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Basic carb question, does stuttering mean lean or rich?

17K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  cobalt327 
#1 · (Edited)
When I say stuttering, what I mean is when you try to give it some gas and it acts like a person trying to talk when they need to clear their throat. That's what is called stuttering with carbs, right?

I see the issue in two spots. First is whenever I try to give it the lightest throttle I can. Like when trying to maintain a cruise speed, or when trying to go from a full stop very gently. If it give it more throttle its smooth as hell. The other time I see it is when trying to gun it in too low of a gear. Like cruising at 30mph in 4th and gunning it instead of down shifting to 3rd first like you normally would. I even get a carb backfire when doing that sometimes.

The only clue my newbie brain can think of is that both of those situations involve the manifold vacuum pressure dropping rather low. I only have about 9hg manifold vacuum, and I just recently switched from a 6.5pv to a 4.5pv. I'm pretty sure this issue started AFTER that swap, but then again, so did the cold weather, so I'm not sure which is to blame for the issue.

In case it matters: It's a basically stock, 1 year old sbc 355 with the smallest thumpr cam, much better than stock aluminium heads, Edlebrock rpm air gap intake, 650 holly DP, shortie headers.

Thanks for any help.
 
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#2 ·
could be timing(not enough) accelerator pump or pump cam.or combination of all.
start with a little more initial timing,check float leavel.advance pump cam.

you did not mention if the car surged when at a steady cruise speed,this could be lean. Ive never had any problems with a 650 DP
 
#3 ·
Oh it surges like a mad man when under 2k rpm, if by surging you mean the car shacking front to back rapidly. I'm getting 4.11 in the rear this month so hopefully that will help the surging some.

My initial is over 20. I have one light and one medium spring in the dizzy with the smallest mechanical advance put it atm so it hits 36 exactly when all in at 3kish.

I'm also getting a wide band o2 sensor this month, can't wait for that! heh. So, you're saying that stuttering is a lean condition?
 
#6 ·
I have on O2 sensor installed on my SBC, and the stuttering you describe is usually due to the carb going too lean. When I was using an Edelbrock 1406 I could easily see the effect of changing step-up springs because it changed the point for the cruise to power transition. When the springs were wrong,(transition too late) under acceleration I would see the AFR go high (lean), feel the stutter, and then the AFR would catch up as the rods moved to the power step.

Bruce
 
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