1966 Cadillac running rich

[houstonlayne]

sedan de ville 1966

I bought a new (rebuilt) carburetor and the car seems to idle low and running pretty rich ..
im not sure what adjustments to the carburetor need to be made to correct this ...

I have a repair manual for the car .. not sure where to start ..

thank you for you help

[Dave Shepherd]

Do you know how to adjust the idle mixture and what make carb is this. Carter AFB?

[Tony and Ginny 429]

Pull the spark plugs to determine how rich you are now running
When the plugs are right they s/b a brown paper bag color
Darker is richer ,whitish is leaner
Your tune up spec' s need to be --perfect- before you make  any carb adjustments , and they s/b done on an expanded RPM meter
THe only way to change the fuel mixture is to reject the carb , all jets are marked with there size
Edelbrock customer service can be a big help in giving you the new jet or metering rod sizes to change to ,and auto zone has the jets and metering rods you need to make the change
I do think your  new CARTER carb could have been from another type or model car
That is why it is best to  rebuild your old carb
I did have to rejet the new EDElbrock carb I bought for my 64 429 ,with there help
If your plug color is not to far off ,you might get away with just a metering rod change -that can be done from the top of a carter afb
Do not drop anything into the carb (fill it with paper towels or something) as the metering rods will want to spring out ,they are under a small screw with an odd shape piece of metal under them , right at the top of the carb
Consult Edelbrock regarding the changes if you can do the work your self

[houstonlayne]

thank you for your replies ..

I think this may be worth the money to have someone else fix it ..

[dplotkin]

Good move.
Find someone age 50 or older.
Old car diagnostics are much harder than new cars, being based on experience with and understanding of points ignition and carburetors; their relationship with timing based on readings from timing lights, vacuum guages & dwell meters along with sounds, smells and vibrations. Young diagnosticians rely principaly on readouts from computer systems.

Dan