Stalling issue w/ a 318

[Dustymopar]

I have a 71 dodge d100 with the 318 with a holly 4 barrel in It and it stalls on and off when you go to give gas when you take off and sometimes when driving. Any ideas I've set the base timing to 2.5 after TDC and that seems to have helped but not fixed.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Here's an idea...get rid of the 4V Holley!

[BigBlockTrucks]

Here's an idea...get rid of the 4V Holley!

Plus one for what he said.
God knows what that Holley was made or built for,but I am sure it wasn’t for a 318!!
More gas doesn’t make more horsepower. Unless the engine was built for it,It only makes more problems.

[Dustymopar]

It is built for it. My dad built the 318. It is overbored .03", has a stage 2 cam, billet crank, ported and polished heads, hooker headers, and a few other treats. My issue is my dad died and left this truck to me and idk what the issue is. I think that it has to do with the a/f ratio but I don't know how to properly adjust it.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Another idea....take it to a highly qualified shop that knows how to tune and troubleshoot carbs/engines.
I have never seen an engine that had timing set after TDC.

[nutz]

yeah would think 8 deg btdc is where i would start
but cam,headers,intake,carb is going to take some tinkering ,lots of stuff needs to be done to dial it in
if you really want to do it yourself would start with a good timing light and installing an 02 sensor in the exhaust

[Series1Utiline]

I would start with getting a $10 piston stop and find out where TDC really is. It sounds like your harmonic balancer may have spun in the elastomer making the timing marks on the balancer out of position and unusable.

[Wildergarten]

yeah would think 8 deg btdc is where i would start but cam,headers,intake,carb is going to take some tinkering ,lots of stuff needs to be done to dial it in if you really want to do it yourself would start with a good timing light and installing an 02 sensor in the exhaust

I'm for 10.° And a roller chain is a must. That factory link belt sucks.

I guess unlike many here, I'm a big fan of Holley carbs, but they do take a LOT of tinkering. Had a Dart for which I found a factory single-plane manifold. I drilled out a double pumper to accept a vacuum secondary linkage so that it could have the dual metering blocks. Then it got a special kit so that I could play with jets while the motor was running. I had a vacuum gauge in the dash to monitor the effects when the dual stage power valve kicked in. It took a year of tinkering, looking at the color of the chalk in the tail pipe, and more tweaking. The Holley book, "Carburetors and Manifolds" was very helpful.

Once they're right, they're awesome, and stay that way. That 318 Dart with the A833 was a Porche destroyer unless it was a Turbo Carerra (an SC was a near push). Had a reverse commute from Oakland to Pleasant Hill, CA and ran that thing over 100mph nearly every day. On the straight just after the curves below Caldecott Tunnel third gear could jump to 105.

Never again. Get my thrills these days with a chainsaw.

[moore7568]

The base timing for a 318/360 assuming stock motor should be around 10* BTDC at idle and maybe 32* or more above 3000 RPM.

[chilort]

Can you describe the stall a little more? If you're cruising along and get into the gas a little does it lie down and then pick up? If that's the case, your accelerator pump may need adjusted (this is a pretty easy job and Holley has videos). If it adjusted properly then the diaphragm may be old and hard. Or the pump shot might not be big enough.

I've been facing a different stall where I'm cruising along at highway speed (55-65) and I just loose fuel. I've rebuilt my entire fuel system from the tank to the carb. I've changed out the filters in the carb too. Just waiting on one more part to finish.

Agree with others on timing though. You've got to have timing right (or close) before messing with the fuel.

Now that I've got my timing close, I'm using an O2 meter to help me with fuel.