If you havent recurved the dist... you are hurting your performance.... that is what I learned from setting mine up.... Set the engine up with super cat specs... it will respond well.... Btw does it have a good hot cam....??
I agree on the fuel mixture, I dont want to mess with that unless I have to, it looks and smells right as it sits...It doesnt blow black smoke when I boot it but I'll see if I can optimize the pump shot anyway. I can change it back if I see smoke... Funny story on the distibutor - I was going to do it myself with a dialback light , and went searching for curve specs.. Found a curve comparison thread on Team Buick ( http://www.teambuick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5361&highlight=nailhead+curve) with one specifically attributed to Carmen Faso. I was calling him on some other stuff and asked him about it, he had no idea it was out on the web.. he asked me to read it off to him and then told me he would need to know all sorts of other info before he could recommend that curve - gearing, trans type, carburation, cam specs, etc....at which point I just sent him the distributor - I'll experiment on the Corvair. So to answer Doc's question - I'm waiting to get this straightened out before I throw in the distributor, dont want to compound issues. The cam is stock, I dont believe the motor has ever been open. After the intake and distributor, I figure I'll turn my attention to traction as opposed to the cam.. it's currently a 3.08 open diff, I have a set of 3.23's and I'll go to some sort of limited slip - Auburn, powertrax..etc.. I havent gotten that far. Also want to box the bars and bolt on a sway bar and control arm braces..Thats this winter's project.. Rhett
Doc - I'm interested in the Super Wildcat distributor specs if you have them The specs on mine ( as rebuilt by Carmen) are: 10 degrees initial, 24 degrees mechanical starting at 850, all in by 3050, 13 degrees vacuum advance at 13" vacuum, 8" to start with silver springs. One last question before I wear out my welcome... I've been setting optimum timing on my current set up by vacuum guage with the advance disconnected - correct or not? Thanks again all - Rhett
Pard,,,, I would not set the timing any way except by a good timing light... back in the day they were expensive and usually only shops had them... but the prices have come down, actually have stayed the same thru the years and wages have come up so that now they are cheap.... buy one and use it.... with a light you can actually plot the timing curve your self.... mark basic on the harmonic balancer and also the max... then set the basic with the vac advance disconnected.... then hook the ole tach up and the timing light , and get some one to raise the rpm while you watch where the spark is.... and then juggle the springs to make it come out where you want it.... I did mine myself by just following the directions in the mr gasket kit.... and it runs just fine.... off the top of my head I cant tell you the specs for a super cat but I am sure that some one like Larry, the wizard can... or Carmen,,, i would trust what Carmen says 200% because he is a nailhead man.... The reason why I did my own is that there is only one guy in this area with a distributer machine, and he is a ding bat that can only see chevys......:Brow:
Doc- I'm with you on the timing light, and I've got a pretty good dialback. But I've been told (maybe wrongly) that on an older engine with timing chain stretch, etc.. that the engine might like something other than factory settings and you should set it to highest vacuum, and back it off a couple degrees (as shown by the light) and you're good to go. I was sceptical, but tried it on the Grandville and it worked pretty good. I figured with such a drastic change in intake volume after the mod, this might be a good time to try the same tactic. When I install Carmens distributor, I'll probably try it both ways, as his set up is based on a pretty specific initial timing. My ultimate goal in life is not to buy a beach house, but be as proficient as Carmen on the Sun machine. I swear I'm gonna find one soon.... Rhett
OOOOk ,,, lets walk thru this,,, the cam runs at half the crank speed.... and lets say there is 10 pins between them.... if the chain stretches , there is still 10 pins between them.... but due to the action of the chain under running conditions the slack, or the amount of stretch is pulled to the back side of the sprockets...and that is where the slop is... not on the ''face'' side... it is still right except for the amount of stretch between no 1 pin and no 10 pin... now the dissy is meshed into the cam by gears and cannot vary ... so it follows the cam very closely... now under running conditions the crank pulls the slop out of the chain except for the face side and the slop goes to the back side of the sprockets... unless the engine has jumped time all is ok... then you come in and decide to set the timing... so you loosen the dissy hold down and rotate the dist. to make the spark line up with the timing mark on the harmonic balancer.... the face side of the chain is tight while you do this and the mark shows up in the light... you set it and the engine runs right.... now... the only variation will be when the rpms go up and down as in shifting a stick shift or when you accellerate and then decellerate and then you will get what is known as spark scatter when the slop on the back side of the chain runs around the circle of the gears... this is why race cars that have had the mains align bored pop and backfire out of the mufflers when the driver lets off on them at the end of the run....align boring moves the crank closer to the cam and creates slack in the chain that cannot be taken out... I never do that.... Naturally when one jumps time due to chain wear, all bets are off.... but a chain will last for about 80,000 miles.... normally....
I don't worry too much about the initial timing... I set the maximum mech advance at 30-32 degrees, and let the initial timing fall where it may. I'm more concerned about performance between 3000-6000 rpm than I am at 600 rpm!:bla: I do like to use a dual quad or Dynaflow spec distributor as they do have a shorter mech advance slot. That allows you to run more initial advance (10deg) than the regular 1x4 dist (2 deg).... and still have the same 30-32 deg full mech advance. The extra timing at lower rpms makes a significant improvement in low-end power!:grin: The curves are posted here somewhere......
I get what your saying about intial timing - it's a different mindset to work your way back from total timing at a certain RPM... Carmen must have shortened the slot, cause the distributor is out of a 65 full size car, not a super wildcat.. He's got the thing set up to start at 10, with 34 all in by 3000 rpm. I look forward to trying it. Rhett
You do need your dist. recurved. I had mine done by one of the " buick guys" and it just was never right. Talking to Tom T on one of his in depth nailhead talks we got on the Dist. Well, I sent him another one I had for his rebuild and recurve. As soon as I got it out for the first test drive I found a little more lowend and top end. I felt the defferance between the 2 dist. I would recomend a recurve and toms work
I checked the pump shot and it was spot on, so I replaced the blocked intake gaskets today with open gaskets - problem solved. Great throttle response again, but I am gonna miss the exhaust note with the blocked risers, it was pretty cool. I was surprised by the difference, and now I'm back to searching for traction. I'll get some runs in tomorrow to give an official 1:1 ET comparison, then on to the distributor.... Thanks again for everyone's advice. Rhett
HEYYY, What did ole Doc tell you ,,,, Huh,,,,:laugh: :laugh: nailheads do not do good on the street with the heat blocked out of the intake,,, I am so glad you got it straightened out ,,, now on to the fine tuning .....If you will pm your ph no I will give you a call......
yea i learned the hard way,tried everything drove me nuts [thats a short drive anyways, lol] i knew you always said that about the heat in the intake, but on my mopars never had a problem.
I wouldnt have believed it either, but there you go...gotta put some blind faith in those whove been there before you..... Made some runs this AM - ran a 14.99 at 97.2, then a personal best of 14.9 flat at 97.3....Cant entirely trust the G-Tech meter especially on MPH as my official best at Lebabnon Valley was 15.3 @ 88 4 times in a row (strangely,on the two runs I had it set the G-tech said 15.6) but that was before the DDP... Still, all in all headed in the right direction... I've got this week off, so now that I've addressed the flat spot this afternoon I'll thow Carmen's distributor in... Doc, I PM'd you my phone, If I dont catch you first time around I'll be calling right back... Thanks again to everyone.. Rhett
i used my g-meter when i went to the track to test it. et was never more than 2 tenths faster or 2 mph faster.meaning that i will run slower at the track than with the g-meter but not by alot.
The booklet says that'd be the case mostly, because the meter doesnt account for reaction time like the tree does....but MPH does seem to be pretty far off..... I really doubt I'm running 97 mph. 90 maybe... My "test 1/4 mile" does run slightly up hill, maybe thats throwing it off.
I put the distributor in and made some runs....I put it in at 8 degrees initial, I assume that only will give me 32 total as opposed the 34 carmen recommended, I can play with it later... Short version - I ran 14.73 @ 97 flat with a questionable launch (low RPM, boggy) I'll mess with it some more tomorrow, but IU think it's safe to say the recurve bought me 2 tenths.. Now on to the switch pitch override.... Thanks again to everyone for your advice.... Rhett 65 Gran Sport 401 4bbl
