'68 Firebird - need some help - newbie

[69bird]

Originally Posted by 68bird

hey guys. i recently bought a 1968 firebird. it has a 400 big block with a torker 2 high rise intake and edelbrock 750 carb., a turbo 400 tranny, 383's, and flowmasters. anyways, the car does not run very good and it sounds to me like all 4 carb barrels aren't opening up. it starts up fine and idles smoothly, no knocks or anything, it just doesn't have any punch.

i'm a total newbie when it comes to engines in general. where should i start? i'm just looking for waysssss to make it run better(faster).


thanks

No bolt on's are gonna wake it up if it's not healthy to begin with. I'd start with a compression test. should be around 120-140lbs in each cyl. no drastic difference cyl to cyl. . can also do a leakdown test. if it holds air it's ok. if not see where it's leaking to. air leaking pass valves, means a valve job, pass rings, need rings, or possibly pistons too. everything checks out. do a tune up. new plugs, rotor, cap, wires, set dwell if points. set timing. about 10 degrees, with vac plugged. see if vac advance works, hook vac up watch timing see if timing advances. I'd replace that single plane Torker with a dual plane like Edelbrock RPM. I've had good Holley's and mostly bad Holley's if they sit very long. needle and seat often stick on my 750. I replaced it with an Edelbrock Carter carb. it was great. never had to touch it. Quadrajets are good too. long as no one's messed it up.

[Vlad_Tepes]

Check the timming could be all out of wack there too

[68bird]

Originally Posted by 69bird

No bolt on's are gonna wake it up if it's not healthy to begin with. I'd start with a compression test. should be around 120-140lbs in each cyl. no drastic difference cyl to cyl. . can also do a leakdown test. if it holds air it's ok. if not see where it's leaking to. air leaking pass valves, means a valve job, pass rings, need rings, or possibly pistons too. everything checks out. do a tune up. new plugs, rotor, cap, wires, set dwell if points. set timing. about 10 degrees, with vac plugged. see if vac advance works, hook vac up watch timing see if timing advances. I'd replace that single plane Torker with a dual plane like Edelbrock RPM. I've had good Holley's and mostly bad Holley's if they sit very long. needle and seat often stick on my 750. I replaced it with an Edelbrock Carter carb. it was great. never had to touch it. Quadrajets are good too. long as no one's messed it up.

Thanks alot! your post is very helpful. i'll have a compression and leakdown test done asap, and i'll bee on the lookout for a good dual plane intake and new carb.

what are the advantages of a high rise over a regular intake and vise-versa? how much should i ask for my edelbrock highrise alum. torker 2 intake and 750 carb if i need to sell them? they are both in good condition.

[428_Firechicken]

sorry, but the pontiac 400 isnt a big block, its not really a small block either, since all the blocks are the same and most of the parts are innerchangable, its not really correct to call it either one.

as for the edelbrock carb? i run one on my 428 and ive never had a problem with it, ive never had a problem with any edelbrock carb ive had, so of coarse i suggest just replacing the 750 if you think thats the problem.

and you intake? those are great intake manifolds, i suggest that over a duel plane anyday, but it sounds like your carb might be giving you some trouble, or maybe you have to big of a cam? or maybe not enough stall convertor? the torker intake is a higher rpm manifold, so that might be giving you some probs

[428_Firechicken]

Originally Posted by 68bird

Thanks alot! your post is very helpful. i'll have a compression and leakdown test done asap, and i'll bee on the lookout for a good dual plane intake and new carb.

what are the advantages of a high rise over a regular intake and vise-versa? how much should i ask for my edelbrock highrise alum. torker 2 intake and 750 carb if i need to sell them? they are both in good condition.

i wouldnt sell them until you find out what the problem is, the are very good parts, and like i said, i run them on my 428 and i have amazing throttle response and ALOT of punch