Q-jet blowing fuel out top upon startup - floods easily cold

[wcumagic]

I have rebuilt my quadrajet per cliffs book, and she runs like a scalded dog once it starts, but thats the problem.  IT will not start cold without messing with it ALOT and flooding the heckola out of it.  When I try to start it, within 2 trys to turn it over, it starts blowing fuel out of the top of the carb (front vent and primaries) to the point that I'm scared its going to catch fire any minute.  It usually blows the fuel out after I let off the starter and it hits a few times and blows fuel out, almost deiseling.  Even with my foot NOT on the throttle.  (that makes me think I have the timing off badly)  I do have a fuel pump that factory puts out 45ish psi, but i have a regulator on it that supposedly takes it down to 6 psi currently.  Too much fuel pressure? 

Starts easy as heck when warm.  First time every time.  Idles nice as well, when warm. 
 
Engine is a LT1 from a 1995 Firebird with modified (took them to Ben Barnes and he had fun with them) heads.  The heads were shaved, and he told me it would raise it about 1 compression point, so I dont know if I have 10.6 or 11.5.  The cam I have is Comp cams intake .495 ex .502 duration at .006.  Tappet lift 270 and 276 and I put 1.6 ratio rocker arms on it, so I think that changed duration a little.  She's really lumpy at idle, which is around 750 rpm (kinda fluctuates 650-800). 

Car is an 89 camaro but that makes no difference here I reckon. 

Here are my mods according to your book. 
idle mixture holes .090
idle bypass air  .080
idle tube           .037
idle down channel  .052
upper idle air bleed  .070 not in air horn
lower idle air bleed   .077
idle by pass air      .080
plate holes  none
fuel inlet seat   .145
main jet  .072
rod          .042
secondary hanger   g
secondary rods        ce
longer power piston spring installed (yellow)   (factory spring was dark dense one)

numbers on carb    17057230
                          2666     arf                         so, '77 caddilac built late in 76?

I have around 10 " vacuum at idle.  My timing is set at around 12-15 degrees now, with the mechanical advance taking it up to 36 degrees from 1200 rpm and all in by 3100 or so.     Is my timing set too low or too high? 

On a secondary note - the return hose from the pcv - can it go into the rear of the carb?  It blows oil out of that vent hole, so I cant just vent it without drippage.  Does it need a pcv inline or can I just run a hose from the vent hole to the back of the carb (I had it run like this, but Dad said that was the problem).

Help me out!  Any ideas why its blowing fuel the wrong way?  Why oil flying out the vent? 

[omaha]

  Id say  you got to get the blowing oil problem fixed unless you got an extreme amount of crankcase pressure for some reason. the oil should not just blow out of the valve cover. I just dont know where to start. You got a baffle in the valve cover? (some cheap aftermarket valve covers do not) You g ot a good vent line in the opposite valve cover of the PCV installed valve cover. How about the valve guides and seals. I do not know.  You got to start from a good starting point. Something is causing the blowby.  and the blowby is prolly where the fuel shooting through the carb is coming from unless you got some wickedley mismatched intake ports or something like that. (alot of race engines do not run a PCV
and run thr vent tube to a     oil collection cup before venting the bypass to the atmosphere.) I wouldnt think youd have to go this last option. Also, I do not like the 45 PSI pump goin to a 6 lb regulator. I know it works butI just dont like it for some reason. 
 I will let some others chime as I am out of ideas. 

[wcumagic]

chevy centerbolt valve cover, I'm pretty sure the baffle is still in there.  Valve guides and seals in heads are brand new/redone by Mr. Barnes.  The intake is the chevrolet performance intake for carbing a lt1, but I havent tried to match them, I assumed they'd be good.

When we had the motor apart before we put it in the car, all the cylinders looked great (no catching in walls with fingernail, even number 7).  There was only a little layer of crap in the oil pan (1/8" in corners maybe less) when we first tore it down from storage.  Generally, it looked better than most engines I've seen torn apart. 

See, I had another motor (baby lt1, 262) that I put in the car before this one (I thought it was lt1, but we'll not go there!) with the same carb on it (before ruggles rebuild) and it started fine, but it also had this same problem with oil coming out valve cover vent hole (though not as much).  This earlier motor looked BEAUTIFUL inside. I thought it might have something to do with the high compression and my advanced timing of it.    I had before (last 6 weeks or so) had a tube run from the back of the carb to the vent hole with a little elbow fitting that came off the original tpi motor I had - I didnt have oil leaking problems, but would that make it a large vacuum leak as Dad says?  The oil became much more problematic (noticeable) after we removed the hose to the carb. 

Just to clarify about amount of oil - it is enough to get all over the back half of valve cover and drip all over the headers on the right side in a 5 minute drive.  Only enough smoke to see it behind you when driving occasionally or when stopped.  Just enough to be embarassing and smelly. 

Thanks for the reply.

[wcumagic]

Well, I adjusted the idle from 12 to 14 degrees advanced to around 18, which it seems to like much better.  Of course now the engine is warm so I cant test whether it'll start easier there or not.  I also put a larger spacer in the distributor to give it 18 degrees advance, hopefully putting me right at 36 total.  When I tested it in the garage, I didnt have any oil coming out of the vent, and no fuel blowing out carb.  We'll see in a few when I have to run down the road in it.

Could timing have been my problem all along? 

[omaha]

   I wouldnt think that it would need 18 degrees but if it likes it there and starts up easy when its hot.
Have you done a cranking pressure test? or a leakdown test? I was thinking you had a lot of blowby (rings). However, the timing mark might be off a bit on the balancer. I guess it could be the timing but I dont recall those types of symptoms for timing related issues.

[wcumagic]

She starts easy as heck cold at 18 and idles nicely.  I have no fuel blowing out of the carb and almost no oil blowing out the vent. 

TDC COULD be off, but we did the best we could with the heads off to find TDC and mark it good on the balancer since there is no key on these.

[Mr.Pontiac]

WOW! .145 DIA.  seat, shoot i have .135 and i think its alot. May i ask you please, have you checked your needle against your seat to make sure its sealing when closed. 1/4 float setting also?? Original float?? if not check the bouyancy, not leaking??

[wcumagic]

Thanks for all the responses.  Seems I just needed to get thoughts out of my head and figure it out.  It starts nice at 18 degrees.  First time, every time for a week or more now.  cold or hot.  No oil flying out the vent hole, or fuel blowing out the carb.  The car is my daily driver now since my Chrysler pooped out. 

May I address a few comments -

Mr Pontiac - yes .145 seat.  When I ordered it, my decision was based on Cliffs book, page 101.  That and I dont think I could find a .135 at the time.  Anywho, like everything else I've done to this carb, it came from the book.  I did test it when I put it on and it sealed nice.  I changed the float to a smaller one so there could be a little more fuel in there because I have a heavy foot. 

Omaha, - I have not done a cranking pressure test or a leakdown.  I'm running on the fact that I saw the inside of the motor just a few thousand ago and it was beautiful.  No catches.  Honing lines clearly visible.  Thanks for suggesting the timing, as it turned out to be.  I dont know how I could have gotten it wrong.  When the head was off, we put a guage up on the block and found the plateau in height where the piston is at the top and TDC was put right in the middle of that on the balancer.