My 318 burns very rich, need your advice.

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NEWATTHIS

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Hi everyone,again your help and advice is needed. I have a rebuilt 318 in my dodge dart sport. I am running the eddy performance #2176 manifold with the eddy 600 carb. The heads are stock(for now) with a comp cam 477/480 and a set of hedders with 2 and 1 half exhaust with dynomax mufflers. The car seems to run okay but it sure does burn rich. I have tryed to adjust it many times, i also had more experienced mopar men look at it. The carb is new with only 2000 miles of gas gone through it. The exhaust pipes are jet black and you can see raw fuel spitting out the pipes. I was told by a man that a 600 is to big for the 318 with stock heads, is that true? If i change the heads or get these heads reworked will the 600 be okay? Should i go to a smaller carb. I know that these old muscle cars are not meant for unleaded gas so maybe that why it burns rich. Does your car burn rich? will burning rich hurt anything? Or am i worrying over nothing. any advice is grateful thanks NEWATHIS
 
Are you sure raw fuel is coming from the exhaust? It may be just water from condensation. A 600 cfm carb with vacuum secondaries is a good choice for the 318.
 
69swinger340391 said:
Are you sure raw fuel is coming from the exhaust? It may be just water from condensation. A 600 cfm carb with vacuum secondaries is a good choice for the 318.
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The 600 like said above is a good carb for the 318. Sounds as though the carb needs tuned. Depending upon the vac the cam is making the metering rods may be up at idle causing the rich condition.
 
Have you pulled a plug to see what it looks like. If you have run it 2000 miles it cant be to rich it would have fouled the plugs long ago. And with the cheap gas we get now we dont get that light gray in the tips anymore. If your plugs are black then you have a problem. I had to take mine to a guy here in town that knows carbs. He had to drill small holes in my throtle blades to create a small leak so mine wouldn't run rich. I think what you see comming out the back is just water that is a byproduct of burning fuel. Tom
 
Newatthis: What kind of mileage are you getting? With or without your foot on the floor? Does it idle ok? Does it run ok, or any hesitation?
C
 
If you need holes in your secondaries, just use the screw on the bottom of the carb to crack the secondaries open a touch instead. Usually 1/2-3/4 turn is all it needs. Does wonders.
 
First, if you saw raw fuel running out the exhaust, you'd have destryoed the engine by now. What you see as noted is condensation carrying carbon in it. Not a big deal. Second, every carb, new, old, expensive, cheap, all have to be tuned to properly run on your individual car. Seom say they were perfect right out of the box... But I'd venture to say they dont know how good a well tuned carb can be and they think it's fine when it could be better. You Edelbrock probably needs step up springs and possibly a rod change. Just get the strip kit and tune it.
 
An Edelbrock 1406 is a great choice for a 318.

First, check the float level. They sometimes aren't quite right out of the box for whatever reason.

Next, with the engine at idle, pull one of the metering rod covers off and make sure the rods are all the way down at idle.

If they are all the way down, turn the mixture screws in until the engine dies. If you can kill the engine, it's not too rich. If you get the screws in all the way without killing it, go down a couple sizes on the main jets (switch front to rear).

Reading plugs can help you fine tune it. Bear in mind that the factory plugs are a couple heat ranges hotter than you want for todays gas. They will be white unless you are crazy rich and then they will just be black.
 
I was told by a man that a 600 is to big for the 318 with stock heads, is that true?
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Run away from this person, run fast, run far. Find a big stick and hide behind a tree. When he comes looking for you, wack him over the head very hard. This should straighten him out some.

Seriously........

Your going to need a tuning kit from Edelbrock which contains jets, rods and springs. Start with a larger(Thicker) rod which will lean it out. The instruction manual that comes with the carb (Or downlaodable from Edelbrock.com) will show you how it's done in detail.

Start with the primary's and then move on to the secondary side. It takes alittle time to sort this out, but it is easy enough.
 
I'm really surprised nobody mentioned timing! That 318 may want more initial at idle w/all the goodies you have(cam,intake,headers,etc.)Might clean it up at idle and wake it up at part throttle,then you can tune the other circuits in the carb.Put a lite on it and tell us what you have for initial and total timing.
 
Well, the guys pretty well covered the tuning and timing aspects of your problem so I won't rehash that. However, is this a new or well used carb? Have you checked for vacuum leaks? If all else fails, check for a bad carb to manifold gasket or even a cracked carb base. Good luck.
 
Thank you everyone for this information, i will give it a another try in about 6weeks. I live in Canada right above Montana State, it f==k==g cool here right now(-30) with lots of snow and the car in storage. CLHYER -to answer your ? the car likes its fuel it runs okay but black smoke you see coming out the tailpipes. Gentlemen, i have a new ? for you.Who in the U.S.A sells fiberglass bumpers for dart sport?. Cant get them here in Canada, nobody makes them here, been surfing to web looking any help is grateful Newathis P-S good advice Rumble i thought that guy was full of crap also
 
You know. All I've used on all of my 318's. About 11 of them. I've either used a 600 cfm AFB, 600 cfm AVS, or now I have a couple of 600 cfm edelbrocks. They are literly perfect for the 318. You just need to know how to tune your carb. They do not come out of the box already that way. Just learn how to do it. Find one of these wonderful guy's or gals on here to help you out.
 
you need to get a vacuum gauge and check the vacuum ...

edelbrock make step up springs for the metering rods to allow them to get sucked down if your vacuum is low due to bigger cam...

actually...if you remove the torq screw and small plate that covers the metering rods...start the engine up...you can see if the metering rods are being pulled down while it idles...

also...what is your ignition set at? has the distributor been recurved?
 
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