350 timing and fuel help

[maulcruiser]

Yeah, I know. Dirt simple problem.

Ok, ancient stock 350 with a newer Quad (was a stock rebuilt deal from a local race shop). Idles decent from what I can hear (needs mufflers), and the timing light shows it dead on at idle. I know nothing of mechanical advances or any of that jive. I was told by a mechanic a while back that the harmonic balancer may have slipped, giving me problems getting it in time. How can I verify this?

My problem seems to be in the mid to high RPMs. It breaks up and sounds like it's dropping a few cylinders, then it'll randomly pick them up and go. It stumbles around some at idle also if you've been running it hard.

It smells like it's running rich at idle and I know nothing about tuning truck carbs. I never owned a carb'd vehicle before I built this truck, so I'm struggling here.

No air leaks and I'm sure it's getting plenty of fuel from the mechanical pump. Also, when I hot start it, it sounds like it's vapor locked. The starter really struggles to turn it over.

Any articles I can read online to help out or anyone local to Bladenboro, NC that could lend a hand?

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Will it spit back through the carb under load? If so, it's definitely timing. If you check the timing and it's dead on, they I would pull the timing cover and check the timing chain. Fairly easy fix and not expensive at all.

 

[maulcruiser]

I think it may be spitting back through the carb. The air filter is awfully dirty for such little drive time on it. This thing is so loud though, it's hard to tell exactly what is going on. I'm gonna have it hushed up tomorrow.