I took my car out for a spin and the engine seems to cough when I get on it kinda hard. It seems to be more prevalent when the engine is cold. It has a new edlebrock carb on it so I wonder if it needs tuning. The idle is set at about 600rpm (it's an auto with non working a/c). Once the car is warm the hesitation and coughing goes away. Any suggestions?

Is it a hesitation when you first stab it and then it goes OK? If so, many people have found that Edlebrock carbs like to have the accelerator pump linkage moved to the hole closest to the funcrum point (more accelrator pump shot) right out of the box. A cold engine will always want more pump shot.

It is a more of a slight backfire like it is coming from the exhaust.

How's the timing? Does it have a vacuum advance? If so, is the vac line ok, no leaks? Are the weights in the distributor moving freely. Just some thoughts. (ps. My wife hates it when my exhaust backfires!! bwahahahaha)

Maybe you could just pour some Robitussin down the carb!! ok, ok, I'm done............. for now.

I recently changed my vaccum hose from the top port to the bottom port on the carb. I followed the instructions on the Edlebrock carb CD and it said to hook up the line to the bottom port to allow for the transmission to shift properly. I'm no expert (barely a novice) when it comes to this stuff so I not sure which port it should be hooked to.

It also smells like it is running lean. Took about a 10 mile drive yesterday and she just doesn't run right, something's missing or not hooked up properly.

The vacuum line to the transmission vacuum modulator (rear of trans, pass. side) must be supplied full vacuum- that means the bottom port, like Edlebrock says. The vacuum advance to your distributor you can run to either a full manifold vacuum port or a ported (above-idle) vacuum port, and see which one works best for you as far as engine performance and drivability.