This is what I would do:
I would;
Take the carb off, and drain it.
Check and adjust the float level to the designed level.
Holding the throttle closed to prevent the fast-idle from engaging, flip it upside down, and
With the speed screw, adjust the Primary transfer slots to a little longer/taller, than wide. and from this point on, I would NOT TOUCH THE SPEED SCREW!
I would
Close the Secondaries up tight, but not sticking.
Put the mixture screws back to 2.5 turns out.
Flip it right-side up, and reinstall it.
Test the VA to make sure the diaphragm is NOT ruptured, and put it on the spark-port. Make sure it is truly on the spark-port and not on the choke pull-off port.
If the car has a Brake booster, I would clamp off the hose for now.
I would
>Plumb the PCV to the place provided for it, at the front of the carb, just below the throttle blades.
>Use only thick-walled hose rated for PCV use. I would not plumb the PCV to the back of the intake plenum, nor to any single-intake runner. This is VERY, almost extremely important. This calibrated air-leak is the Idle-Air bypass, and that 340 cam, in a low compression ratio 360, is gonna want that bypass air. In fact, probably it will need even more air but we'll get to that later.
Finally, I would take all the slack out of the accelerator pump linkage.
Next;I would
Reset the static timing to 12*.
Now, listen carefully;
>the distributor drive gear cares not one whit to where the drive-slot is pointing. Not one tiny bit.
Every time you re-index it;
to make it work at the new location, you will simply reclock the cap to get a tower above the rotor, at the firing point of the reluctor, and rewire the cap as may be necessary, and so, the engine will run exactly the same as before you reclocked it. This is a Big waste of time, unless you just want it to be like the factory
>There are only three reasons to use the factory..... clocking. They are;
1) cuz when you do, and your cap has a "1" beside one of the towers, that tower is supposed to send the spark to the #1 cylinder, and
2) the custom-fit factory plug wires will all fit. and
3) if another DA mechanic works on it, he won't charge you an hour to re-clock it to; "well, that's where the factory put it, so they must have wanted it there for a reason" ; which reason I have already explained; just go find a new mechanic! That is all.
Go ahead everybody, prove me wrong. Criminy I figured that out over 50 years ago.
ANY TOWER, can be used as #1, but it better be the one directly above the rotor when the #1 cylinder is at TDC compression! That is all there is to it.
If it should happen
that your Vcan is hitting the Oil sender, then the daymn thing is up too high. If you have room, and if you need to, you can just re-clock the distributor to the next tower, and re-clock the wires, but leave yourself enough twisting-room to be sure you can get 36* advance at 3600rpm.
Now,
I have seen distributors, not factory ones, that when you set the static timing to 12*, the rotor-tip is quite far from a tower, and when the advance comes in, the rotor runs away from the correct tower, and the spark goes to the wrong cylinder.
And I have seen pick-ups wired in wrong polarity, that you can make idle, but as soon as the flyweights begin advancing, the spark goes berserk.
And I have seen reluctors installed on the wrong-way rotation index pin, which indexes the rotor too far out to lunch..
So there's lots of ways to get your ignition system messed up, but clocking to the oil-pump-drive slot is NOT one of them.
And BTW, the electronic ignition distributor does not require nor care about electrical grounding, so long as the pick-up remains isolated.
Ok, so, assuming the following:
> the t-slot sync is close, and
> the wet fuel level is correct and stable, and
> the coil is correct for the system and wired correctly,
> the ignition system is working as designed, and
> the PCV is working and is plumbed correctly, and
> all the air that the engine is gonna be seeing, is gonna be coming into the plenum past the throttle blades, and
> the valves are all closing and opening in the right order and at the right time, and sealing, and
>The Secondary System is known to be working,
Then
Put some gas in the bowls thru the bowl-vent, and splash a couple of teaspoons into the primaries, then put the gas pedal down half way, hold it there until the engine revs up, and CRANK IT!
The engine should lite right off!
It may rev up and then die, I would kindof expect that with an open choke. Just dribble another two teaspoons of gas down the primaries, and repeat. The second time, the mechanical fuel-pump should have finished filling the bowl, and it should run. Just sit there for a half a minute and keep the revs up at around 1500>2000. This will call the VA into play, and if yur lucky, that will bring in another 12>15 degrees timing, for a quick warm up.
After the engine has smoothed out and burned off all the fuel I dumped into the intake, now you can slowly bring the Rs down towards idle.
If the engine stalls, you will be tempted to increase the speed-screw; DON"T DO IT.
Instead, just give it more Idle-Timing.
Don't worry, at idle, your 340-cammed 360 will gladly accept tons of timing, maybe over 30>35*. just get it to idle so it can warm up. Use the fast idle cam if you have to, but do not touch the speed-screw!
Ok, after the engine is up to temperature,
and the lifters have adjusted themselves;
Kick off the fast-idle, and start backing off the Idle-Timing, towards 12*.. This number is arbitrarily chosen. You can set anywhere between say 5* and 18*. But
The right Idle Timing and T-slot sync, will be whatever timing it takes
1) to get rid of any tip-in sag, and
2) does not bang excessively into gear, and
3) gets you about 750 rpm in Neutral, and does not
drop more than 100 rpm into "Drive".
Next;
Adjust the mixture screws for best lean idle.
If this takes more than 2.5 turns out, then the engine wants a lil more fuel from the transfers.
If the mixture screws want to be at less than 2.5 turns, then the transfers are already too far open.
Adjust the speed screw in increments of 1/2 turn, until she gets happy and the rpm stabilizes..... but not more than 1 turn from the starting position.
If the engine is still rich, chances are that she wants more Idle bypass air. But, PROVE IT FIRST; check the fuel level and pressure; a high fuel level will manifest as a rich idle. If you think it's rich, PROVE IT FIRST.
I don't think the factory 340 cam, with the correct PCV valve, will want bypass air; but if it does; first prove the system is sucking air.
Then having proved that she's rich at the Synchronized slot exposure, and it's not a bad fuel-level, Ok;
I would just drill a small hole in each Primary throttle blade, beginning at 1/16" inch. I put them just back from the front edge, near to between the transfer slots and the idle discharge ports. Then test it.
I would go no bigger than 3/32.
When you do this, the idle-speed will immediately jump up; so, put the speed screw back to where it started. Then go back to "the right Idle-Timing" as above. The whole idea is to get the rpm down, to reduce idle power, to prevent the dreaded harsh transmission engagement, while simultaneously eliminating tip-in sag.
Ok now,
just so you know; I am confident that I could tune your combo, with a correctly installed 340 type cam, to idle at 750rpm in Neutral/Park, at between 5>12* of advance, with NO more than 100rpm drop into gear at factory stall, which will not have any tip-in sag.
And now, so can you
Finally, unclamp the brake booster, let it charge, then make sure the idle speed and quality has not changed.
Happy HotRodding
PS
1) if the reluctor is wired in reverse polarity, you can set the idle timing just fine. But like I said, as soon as the flyweights start advancing, the spark will go crazy, You can see it on the timing light. The strobes will jump back and forth and sometimes never show up at all. I have never seen this associated with anything else than wrong polarity. The pick-up belongs to a reverse rotation distributor, like a BB. Either get a correct pick-up, or better yet get two, one for spare.
Alternatively, cut your pick-up wires and solder them together in the correct polarity, but, seal them well from air and water., then shrink-tube them to prevent vibration from breaking them beside the solder-joints. Ten buy a just one spare correct polarity pick-up.
How can you tell which one is correct?
Well from Mopar they use color-coded wires. AFAIK there are three of them; grey, violet, and one other I forget the color of. You want the one with one violet wire. I cannot speak to aftermarket pick-ups.
2) E-core coils work well on CDI amps. Not so good on standard Mopar ECUs. The best daymn coil I ever got was the big Accell square top.
3) If you have a five-pin ECU wiring harness, you can run either/or the 4-pin or the 5-pin ECU with no other changes except, the dual-pin ballast is no longer required, altho it hurts nothing to leave it in the circuit, as it just dead-heads at the ECU.
4) If your fuel filter fills up with air, check your rubber jumpers. If you have clamped them with screw-clamps, they need to be doubled on each side , with screws staggered 180 degrees; ESPECIALLY when using EFI hose, as the rubber will bunch up under the screws.
Yes you can tighten the single clamps, but you will just end up squeezing the rubber thru the slots in the bands and eventually, they will leak anyway.
5) no your 340 cammed 1979 360 , does not need a 3/8ths fuel-line, on the street. but having one is Not a bad thing lol.
6) your 360, if an iron-headed lo-compression engine, will come alive with an old-style 2800 convertor. FABO guys are saying that modern convertors are more efficient, and so, even higher stalls are on the table. This will depend a lot on what rear gear you are running, and even on what transmission.
7) That 340 cam, on a 114 LSA, is a big pressure pisser. It worked in a hi-compression 340, but not so much in a low-compression 360 automatic. The cylinder pressure tanks, maybe down at 120psi, and then the bottom end goes away. But it sounds real mellow, out the pipes, and , with a hi-stall or a a manual-trans, guys are not complaining too bad. Mostly I guess cuz they've never run in the window of 185>200psi, lol..............
That's a whole nuther engine!
