Anyone running a 322 Buick Nailhead? If so, what curb idle are you using? My shop manual says 450 RPM hot, but that's too low. I have the Dynaflow and Carter WCFB 4 bbl.
450 is correct but with todays fuel and a stretched timing chain the ideals have changed. Of course you ign timing would also need to be adjusted properly and the original oil bath air cleaner would be factored in. If you are running a paper filter and have engine wear you may have to compensate somewhat. You don't want to be fighting the torque converter too much. The manual says an extra 50 rpm for cars with air so experiment a little.
The looser the mounts, u-joint, & differential parts, the slower you want it to idle. Be extra careful to STOP before moving shift lever to reverse. The reverse band is the weakest thing in a Dynaflow.
On my 322 I idle at 550-600RPM with premium fuel. Engine is bone stock atm and that's in drive, so parked or neutral would probably be around 650-700RPM. I also set initial timing at 6* instead of 5*, seems to like it there and slightly pings under extreme load, which I was told where you'd want to ballpark it. But slightly I mean at WOT going up a very steep grade
Right now I'm running 87 octane in Mine, timing was at 7 1/2 degrees. I can back the timing up a tad and see what it does
Currently having issue with it idling, the choke is not opening, beyond the position shown in attached photo. It is set, at 4 notches lean, I tried, and moved it back to the "index" mark as My shop manual says, but it still won't move past the point shown. I checked, and the choke valve moves freely as it should.
Is it caught by the fast idle cam? Open the throttle and see if the blade opens the rest of the way? (when warmed up) Make sure the fast idle cam, rod and such are installed and adjusted correctly.
It's not caught by the fast idle cam, I checked that already. Blade still stays in position as shown in the photo. The cam, rod and assoc parts are in proper condition, however I can double check the cam adjustment to make sure, I'm sure thinking of converting to manual choke, those thermostatic chokes can be a pain when they don't work well
Here's a little video clip of it running, note how the gas is dribbling at a good amount? I am sure it isn't supposed to be doing that, is it?
That will be down the road. I need to figure out, if I have a problem in the carb right now, and how to solve it
From the pictures in My shop manual, the dripping is coming from the main nozzles, I'm guessing maybe float needle stuck open?
Shop manual is a suggestion. Loosen and adjust choke spring until it barely holds it closed before a cold start. If you're using a stove pipe, then it should heat it up to open all the way. I know on my passenger exhaust manifold, the heat riser was welded open and would not rotate so I just ripped it out and put an electric choke on it. You might want to check that out and if it's stuck, see if you can get it to turn. But I've never had trouble with the electric choke. Choke stays on to start, slowly comes off as it needs to. Don't buy online, these guys will sell a "conversion" for $36. Take your front cover to a good NAPA (you know they hire people with degrees, unlike O'Reilly's and AutoZone) with an old boy behind the counter who still uses the books. Can't be too hard, mine was $15, but I also have a Rochester 4GC... Also don't run 87, run 92. These engines were made to run premium.
I can't watch the video... if the carb has been sitting, it will most likely need to be gone through soon. mixing old fuel varnish with new fuels isn't good.
I tested the thermostat spring in the cap and it works when heat is applied to it. I've had hot air chokes before, and I've never had a working heat riser. I wonder if the hot air pipe could be blocked with carbon?
If you can get the original one out, CARS Inc. sells a kit to install a new hot air pipe. It's the equivalent of just buying some brake line and cutting one end off and slipping the original fitting and insulation on. I couldn't get mine out of the exhaust manifold and my butterfly was stuck so like I said I just went electric and replaced that huge ugly manifold with a driver side single exhaust manifold. I'm afraid I can't do much to help you in that regards but you could always try unscrewing it from the choke and loading it up with carb cleaner to dissolve any type of carbon deposit, or attempt to at least. As far as I know, there are no exhaust fumes that come up the pipe, it's just heat from an enclosed space on the manifold. If you can hold the choke open and drive it without issue then you'll know the carb is working fine. Just get some zip ties or some wire and pull the choke arm open after warm up.
Yes, when fuel is dribbling out of boosters the float is too high. As far as the choke goes, I assume the pictures depict the choke being open when hot? Yes? When it is closed, what does the spring pressure feel like, modest pressure to push it open? and it closes with mild authority? If not then somebody likely missed the marks getting the spring connected to the arm when they installed the cover - the spring is in the cover & arm is on the carb. If the spring isn't connected to the arm the spring can do what its' supposed to and the arm won't get pulled to open the choke flap (what they call 'valve').
I took the carb off and took it to a shop where a friend works at. He was thinking same thing, the front float may be set too high, or sticking. He's gonna give it a good soaking in solvent and blow everything out. As for the choke spring, it was so stiff it would snap back, I think they had it way off. I will have My friend make sure it's right
I got the heat tube out and blew ot out, was clear. Now I can't find the hole in the manifold that it went into. Anyone got a pic of the RH 322 manifold?
Something else to consider, your idle needs to be set with your dynaflow in gear (actually in slush they didn't have gears) with any automatic the idle will drop when you move the selector to a given range unless you happen to have one of the later model GMs with the dash pot that speeds the idle up when you put it in gear.
Well 450 does seem slow doesn't it. I dropped my engine to 400 to prpve to a guy that I could and you could almost count the fan blades. You can speed the idle up to the point where your converter begins to flash IE starts to move the car, but that is not advisable. If you're not moving the car yet at say 700 RPM then you could feasibly set it @ 700 rpm which is a common setting for a modern automatic, it certainly won't hurt the motor it is going to go lots faster then that on the road isn't it. When I was still playing with nailheads when I was young I always set them by ear, if they sounded right that was where I left it.
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