Hot Rods Carb or Ignition Problems??-- Please help..

So, I just took delivery of my 29 Sudan that was picked up from a shop on the east coast, I was pretty pumped. Unfortunately as with all hotrods there are a few surprise kinks that need to be delt with. Its currently running a Barry Grant Six shooter intake system with a triple carb setup with Road Demon carbs, and a MSD distributor.
The issue... fires right up idols fine in and can mash or rev the throttle in park or neural no problem, and sounds right. Now, as I shift into gear it starts to stutter a bit, first gear is ok but I can tell its lacking power, as second gear is a dog. If I come to a stop in gear she stalls out if I don't two pedal it and give a little gas. If i'm going down the road and gas it(even slightly), it wants to stall out, and I cant get it past around 30 or 35 mph due to this issue.. it just wont let me. I really cant tell if its fuel starved or flooding, or an issue with ignition?

Any ideas as to where to start with troubleshooting this? Let me know if I need to provide anymore info to help clarify.

Thanks for taking the time to help out with this.
Chip

 

Man, can be a lot of things and times three with trips! Did you check your plugs? Wet or dry. sooty? Where did you attach the vacuum advance? Who set the float levels? Progressive linkage (I hope) Who adjusted the carbs themselves. Sometimes an engine in neutral can rev pretty good but fall flat with a load. Like I said, a lot of things....

 

The plugs were a bit wet with some black soot... not bad though, not dry or too burnt looking. vacuum advance goes from distributor to the manifold below the center carb. Linkage is progressive. Float and carbs adjusted by the previous owner.
I went to fire it up and now it seems as if its flooded, Wondering if its just drowning in gas. But if it was flooding itself why wouldn't it do the same when stationary and not in gear?
Possibly a timing issue?

thanks!
Chip

 

If its flooding when going down the road, the engine would really take off when you floored it but if its starving for gas in the intermediate range, it will fall on its face when you floor it.

 

I would take the carbs apart to check, you could have a float or needle stuck. Check float level. Readjust. You never know what the prior owner did with it. If the plugs are wet, and it starts right off, I would start with the carbs. What motor is this? If a flatty, it may just be over-carbed or jets wrong. Since you didn't put it together, a lot of checking is required. Never know if it ran right for the previous owner.

 

Check accelerator pump on primary carb.

 

Fist step I would do is adjust the carb linkage so the #1 and #3 don't operate.Then take it for a drive. See what changes.

 

While you are at it, check you timing, and make sure that the advance weights are functioning.

 

Check the pump in center carb make sure you have a good stream. If car has been sitting for a while the pumps are one of the first to go especially with this crap gas

 

You have two things working against you. and both of them start with Barry Grant,,
Barry himself could not make that crap run correctly....Do some reading on all his products..

 

The primary has less of a spray and more of "dump" of gas. The secondaries have a good clean spray. Going to disconnect the secondaries and see how it runs, then go from there.

 

When you can, get rid of the BG carbs, they are not worth there weight.

 

May be sooner than later, especially if the issue is a not an easy fix. I need a runner and some reliability. It's wierd, alot of the online reviews are mixed on them..

 

I wouldn't trash anything yet. Like Boyd said, get it running on the center carb first. Lippy

 

one step at a time, especially when you were not the one that set everything up - many a 3/2 set up is running only on the center carb for reliability

 

What altitude was it set up at and what is you're present altitude?
Jetting could be off just going from east coast to west coast, assuming it was right to begin with.

SBC?

 

Could be fuel filter

 

So I disconnected the secondary carb and ran off the primary, it still was a dog. I adjusted the main jet slightly (with some help from the inet) and got it to run much much better. I also noticed the choke actuator was getting hung up on the side lip of the air filter and not dis engaging and restricting air flow. So after the jet adjustments, hooking the secondary carbs back up, adjusting the idol screw slightly, shes running much much better. Still not 100%, but progress. Now I need to work on really dialing these things in.

Thanks for all the feedback- it was very much appreciated!