XW 351 Cleveland Holley Carb Tune Up | No More Fouled Plugs!

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day everyone! So what do you think is causing that little stumble? I reckon the power valve - all my reading seems to point that way. Thanks so much for watching! Give the video a thumbs up if you liked it and make sure you check out the other great aussie automotive youtubers in the description! I also make fun travel videos here @MarcsMildlyInteresting

[@FuelBurnMedia]

😎🤙

[@craig8187]

Power valve, you have reduced jet size(leaned off) and have a low PV vacuum number, so you are not getting any PV enrichment at low throttle until the intake vacuum gets down to 4.5"hg(your mentioned PV) Idle vacuum has zero bearing on what PV to choose. Drive it with the vacuum gauge connected and observe the intake vacuum it has right at the flat spot, if it is say 6"hg , try a 6.5 PV which will begine to open just before the flat spot vacuum reading, if there is still a hint of the flat spot try an 8.5 PV which will begin to open a couple of "hg before the flat spot. Keep a check on your light throttle cruise vacuum at 60/80/100 kph as well because you dont want a PV with a vacuum number equal to or greater than you light cruise vacuum or the PV will constantly be enriching your fuel mixture.

[@jimclarke1108]

Got a VT roller cam bottom end VN heads, inlet manifold, Holley 650 in my HZ, plugs foul on idling, great cruising, my idle mixture works a little....

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Jim! That sounds like a nice combo mate in the HZ! Maybe a bit more timing might help with the idle fouling in conjunction with the idle adjustment? Jim I have seen your thoughtful comments on so many automotive channels I also watch - great to see a familiar user here! Thanks for watching and the comment mate and I hope you enjoy our videos! Cheers - Marc

[@waskus]

28 years ago I got my 1971 mustang with a 351 cle.. I actulally put out almost 400hp... Loved it

[@MeatballGarage]

Nice mate! 400hp some big numbers back in the 90s on these old donks!

[@FuelBurnMedia]

Maaaaate! What a wild ride! And that’s a heck of an impressive edit too! World class 🤘

[@MeatballGarage]

Thanks mate!! This car is the project that keeps on giving haha! If I’m going to take 6 months to do a video it might as well be a banger - appropriate the kind words man! After all this….still prob not as fast as an NA Barra in the Cake Tin ;)

[@JAStheACE]

A metric poofteeth , best thing i have heard since forever. keep at it. Love that XW.

[@MeatballGarage]

Haha I am pretty sure if you check with the department of weights and measures...its in the book somewhere 😁😁 Cheers for watching mate glad you enjoyed it!

[@JAStheACE]

@@MeatballGarage when i was a kid, dad used to say " ah, it's within a poofteenth of an inch" I guess us younger ones go the metric version. LMFAO

[@MeatballGarage]

🤣🤣

[@tonymontana897]

I love the comedy of errors mate. You are a good sport ! At least you have a sense of humour, which is refreshing. Warts and all is just fine. Thanks for keeping it real. I hope you get your running rich issue sorted. I have nothing to offer except perhaps, maybe, the 750 double pumper is too big for the HP. Have you tried a 650 or even a 750 Vac Secondaries ?

[@MeatballGarage]

Cheers Mr Tony Montana! Glad you enjoyed coming along for the ride! Mate it’s all about leaning as you go - and the best way to learn is to create fuel leaks 🤣🤣 I am going through the carby now and am getting it pretty close to dialled in - I haven’t given up on the 750 just yet…but by the time the next video on tuning it is out it could be in the bin 🤣. Hoping to have some more vids out on this journey soon. Thanks for watching 👍👍

[@STREETCARCULTURE]

Appreciate the shoutout brother! Swing past sometime.

[@MeatballGarage]

No worries Jason any time mate! I haven’t forgotten, need to swing by the new place (…it’s probably not that new anymore actually haha). Hope all is good with you! Cheers - Marc

[@rustynutzz3504]

Gday mate my XY Ute is nearly finished. My brother is having carb problems with his XW and hopefully this video helps him.

[@MeatballGarage]

G’day mate! Thats awesome - feels like 5 mins ago you told me about your ute with the 393 build! Hope this helps your bro out, good on him if he is trying to sort it out himself too! Cheers and good to hear from you Rusty!

[@rustynutzz3504]

Gday mate I finished my XY ute on Saturday last week I filmed a couple of really short videos on my channel. Have a look if you want.👍

[@leevocale7311]

Hi Marc, always a pisser! Great content mate! My XY GT is in primer and ready to be painted! My XY fairmont still needs a donk and not sure whether to drop in the C4 with stage 2 or toploader Keep the content coming bud Cheers

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Lee! Nice progress on the GT! I reckon if your GT is a manual put the C4 in the fairmont. That way you have one of each! I reckon a cog swapper would be slower but is a much more engaging drive - however i am grateful for my auto for when I just want to cruise! Cheers mate glad you enjoyed the vid - thanks for watching and the comment! Marc

[@MichaelBTraveller]

Nice to be back to it! "she didn't like that!" If she lives on Grimshaw she should be used to wackas tooling up and down tuning their cars.

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Michael! Haha yep at least my little squirt was in broad daylight! I hear em roaring up and down all night from where we are! It was great to find some time to work on the car and pop out a video - need a little bit more tuning on the power valve now. How is that VW coming along? Looking forward to an update video on that one - no pressure ;)

[@joshuastoate1125]

Ripping film there, Brian. Big fan of the dropping things that shouldn't be dropped into various fluids and the mystifying cutaways to images of various things!

[@MeatballGarage]

Ahh excellent Brian! Always good to have positive feedback from the custodian of ‘what is and isn’t shithouse’! Maybe soaking spark plugs in oil can become a thing?

[@heymaddo]

G'Day mate , FFs your still at it lol Catchya...

[@MeatballGarage]

Hey Maddo! Mate, I will always be at this thing haha! It's all good fun..until it isnt! Hope you are travelling well mate and enjoying life over there!!

[@ThrottleDownunder]

I'm loving your edits buddy. So snappy and attention grabbing 🤙🤙

[@MeatballGarage]

Cheers Rob, appreciate it mate!! These vids are few and far between these days so trying to make em as good as I can! Glad you enjoyed it mate and hoping the next one won't be as far away! 👍👍

[@rogerveal1336]

Great result. I wonder how much of the rich condition was just idle.adjustment. I'm going to install an afr guage before I start jet changes as I'm too scared to go lean and fry the engine.

[@MeatballGarage]

Cheers mate! Ah I reckon it was a combination of idle, timing and jetting. Since the first tune up video i have tweaked each bit by bit and it feels a little better each time. Still a ways to go to get completely optimised but we will get there. An AFR gauge is a great idea and will really give you the data you need to safely make changes! Are you tuning a Clevo? Falcon? What is your combo? How is it running? Let us know how you go! Cheers, thanks for watching and the comment mate!

[@rogerveal1336]

​@@MeatballGarage351 xd block in xy falcon. Old Holley 750 vac secondary. 224 232 cam 109 LSA Runs rich and rough. Just finished drilling holes in throttle plates to get it out of transition circuit. Only getting 7 inches of vacuum. Changed power valve from 6.5 to 4.5. Has 72 primary jets and the standard plate on the secondaries. Squirters are 28. Timing around 12. More timing makes no difference.

[@adammic16]

Great video!!! Ok so heres what ive been told and or research etc... DP Holley for manual cars..Vac sec for automatics. As for the plugs the timing mark looks perfect...some say on the bend some say further down..as long as its not on the base ring or burning off the strap. That base ring is where the reading for the idle circuit is taken..i was told this buy a very experienced carby builder...now reading the mains is done with a fresh plug..no idling around just a hard pull then shut it off...then the look at the fuel ring at the base of porcelain. No use looking at it after driving under different conditions,rpms etc. That 4.5 imo is too low. Drive around with vac gauge inside car and see what hg the hesitation its occurring at...6.5 is probably what u need. Just my 2 cents :)

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Adam! Mate thanks so much for your thoughtful comment! Your 2c are more like $2k! Thanks for giving me the confidence on the timing!! Thought that looked pretty good! Bang on about how to read plugs too and essentially confirmed that by doing what im doing im not going to get an accurate read on the mains unless i do some clean pulls - or whack it on a dyno. I reckon you have hit the nail on the head with the P/V too - It was getting so much fuel before through the mains the 4.5 didn't really impact mid throttle performance. I have a heap of vac line, and a couple of higher power valves in the tool box (6.5 & a 7.5 ) so this spring it will be my first job (and next video on the XW) Thanks for watching mate and for the brilliant info! Cheers 🍻🍻

[@aussie-c10-68]

Another cracker of an episode 😂 … nice little squirt down Grimshaw St 👌 should be good to get it on the dyno and refine that tune to perfect.. and see what sort of power she makes..

[@MeatballGarage]

Cheers mate!! Haha ahh so you are another northern burbs car nut eh? I’ll have to keep an eye out you in my rear view mirror! I need to sort the power valve and maybe tinker with the timing then we will hit the rollers to see how good my back yard tuning is! Uses waaaaay less juice though now so thats already a win! Cheers for watching and the comment mate!!

[@stevepierce3509]

Can you show us your exhaust system under the car please and what mufflers ( brand ) your running ?

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day mate! The system front to back is 1 and 3/4 inch 4 into 1 pacemaker extractors. 2.5 inch twin system with straight through mufflers. No idea the brand of muffler though sorry. This car cruises quietly but is loud as shit when you step on it. The GT which has a factory style system has a great cruise burble but is relatively quiet under WOT. At some stage id look at replacing the mufflers on the Fairmont with something that takes the raspyness out of the note. Cheers!

[@gmskippy]

Good vid mate another chuckle from this one. I think the carb is too big 600-650 is a good size for a Clevo. Looking forward to the next. 😊😊

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Glenn - Cheers mate glad you liked it! Yeah lots of 650s out there on Clevos but mines running pretty good now!! Will see how she goes after playing with the power valve!

[@stevepierce3509]

Just noticed you have XY quarter Glass latches on your XW ! Are they XY doors or XW on your Car ? There is a difference between the Quarter Glass locking latches hey.

[@MeatballGarage]

That is a pretty keen eye there Steve. I had to go compare my windows to the old mans GT. Id say the doors are probably from an XY, back when the car was put together the bloke must have just used what he could get his hands on to get it together. I love the quarter windows - great air con at 60mph!! Cheers mate!

[@Mursaat666]

im sitting here chucking to myself when the spark plug ends up in the oil, thinking well that ones never gonna rust LOL.

[@MeatballGarage]

Haha mate that plug will be right for some time won't it! I mean I thought I outsmarted myself by by moving the old oil from the working area....not far enough it seems haha! Cheers for watching and the comment!

[@samkhzouz1953]

what the part number of that fuel filter?

[@MeatballGarage]

That is a Ryco Z153k mate. Fits a 3/8th fuel line. Cheers!

[@marcelloricchetti1761]

Get rid of the double pumper. Get vacuum secondary carb.

[@jonathancross-jm9yu]

Hi mate, reason your car runs so rich is carb way too big for that engine, only needs a 650 d/pump or even a Quick fuel 650 vac /sec.You’ll be surprised how much it will improve performance,street ability, and less thirsty!! Also do a vacuum test on your motor and see what vacuum it’s producing at idle, the current carb you have may have the incorrect power valve that’s opening & richening the circuits too soon !! Stay with the Number 6 heat range plugs but open the gaps out to .042-.045” thou.These old school engines like a larger gap to burn unleaded fuel .Only run Mobil or Caltex ( Now Ampol) Premium 98 fuel.All other brands have way too many detergents in them that cause issues in carburetors, and tend to fowl the plugs. I stick with these golden rules for all the carburetor V8s I work on..never disappoints !!

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day Jonathan, thanks for the great tips and time you have put into that comment mate - appreciate it! I reckon by the end of this video I actually had the carb a bit too lean - the plugs were super clean and there was a definite lean stumble at part throttle. I am just wrapping up filming the next installment now where the goal was to get rid of that stumble and any lean spots. Spot on with the PV - that has been changed along with a few other things and so far it's running great (touch wood...cause there have been a few stuff ups along the way too!!!) My vac at idle has improved to about 16/17 inches too! Overall agree mate that a 650 will prob be way better for day to day drivability, but I reckon i have it pretty close with the 750. Will eventually take it to a Dyno or chuck a wideband on to see how close i got it. I am throwing new plugs at it this weekend so will see how I go with a larger gap too mate. Cheers for watching and thanks again for the tips!

[@Brad-h5o]

Change the plastic throttle response cam position bro

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day mate - Nah defo not pump cam. I have been working on the car the last month or so for an update video and am getting it dialled in and am pretty close by changing jetting and PV. The transition from idle to jets is pretty good so confident the cam position or colour are dialled in. Cheers mate and thanks for watching!

[@Jeremy-kf2zs]

That internationally recognised unit of measurement, “the poofteenth” 😂

[@joshuastoate1125]

Specifically metric poofteenth! That comment is a winner hahaha

[@MeatballGarage]

@user-uw9qx2kj2w Haha that's it! I think it works out to be about half a bees dick!

[@MeatballGarage]

@@joshuastoate1125 Ah yes sorry that's it Brian! It is metric!!

[@TheFrameoff]

Holley are good wide open but are too picky for cursing , and that 750 maybe a bit big

[@MeatballGarage]

G'day mate! I reckon this one is nearly dialled in pretty good - I need to get the power valve sorted and if it cruises good, pulls good and my plugs stay looking good I reckon it's on the money! For a stock 351 yeah maybe a 600 or 650 but this has a cam, gears and converter and seemed to wake up a lot when we put the bigger carb on a while ago. Just needed some love is all! Cheers for watching and for the comment mate!