I will borrow a buddies light and see what is up this weekend. The guys over at T/A was named Mike and he swears they ran dyno tests that showed the 600 was the one you need on a 350. He is pretty much the only person who has said that, but he is also supposed to be the expert?? right? Will also check the Vacuum. I have a hunch maybe the shop put the distributor in a little off. When they first got it running, it had a VERY serious lope and had absolutely no power at all. So I think all their working, they may have dropped it in a little off? Thansk for all the advise and help guys. I really appreciate it. I just want her to run like she should run so I can really enjoy her.
If you use the formula to figure out how much air an engine needs at a certain RPM, then sure, 600 CFM is probably about right, but as any experienced Buick racer knows, if you put a bigger carburetor on a Buick, they usually go faster. I think maybe you are only telling us about part of the conversation you had with MIke:laugh: , because I am sure he knows that. Buick put a 750 CFM Q -Jet on the 350, and the Edelbrock carburetor will never run as well as a good Q-Jet IMHO.
Both the shop and I talking to T/A for more than 2 hours total trying to figure out what was going on. Mike at T/A insisted they race there cars with the Edelbrock 600 on them and that is the best carb for a Buick 350. He acknowledged that "Buick Guys" would disagree, but they had tested, dynoed and raced them that way it that is what they found to be the best. I was not going to argue with the guy, but my shop sure did. That being said, I don't see the smaller carb affecting the low end as much as the top end. I still think maybe the distributor was put in wrong and that is why the timing mark is not where is should be. I will hopefully have time this weekend to check that and if it is wrong, the shop will have some free work to do!
I would have asked him what carburetor was on Mike Jr.'s hot 350:grin: Have a look at this thread. Notice what happens with the bigger carburetors. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=197839
You know, I'm looking at your 1st post, and I see that you are using the TA284 cam. I'm thinking that must be the TA284-88H. My first question would be, was it degreed in when it was installed? I noticed you said the specs were 1500-4000 RPM. Specs for what? Power Range? My TA catalog says 2000-5000 RPM, and I think that refers to the 455. I think in a 350, it would be more radical. I'd still like to see the vacuum reading at idle. Low vacuum from a leak will make the engine want a lot more ignition advance to idle.
larry is right....that camshaft with stock pistons ( MAYBE 8.5-1 ) would be like running 7.5-1 with a stocker. You are gonna need to advance that cam ( hopefully it was ) and still give it a ton of spark advance. I have run as much as 18 initial degrees advance and it still seemed at times to want more.....that and heck yah you need alot of carb for that motor...I run a 850dp and am contemplating a 900 or more. Being that said...I would get a piston stop to verify tdc and than start with the distributor from there....that way you are for sure.
I am pretty sure that the guys are right about the timing and carb issues. It sounds like your timing is off and the e brock carb would need to be custom jetted to work right anyways. You can not expect to bolt on a carb and have it work better than a factory calibrated Q jet. The Q jet is adaptable and can work with mods, cams, compression gains etc and still give good air fuel ratios where as an aftermarket e brock carb is a less refined style carb that needs to be custom jetted to the combo.
Your not alone, I have basically the same set up and did not get what I expected with the rebuild using the 284 cam either! Much better than stock though.
