My '57 Willys CJ5 has a 283 SBC. A little background on the powertrain. The engine has been rebuilt and has 1300-ish miles on it now. Th rest of the drive train is stock (rebuilt) with a 3 speed T90A tranny, Dana 18 T-case, rear Dana 44 with 5.38 gears and front with a Dana 25 5.38 gears and both with powerlocks. The carb is an edelbrock 1406 (electric choke) with a performer intake manifold and 305 heads.

1) I was having some issues initially with hot starts. The engine had to crank a while before it would start. I narrowed it down to heat from the intake to the carb causing boil over of fuel (especially with the ethanol content). I used an edelbrock heat gasket (some issues with vacuum leaks but fixed) which worked a little with the starting issue (at hot). I eventually went to an aluminum spacer but I still have some issue, especially now with the hotter temps. I have found that if I can get the electric fan on (if engine temp is hot enough to trigger it) and let it run for a minute, then the engine usually starts ok except for a burst of smoke (almost like flooded). Any suggestions? Would a phenolic spacer be better? The intake is a dual plane but the current spacer is an open spread bore. Does that matter since the intake is a dual plane?

2) The engine runs well at idle and take off in first. However, when accelerating in 2nd and 3rd, there is a hesitation during the acceleration. eventually it evens out and runs well. The carb has the same metering rods it came with in the package. I got the Edelbrock due to its out of box and run setup. It is big enough for the job at hand.

Thanks,
Paul