65S/C 427 side oiler.... am I wrong@$#%!

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by elmariachi

For "fun" I bought a restored 3255 in March "just to play with." After messing with it for a couple of weeks with my Innovate O2 setup, regardless of PVs, mixture settings etc I was unable to get the idle mixture right. It was loading up, idling rough, fouling plugs etc. So I sent it to Keith Craft to be dyno tuned. It should be back in my hands tomorrow and I'll post up the outcome. I can't see what would make it quirky, but it seems quirky. Looks cool though, so I got that goin' for me.

If your carburetor doesn’t perform as you hoped when you get it back your problem could be at least in part fuel level issues. Some issues with the “LeMans” fuel bowl assemblies include:

1) Unless you have one of the special external fuel level test gauges Holley® use to sell, you cannot get a reading of fuel levels inside the bowls on a running engine.

2) The level of the carburetor installed in your car might not be the same as what Ford/Holley used during design and development. If you tip the carburetor much the fuel level at the entry to the booster venturi ports changes quickly. Change the mounting angle of the carburetor and you can leave the level too low at one end of the carburetor and equally too high on the other end. The frequent results of installing at an angle different than Ford/Holley used include:


a. Difficult to extremely difficult restarting of a hot engine because the too high level dribbles out and down into the engine as soon as it is shut down, the engine “floods”.


b. Fuel running out a throttle shaft and dripping on the intake manifold after shut down or while parked.

i. Worse if the car is parked on an angle side to side.
ii. Worse if the car is parked on a slope front to back or visa versa.


c. Poor idle quality.


d. Poor low speed performance and high fuel consumption.


e. Rich stumble during hard cornering (black sooty smoke from exhaust).


f. Rich stumble, perhaps even killing the engine because of flooding, upon hard braking.


3) Steel needle and seats. All steel needles and seats use to be a favorite of racers. They are not a problem in all out racing but can at times cause fuel level control problems on the street.


The issue of fuel levels is a big deal for original cars, with Cobras having more trouble than 427 Cobras. Running GT350 float settings with an R-3259 / R-3259-1 in a Cobra is awful.

Dan