Newbie with cam and timing question

[rich weyand]

There ya go. Excellent.

Now, connect the vacuum advance on the driver's side (manifold vacuum) port of the Edelbrock, not the passenger's side (timed vacuum, 1968 pollution mandate nonsense).

Then dial in the mixture: the Edelbrocks are notorious for being set up rich from the factory. Here's a tune that should work for you. (I am assuming the smaller Edelbrock here, like the 1406.) I got it with an AF/R meter, and it seems to work on most 350s with stock to mild cams and low compression heads. Primaries: jets .092 (#1425), rods .062 x .052 (#1441); secondaries: stock; step-up springs: 8# (comes with #1464). You will also need to replace the airhorn gasket (qty 5 is #1499) when you change the primary jets. Adjust the float bowls while you are in there, as they will be wrong.

Then dial in the idle mixture. Start at 2 turns out. Keep dialing them out 1/4 turn at a time until the rpm peaks, then starts to drop. As soon as the rpm starts to drop, turn them back to the peak rpm, then one more quarter-turn in.

Finally, dial in the timing. Start at 12* BTDC, and check that you don't get pinging when pulling hard up the steepest hill near you. Dial it up another two degrees and try again, when you get pinging, back it off 2 degrees. Or you can just set it to 16* BTDC, which with the 20* mechanical advance in the stock HEI is sort of a sweet spot for the SBCs, and test for pinging there. You shouldn't get pinging with your setup until about 20* BTDC, so 16* BTDC is pretty safe.

And thanks for checking back in so someone searching with the same symptoms has some things to try.