having problem starting my truck. i recently put knew (rebuilt) heads on the engine, and a 1970 motorcraft carb off a mustang - i needed a two barrel. anyway. when i turn the key it takes a long time for it to finally turn over. i've tried giving it a couple of pumps of gas, and not giving it any, but still has the same result; it cranks for about 10 t0 20 seconds before it starts. also, it wants to stall out some times when i come to a stop after i get it running. when it runs it runs strong, but surges during idle. the reason i put new heads and carb on it was because of a burned up number three exhaust valve, and it had a four barrel edelbrock on a 2 barrel intake.

i have adjusted the jets on the carb, and the ambient choke. might have to make more adjustments? i have also played with the distributor while it is running by advancing and retarding it, and think i have it where i want it: still need to hook up a vacuum gage though to make sure.

other things to note would be that there i don't have a kick down linkage hooked up since whoever put the edelbrock on left it off. i also think the vacuum modulator on the transmission might be bad - it has trouble shifting and there is wetness in the tube coming off from it (though very little).

if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

The starting and surging issues could be timing related. Weak battery and/or bad starter could be coupled with the hard starts. As for the tranny, what kind of trouble shifting? RPM has to come up for it to shift?

it started fine before i put on the new heads and carb - a turn of the key and it started, and it has a commercial battery in it. it's as if it's not getting fuel right away, or it's flooding out. do you think it could be an issue with the float inside the carb? would it being out of adjustment affect starting that much? i haven't replace the points and condenser in the distributor yet, and had a friend tell me he thought the dwell was more than acceptable. i might try to find a new, or rebuilt, one soon. does any of that sound like a cause?

as for the shifting, it feels like it doesn't shift into third. i don't have a tachometer, and it doesn't seem to rev all that high, even at 60 mph, but as soon as i take my foot of the gas it's as if the tranny is slowing the vehicle down, almost like someone is applying the brakes. fluid levels are normal. i've been told there needs to be pressure on the passing gear lever for the tranny to run right, but not sure if this is causing the tranny to slow the truck so noticeably.

other things i forgot to mention was that it was smoking quite a bit, white smoke but without that sweet antifreeze smell, which made me think it was the modulator. plus there was soot in the tailpipe, another indication of a faulty transmission modulator. the white smoke stopped, then black smoke came out of the tailpipe. i adjusting the jets, and that went away. there hasn't been any smoke since and it does seem to run better, but still trouble starting, even after it has run for awhile. so, it's not anything to do with being cold, it will start hard even if it's hot.

i will test the battery and maybe have the starter tested too, but it looks like it was replaced before i bought the truck.

Man...I guess I really dunno where to start with your issues. I guess your carb could potentially be an issue, really need to get a vacuum guage on it though. White smoke is always coolant and black is always fuel. I guess a little more detail on how/when these symptoms start and stop would help.

Quote:"anyway. when i turn the key it takes a long time for it to finally turn over."

Wrong terminology

Try this
" I turn the key and the starter cranks and cranks but the engine takes forever to FIRE UP" aka : Run

Turning over is not the same as running.

Turning over is the engine turning with the starter

You need the Kickdown linkage on it for the engine to run properly.

To check for carb related problems

Next time you go to start it after it has sat for a while.
Pour a couple of ounces of fresh gasoline down the carb throat wait 8 seconds then crank it to see of it starts right away

If it does start right away , then you have a carb/fuel delivery problem at start up

milton thanks for catching my error in terminology. i'll be looking to get a kick down linkage soon.