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Engine show's lean and rich on different cylinder's.

blue69runner

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Have a 383 in the runner. Mid high rise Holley intake. When reading the plug's notice that the 3-5 cylinders are running about right as well as 4-6 on the other bank. Front and back cylinders seem to be rich on both sides. Running a 650 cfm Holley carb. The car runs fine and has plenty of get up and go. LOL. Its love's fuel. Any advice would be grate. A few other people I have talked to says if its crank's and run's just drive it. But I do like a fine-tuned motor. Is this normal for the engine. Well, any info will be appreciated. Blue.
 
your carb is running more fuel on one side, if you look at your intake you see one side feeds the 2 inner on one side and the 2 outer on the other
 
How much more rich? When tuning I always read the leanest plug and tune to it. but there is no big difference between the richest and leanest.
 
There is no divider on my Holley intake it is open inside. You can see each tube that feed's the different cylinders. Middel cylinders have tan plugs which is what I like. The back and front show black fluff. This show's these are getting more fuel. Well taking in all the comments and may help with a decision. I just don't want to get a wash down on the cylinder wall's and have too much wear on those. So that being said want to thank all for the info. Maybe there is a divider plate supplied by Holley. Think I will call them. Blue.
 
Are you looking at plugs right after a WOT run? Then turned off and coasted to a stop? If not you're not reading what's going at WOT. You're reading idle/cruise.
Doug
 
Don't expect evey plug to be identical .

When running a single carb on a low profile type intake, without equal length headers and oem style cylinder heads. The number of variables is 10 pages long. One of the easiest is what you already explained . Your center cylinders are running different compared to your outer or corner cylinders when looking at the intake. The center cylinders have a much shorter path vs the corner cylinders, this changes more than you think. Does your càrb have 4 corner idle ? Is it mechanical or vacuum secondaries ? Adjustable IFR?
Are your headers equal length ?

Nothing wrong with trying to fine tune but my experience so far is look at the "system " as one unit. Unless you have a serious miss fire or something of that nature .

Unless you have MPI or individual carbs . You really can't tune cylinders individually on your single carbed V8.
 
I think reading plugs to determine rich/lean is probably hit and miss unless doing so as dvw said. But if your results are the same after a hard, full power run, you might need to go to staggered jetting in the carb. You might contact the Holley tech line and see if they have any jetting recommendations for that intake, but not likely you will get ahold of anyone who really knows anything.
 
Carb tuning. Play with your jets. Sometimes you might also need different heat range plugs on different cylinders.

a 650 Holley is a pretty small carb for a 383 anyway, even in the old DC books the engineers said to run a 850 dp.

Engine specs? If it’s a stock motor a dual plane intake might work out better for you.
 
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