<VV> Buick 215 troubleshooting question (No Corvair)

[Bill Elliott]

Hi gang... I have a really stupid question... but since you all may have 
run into this combination before, possibly somebody can suggest where to 
look next.

Subject is a 1963 Buick 215 with a warm cam, roller rockers, headers, 
etc and a Carter AFB 400cfm on an aftermarket manifold. Stock 1963 Buick 
ignition (except no vacuum advance, so I assume a recurved dizzy), 
manual transmission.

Car sat for several years, started and driven only occasionally since 1990.

Car starts and idles fine, but as soon as you place any load on the 
engine with light throttle it falters and bucks. Put your foot into it 
and it catches and pulls away very strongly. Driving along, if you give 
it just a little throttle, it bucks and falters... give her more 
throttle and she runs great.

First thing I did was to pull the carb off. The carb looked nice and 
clean, but it appeared there was some water in the gas.  Just to be 
sure, I sent the carb out to a local pro for him to check it over and 
rebuild. He reported that it was nearly new, had a little sediment here 
and there, but overall looked good. He went ahead and rebuilt and 
adjusted it for me.

I drained the tank on the car, flushed it and the lines out good, and 
put fresh fuel in. I popped the distributor and the points looked nice 
and clean, cap and rotor nearly near, and the advance mechanism seemed 
to be free and clean.

Put everything back together and she runs EXACTLY the same way.

It would seem to me that possibly the primaries aren't flowing enough 
fuel...and only when you get the fuel from the secondaries does it pull 
well. BUT, even if the carb had never been set up for the engine, you'd 
think off the shelf it would run better than that... and if the car was 
running _only_ on the fuel from the secondaries, it would still be way 
lean (which it does not seem to be).

I have the same basic carb on a Dodge 273 and that engine has a lot more 
low end than top end... no carb worries at all.

Is there something else I should consider before replacing the carb? I'm 
REALLY thinking ignition... but due to the engine placement (Esprit S1), 
it's very difficult to check timing and advance. I know from my British 
cars that 90% of carb problems are really Lucas in nature...

Thanks!
Bill Elliott


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