Suddenly Won’t Idle below 1800 rpm???

[PurpleBeeper]

440 6bbl w/steady fuel pressure, electronic Direct Connection distributor. Some of this might be unrelated. Car was running well with a good amount of initial timing. New heads & valves adjusted less than 1000 miles ago. Engine would “cough” out of the carbs “occasionally” during startup. Power valve protection check ball added to center carb. 6.5 power valve.
1. Moved my white accelerator cam from position #1 to position #2
2. Accidentally made a + & - wired short (idle solenoid or N2O system) which melted some wires, but car still ran fine (surprisingly). Repaired all the melted wires.
3. Replaced ignition pickup & gapped to 0.008” with brass shim guage. Old Mopar NOS part.
4. Replaces Summit/Jegs (?) brass insert distributor cap & rotor with new Autozone Cap/rotor (rotor not brass)

Now, the car won’t idle below 2000 rpm. I replaced the pickup without removing the distributor, so timing never changed.

Any ideas why it won’t idle anymore?
THANKS!!!

 

[70 sublime]

Vacuum leak ?

 

[Don Frelier]

So you made 4 changes at once?

You might try putting the old cap and rotor back on and you can rule that out.
Pretty easy to do.

 

[493 Mike]

Has the idle solenoid stuck open too far?
Mike

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Has the idle solenoid stuck open too far?
Mike

Butterflies catching on vase gasket and holding open?

 

[dvw]

When you replaced the pick-up did the vacuum canister arm get jammed under the plate? hat could have change the timing.
Doug

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Vacuum leak ?

Good point. I did burn up the vacuum hose going to the the front carb. I replaced the hose, but maybe I missed a hole on another section.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

So you made 4 changes at once?

You might try putting the old cap and rotor back on and you can rule that out.
Pretty easy to do.

That's a good idea. I just replaced what was burned up & added the cap/rotor because the rotor was slightly discolored on one edge.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Has the idle solenoid stuck open too far?
Mike

Good idea, but I can see it's not touching.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Butterflies catching on vase gasket and holding open?

Makes sense, but I never removed any of the carburetors, just the cam & guts of the distributor all on the motor.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

When you replaced the pick-up did the vacuum canister arm get jammed under the plate? hat could have change the timing.
Doug

That makes a ton of sense. I will take a look while I'm putting the old rotor/cap back on.

 

[Don Frelier]

That makes a ton of sense. I will take a look while I'm putting the old rotor/cap back on.

Put a timing light on it. Another easy check

 

[Geoff 2]

You do not mention what the correct idle rpm was. I will assume 1000 rpm. If it is a dist problem, a problem with the timing is not going to increase idle rpm an extra 1000 rpm.
This is a H problem or base gasket problem. Something happened when you were messing with the carbs.