Hi,
This will probably be a strange one, but I have a 1971.... Oldsmobile Cutlass. The reason I wanted to try the question here is because Chevrolet and Chevelle specifically seem to be a lot more common so more eyes might mean more possible solutions. I have tried the Oldsmobile forum too but can't quite seem to zero in on a cause. I do realize that a Chevy 350 is different than an Olds 350 but in terms of overall systems there are similarities so I am just curious if anyone here has encountered a similar issue.
So with that said, it is a 1971 Cutlass, 350ci, 4 barrel Rochester, 350 turbo trans. Basically all stock. Trans rebuilt last year. Bought it with the points ignition and switched to Flamethrower HEI. Single exhaust replaced with Flowmaster dual exhaust. Carb rebuilt professionally by Everyday Performance. I think that is basically the highlights.
Now, the issue is that under light driving it seems to work fine. But if I get on it a little bit, not even enough to kick it down a gear it seems to run rough when returned to idle. But, simply shutting it off and restarting (not touching the gas pedal) it seems to get it smooth again. Even more strange - if I get on it hard enough to kick it down a gear it seems to be stuck in high idle after. Again, shutting it off and restarting it without touching the gas seems to fix it. As far as I can tell nothing in the choke or throttle linkage is hanging up, and it just doesn't make sense to me that a simple restart would fix these things.
One more thing to note, my car tends to eat these new HEI distributors. Not the module, I have changed that roadside and it makes no difference. I haven't tried changing a coil or pick-up so maybe it is on of those, but since the unit was under warranty I always just got it replaced. I have recently changed to a solid stat voltage regulator and tested everything in terms of volts at the battery and the alternator and all seems good there now. Perhaps that was killing these, perhaps this issue is related to the driving conditions. One other thing that might give a clue is when started cold, it jumps into high idle as expected, but then after about 3 seconds bogs down or flat out stalls. After it bogs down it climbs back up into high idle or if it stalled, another pump of the gas and it fires back up into high idle. Not really a big inconvenience, just want to mention in case it ties into this.
Anyway, sorry for the long post and wrong car, lol. Just desperate to figure this thing out.
This will probably be a strange one, but I have a 1971.... Oldsmobile Cutlass. The reason I wanted to try the question here is because Chevrolet and Chevelle specifically seem to be a lot more common so more eyes might mean more possible solutions. I have tried the Oldsmobile forum too but can't quite seem to zero in on a cause. I do realize that a Chevy 350 is different than an Olds 350 but in terms of overall systems there are similarities so I am just curious if anyone here has encountered a similar issue.
So with that said, it is a 1971 Cutlass, 350ci, 4 barrel Rochester, 350 turbo trans. Basically all stock. Trans rebuilt last year. Bought it with the points ignition and switched to Flamethrower HEI. Single exhaust replaced with Flowmaster dual exhaust. Carb rebuilt professionally by Everyday Performance. I think that is basically the highlights.
Now, the issue is that under light driving it seems to work fine. But if I get on it a little bit, not even enough to kick it down a gear it seems to run rough when returned to idle. But, simply shutting it off and restarting (not touching the gas pedal) it seems to get it smooth again. Even more strange - if I get on it hard enough to kick it down a gear it seems to be stuck in high idle after. Again, shutting it off and restarting it without touching the gas seems to fix it. As far as I can tell nothing in the choke or throttle linkage is hanging up, and it just doesn't make sense to me that a simple restart would fix these things.
One more thing to note, my car tends to eat these new HEI distributors. Not the module, I have changed that roadside and it makes no difference. I haven't tried changing a coil or pick-up so maybe it is on of those, but since the unit was under warranty I always just got it replaced. I have recently changed to a solid stat voltage regulator and tested everything in terms of volts at the battery and the alternator and all seems good there now. Perhaps that was killing these, perhaps this issue is related to the driving conditions. One other thing that might give a clue is when started cold, it jumps into high idle as expected, but then after about 3 seconds bogs down or flat out stalls. After it bogs down it climbs back up into high idle or if it stalled, another pump of the gas and it fires back up into high idle. Not really a big inconvenience, just want to mention in case it ties into this.
Anyway, sorry for the long post and wrong car, lol. Just desperate to figure this thing out.