Carb/HEI
Post by barrman on Jul 11, 2006, 9:54am
When I put the 396 in last year, I didn't buy all new ignition stuff. I have lots of parts sitting around and I just threw together a HEI, cap, coil and wires. They worked and I didn't think about it anymore. I always had a bad hot start problem. The truck would fire right up when cold or sitting more than 30 minutes. But, when hot I had to floor it and crank for 5+ seconds to get it to fire up. I thought it was the Edelbrock carb. I have moved that float setting around so much I can probably do it in my sleep. Nothing helped the hot start problem. So, I finally set the float at the level that gave me the best 3-5K wide open throttle acceleration.
That was not the best setting to take to the FE. I flooded out a lot on long steep hills. I didn't bring the proper size torx driver with me, so I didn't change it.
I then flooded out the HEI at the car wash cleaning off the FE mud. I ended up having to replace the cap and coil unit.
What a difference. It starts like an efi truck now. Now matter what the engine heat or angle. Hit the key and it runs.
So, if you are running an HEI distributor and are having starting or stalling over rough terrain. Check your in the cap coil! I still haven't touched the carb and have only changed the cap and coil. Same wires, plugs and rotor.