc/pdf/carb_owners_manual.pdf

Am I on the right track?
Thanks,
-Dave

Do the plugs look rich?

You can try raising your cold fast idle speed. Carbs are quite a balancing act and usually have to be cheated on the rich side for proper winter operation.

Have you checked your metering rod pistons at idle? Are they sucked down all the way or are they fluttering up and down at idle or in gear. You may need to change the springs. Dave

sounds lean to me... dan

Attached is a picture of one of my plugs. Kinda hard to see, but the base-ring has an even layer of black soot. Doesn't that indicate rich? Inside the base-ring the porcelain is a nice light brown color. The plugs are Champion RN14YCs.

To check the rods, do I just pull off the cover plate for each one while it's running?

Yesterday when I took it to town it acted like it ran out of gas a few times and died. Would sputter a few times, then die. After cranking for 5-10 seconds it would fire back up and be fine for a half mile. Weird.

Thanks,
-Dave

The Edelbrock "1405" is a 600cfm, not 650

Updates:

So, a few weeks ago I jetted it down to #24 and took it for a drive. Made it about a mile, and it decided it would idle, but not move without dieing

Called the wife, and had her bring some more fuel line so I could take the Fuel pressure regulator out. After that, it ran just fine for 10 miles.

So, I got home, disconnected the fuel line, and checked the fuel pressure while it idled with the fuel left in the bowls. I was only getting 2.5-3PSI with a brand new pump (!?!?). Doesn't that seem low?

Only thing I can figure is my pump is putting out very little volume, and the added restriction of the FPR was causing it to starve the carb for fuel?

I checked the plugs today. Coloring looked alright on the porcelain. The color on the ground strap was all the way to the base ring. Doesn't that mean I could go one step colder?

So,
Fuel pump having issues with too low of pressure?
Could go one step colder on my plugs?

Thanks for any thoughts,
-Dave