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Put on headers, engine won't idle?

Old Jun 28, 2006 | 12:28 AM
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Berserker78
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Default Put on headers, engine won't idle?

I put full length headers on this week, but now that they are hooked up to the exhaust, the engine is having trouble idling.

Once it starts up, if I rev up to about 1500, it will come back down to 850-950 and idle there as long as I keep the transmission in park or neutral, but once I put it in gear, it goes down to 500-550 and stumbles.

It is much hotter now than it has been any of the rest of the time I have had it here, but I would not expect that to make much of a difference. I replaced the original ramshorn manifolds, though the heat riser was frozen shut.

Does putting the headers on make that much of a difference to the tuning? If so, can anyone recommend a good book on tuning the quadrajets?
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 12:29 AM
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Did you double check to make sure you got all of your vacuum lines back on? When I put mine on I didn't have to mess with the carb or the timing, It was just like instant power boost. Just look it over and make sure everything is back on correctly.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 12:43 AM
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Skippy, I bet you got it. I pulled the heat riser, but did not plug the hose. I bet that is it!

Thanks man!
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 04:31 AM
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If you went to headers and open exhaust from stock exhaust, you'll probably need to richen up that carb.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Berserker78
I put full length headers on this week, but now that they are hooked up to the exhaust, the engine is having trouble idling.

Once it starts up, if I rev up to about 1500, it will come back down to 850-950 and idle there as long as I keep the transmission in park or neutral, but once I put it in gear, it goes down to 500-550 and stumbles.

It is much hotter now than it has been any of the rest of the time I have had it here, but I would not expect that to make much of a difference. I replaced the original ramshorn manifolds, though the heat riser was frozen shut.

Does putting the headers on make that much of a difference to the tuning? If so, can anyone recommend a good book on tuning the quadrajets?
I had the same problem when I installed headers on my BB. Would not idle or run with crap. I played with the tuning, took care of the vapor lock by installing a heat shield between the fuel line and the header, and finally had to have the carb re built and go up 2 sizes in the jets to compensate for the new flow. After a month of weekend work I finally got it to run like a top. It is going to be frustrating, but a recommened the book by Roe on how to service Quadrajets, and find a good mechanic that knows them if need be.
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