71 sputtering when engine is cold

I have a 1971 El Camino, 350 V8 5.7L w/Rochester 2BB carb, HEI ignition. Car was initially running a little rough, so I did the basic tune-up stuff to it.....new distributor cap, rotor, ignition coil, spark plugs & wires, re-set timing, changed filter in charcoal canister, new PCV valve.

The car is running good in general, but if it's been sitting for a while and the engine is cold, it sputters when given a light amount of throttle while driving. Once it warms up, after 5 - 10 minutes, the problem goes away. Does this sound like a carb issue?

Sounds like a carb deal to me.....had an '80 LeSabre w/ the quadrabog that did that crap too. Maybe a rebuild is in order.

Sounds like a carb deal to me.....had an '80 LeSabre w/ the quadrabog that did that crap too. Maybe a rebuild is in order.


thanks for the reply. kind of what i was thinking....but didn't want to start doing stuff to the carb if unneccesary. did you rebuild yours when you had that problem or just replace it? this carb looks pretty old.

I never fixed it....the car was a turd and it ran good enough for me in high school. You could check out a Chilton's and see what exactly it says about your problem. Or talk to someone who really knows carbs. If you want to rebuild it.....kits are cheap.

dont rule out other possibilities either, if it runs fine when its warm, and rough when its cold then it might have something to do with vaccum. as the engine warms up it closes any gaps, and stops the problem. check over all your hoses and spray something around the carb when its cold to see if it changes the idle.

It sounds like the carburetor is dirty to me. Probably your transition slot is cruded up some and leaning out the mixture and maybe your airbleeds. It might need cleaned out, and the idle mixture, speed and choke adjusted. Do you have your Snorkel heat riser hooked up, although I doubt it's cold enough for the choke and heat riser to be needed.