Since I put my 446 back together I cannot get it to idle now. I put the 2355 pistons in it,(had 2266's in it before) "Stealth" heads and Cometic gaskets with a combo yielding 10.6:1 CR. This time I put 1.6 rockers on with the same "509" cam. It was idling fairly well before with the mixture screws out about 3-turns and the idle stop screw on the solenoid was just near the point that the butterflies were close to uncovering the idle transfer slots. Now, I am noticing gas dribbling out of the boosters in the center carb when trying to idle. The stop screw is screwed in considerably further now certainly uncovering the idle slots. The mixture screws do nothing now as you would expect having the stop screw way out. I kept the same "45" power valve in the carb but am thinking of drilling a 3/32" hole in each butterfly to try and bring the idle in again as a start. I really cannot get a decent vacuum reading yet since I cannot get a smooth idle but before I did the engine freshening up it idled in the neighborhood of 7".

Am I going about this the right way or should I try something else.?? I definately do not have any vacuum leaks as I tried to locate any and none were found.

Thanx,
Bud

do something else, someone drilled mine out and now my car is too lean, car surges at idle.i wish mine were never drilled out.

I had great success with a set of the lifters that bleed down at idle. It was a very stout 383 with similar compression and vacuum. I ended up with a 3.5 valve and Rhoads(sp) lifters. Whether I hit the right combo by accident or whatever, that car would idle all day without loading up.

I'm fighting a 440 w/ a comp 268 cam and have the same prob....most people suggested messing with the dist i.e. advancing the idle timing a bunch and then limiting total advance in the dist.....I swapped carbs to one w/ holes and it didn't help me a bit...in fact my idle quality got worse.

On my build I am running adjustable rocker arms so this would'nt be the case. I set mine at .050" preload (zero lash and one-half turn more) but I might go up to maybe .030" and see if this helps too.


Thanx!