Edelbrock carb vacuum problems

[Gagecampbell82]

Hey guys, I've got an 82 c10 350/350 I'm running a stock 350 with headders, exaust, msd ignition, mallory dist., and an edelbrock 1406 600cfm carb. With electric choke which isn't hooked up bc it's honestly not needed to often here in north Alabama.

But my problem is I've been having some bad timing and vaccum issues which I thought was my dist.vacuum advance not working properly bc it would bog down, backfire,and die under a heavy load. But I was attempting to set my initial timing with a timing light (the first time I've used one ever) and I heard a hissing noise. I know my vaccum lines aren't ran exactly as edelbrock suggests and I plan to cap off the ones that should be but it always ran fine before now.

Anyway I realized the hissing noise was coming from a small hole in the choke which is supposed to be there and never leaked vaccum before. I will upload a pic of the hole with this post. But I'm trying to figure out if I can cap it off because the choke isn't used any way. I went all over town looking for a fitting to stick in the hole and found nothing. I believe I will try a wooden golf tee cut down if it can be capped. But also my question is considering I don't use the choke is it possible to swap to a Manual choke and not run a choke cable?

When I first found the problem I stuck my finger over the hole and it sucked on my finger and killed the engine. we had been adjusting the timing and carb to get it to run right before we found this problem thinking when it sat for a couple months some thing happened. I could get it to run good for a day or two then it'd be right back the way it was. Or it would run good at high rpms or idle but never both. Leading me to originally  think it was a vaccum advance problem.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do. I've swapped the choke to another electric one off an edelbrock I had laying around and it sucked air the same way.
Thanks in advance

[Gagecampbell82]

Here are the photos

[80Chevy4x4]

I will look at my 1406 today when I can get outside and see how mine is.

[Ludwig Von 88]

Maybe it will help you.

http://forums.edelbrock.com/forums/forum/non-efi-forums/general/3332-1406-carb-hole-near-the-choke-open-to-the-atmosphere

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2626492

There is 2 pictures of my 1406 and it work very well.

[Chuck Step-a-side]

The electric choke setting is supposed to close your choke when it's cold and electronically open the choke when the engine gets warm enough. If you're not going to use it, just loosen the screws around the choke and turn the choke until starts to close and then turn back to the opposite direction until stops and/or the choke is wide open and tighten screws. Now your choke should stay open all the time (best to set in cool weather, recheck when cooler weather arrives).

You have a vacuum leak somewhere. On Edelbrock carb, your distributor vacuum is on the passenger side port. The Transmission vacuum is on the driver side port. The PCV vacuum is the center port. The brakes power booster vacuum is on the backside lower bottom (no other vacuum is should be on this port). Any other vacuum will be coming from the manifold vacuum port.

When setting the timing, pull the hose from the distributor vacuum and plug hose with golf tee (vacuum is pulling from carb.)

If the engine still runs poorly after all the vacuums are in the proper place and no hissing sound; check your spark wiring order.
If you have pulled or replaced the distributor, it's possible you have inserted the distributor in one notch off. Recheck and verify.

[Gagecampbell82]

Sorry for the late reply. I changed the o ring behind the choke and found another vacuum leak and it seems to have fixed the problem.

But I found another problem... when putting the engine in the truck it didn't have a return line on the frame rail like the donor truck. My truck was a factory straight 6 3 speed column shift and i assumed they didn't have one so I changed the fuel pump. I have been swapping intakes over the last couple days going from a cast iron 4barrel to an edelbrock performer rpm intake. And when i pulled the fuel line it had way to much pressure in it and I checked the oil and it has a very strong gas smell.

I found what I think is a fuel line going over near my brake porportioning valve is which I assume is the vent to the charcoal canister which is no longer there. Can I use this as a return line or will the pressure in the tank with no vent cause the engine to vapor lock?

Right now my best idea is to pull the bed and change the sending unit to one with a return and vent and run a return line to where the factory location was on the donor truck where the feed line is on the frame rail.