So I'm trying to figure out the non functioning Tach due to the MSD install and I try to start car and it won't start. Ran great yesterday. I smell fuel and notice a large puddle of fuel that came out of accelerator pump or somewhere and leaked down the side of intake on driver's side. All the spark plugs are soaked with fuel. It still has spark so that didn't fail.

So I assume the carb is flooding the plugs and I need Lars to rebuild it? Are the spark plugs done or can I dry them out?

 

Fuel soaked plugs will certainly dry out and be reusable. Just pull them and let it evaporate or use compressed air.

Is the carb a Q-jet or a Holley? My impression from your description is a Holley with a stuck bowl needle. Can you post a couple pics from each side with the air cleaner removed?

 

Once the carb is repaired and properly jetted-tuned by a pro, there'll likely be no need for any "extra" ignition power.

 

Factory Q-Jet, 1980 L82. I cleaned it up but the pocket there on the intake was puddled with fuel where it says #3 .Opposite side passenger side is dry

is dry

 

Also check fuel pressure. Anything above 6 psi is too much. Hope it's just the needle and seat.

 

A thorough cleaning and rebuild with new gaskets could never hurt, but I would try running the car with the air cleaner off and find exactly where it’s leaking from first.

 

Car won't start now. Plugs are soaked with fuel instantly. I thought maybe the new MSD box was failing but it has good spark. After thinking about it, this could have been a fire on the road. God must be looking out for me.

 

Funny, I have a brand new fuel pump I was getting ready to install. Car has the original fuel pump but the engine plate it bolts to is leaking oil so I am going to swap it out. Glad this happened before or I would be blaming the new fuel pump.

 

Have you removed the plugs and checked to see if any of the cylinders have raw gasoline liquid in them? You must have one heck of a pressure leak there someplace. It has to be something stuck wide open and letting the gas flow. I would remove any potential for a spark and crank the engine to get rid of any extra gasoline in the cylinders.

When I bought my 1968 Corvette it came with a Quadra-Jet and being your typical knowing nothing about them. Mine kept pouring/Dumping gas on occasion and it would flood the engine and create a huge fire hazard. A buddy with some Quadra-Jet experience tried lowering the floats which did not help either. It had something to do with fuel pressure and it happened "once too often" so I removed the carburetor and installed a Holley 750 Double Pumper and a dual plane aluminum Intake manifold and the troubles went away after I got the carburetor set up (the old way).

One really helpful tool is getting an Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge. They are very inexpensive today and having one can really verify if the carburetor is set up or not.

I will be watching to see what you found to be the cause of the issues your Carburetor is having. That is the beauty of the Corvette Forum as we all get to learn from this occurrence.

PS The MSD Ignition is never a bad thing, it cleans up the emissions at lower RPM's. My BB 427 spends most of it's life below 4k rpm and those extra sparks get the most out of the fuel. I had a test stand that I put a MSD 6AL on it and compared the sparks of several companies Spark Plugs. Comparing the one spark of a conventional ignition system to the multi-spark MSD system sounds like a welder when it fires the plugs.

 

Spark plugs are soaked in fuel. I'll crank it over and blow it out. I'm waiting to hear back from a forum member named Lars to see about getting the carb rebuilt right. I've done a few in the past about 30 years ago but it's been awhile.

Car was running great with the new MSD except I can't get the damn factory tach to work. I have a thread on it with no solutions yet. At MSD's advice I ordered the 8920 Tach box to convert the signal and still nothing. There has got to be a solution for this but I'm throwing money at it now and not getting no results. I wonder if i need a different tach box but MSD says no. If I can't get my tach to work I'll be going back to stock with an Accel or Petronix ICM.

I've probably installed 3 MSDs on C4s and never had a problem with the tach. I think I had to remove a tach filter or something which I did on this 80 but it didn't work. If you have any advice on that please advise. Thanks.

 

So I removed the plugs, blew off the fuel and let them set over night. I also poured some oil onto the top of accelerator pump and let that sit overnight. I saw fuel coming out of it so I assume the seal is dried out but it runs good now and no flooding or fuel squirting out but the carb needs a rebuild. Thanks for advice.

Also got the Tach working. Tach wire had a broken connection. Took a while to find. No tach box needed.