KSL '67 101234

Bill thanks for your reply. Berryman's Chemtool fuel treatment cleared the jets so the carb no longer whistles. I am running one more treatment with Chevron premium 91 octane gas (the gas brand I like to use) to ensure that the carbs are clean. I also injected Berrymans into the 4 jets on both the primary and secondary ports via a syringe, and then suctioned them. The whistling sound was coming from these jets, which I diagnosed when I covered each, one at a time with my finger. When the whistle stopped I knew which jet was plugged.

KSL '67 101234

Mike, I fixed the stall issue. During removal of the spark plugs, which I replaced with new, I found 3 plugs that were less than finger tight, two that were finger tight, and the remaining that took a socket wrench to remove. I also installed a new distributor cap. I started it up, set the idle at 850, adjusted the air to fuel mixture, reset the idle to 850, checked the timing and dwell - they were at 4 and 28, respectively, so I made no adjustements, closed the hood and placed it in gear. The engine RPM dropped to 650-575, but gave no indication that it wanted to stall. The engine purred like only a 327 can - IN GEAR! So for less than $30 the problem was fixed. The Berryman's Chemtool fuel treatment cleared the jets so the carb no longer whistles. That was another $5. So for a total of $35, crisis averted as we like to say in my family, and for a savings of $800-$900 by not installing a torque converter that was not the problem.

Rokndad

Nice when the simplest explanation is the one that works. Good for you that was the case here.

Greg4197

Thank you for the detailed simple correction. I have a 1959 with exactly the same issue as described. I followed your instructions that
corrected the problem.

Awesome, it only required the idle being stepped up from 550 to 650-700. Runs much better and no stalling.

I’m a novice at this mechanic stuff but this is an excellent forum.

Greg4197

My recently acquired 59 was stalling and running rough just as the other owner.

i read and followed your instructions attemptingbthe easy idle set first. The result in stepping up the idle from 559 to 650-700 made a huge difference.

things are running quite smoothly without the previous issues.

thanks from a new owner.

SWCDuke

Even though you've solved the idle instability problem, there's another test you should do and the result may require a new 10-dollar part that may improve idle quality.

"Modifed cam" was a red flag. I expect it has more overlap than the OE cam and high overlap cams and an auto trans are not a good combination.

Measure manifold vacuum with the engine idling in DRIVE. Then with the engine off pump down the VAC to determine how much vacuum is required to pull it to the limit. Does is pass the Two-Inch Rule? If not, buy and install a VAC that does.

The above assumes full time vacuum advance, but if it's ported, convert to full time.

Duke

stevedrummer

OK, my problem today for the 1966 with the holly 4 just started.
It will not idle, either cold or hot. Started when it was warm. Replaced the carb manifold gasket (sometimes they leak) with a thicker one (shiny side down) and no change. Bolted on a spare carb (I have three for some reason, accumulated over the 50 plus years) and same issue. It starts but will not idle. I suspect a manifold leak somewhere, but don't know where to start. Distributor wires are new. Runs while in gear and applying gas, shifts fine, but when I stop or try to idle - just dies.
Any thoughts?

vettebuyer6369

This thread was resurrected from 8 years ago. Try asking your question in a new thread.