distributorless 350

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May I ask what this timing ring is off of?

 

Early 90's Ford Escort!

 

Here's a thought on the trigger. Why not use the lower pulley for the trigger wheel? It's out of the way and doesn't change the belt spacing.

On our 455 club build, I put the lower pulley on the mill, using an indexing head, and drilled a row of 1/4" holes all the way around. Then I slotted out between two of them for the missing tooth. Used a chunk of aluminum to make a mount for the VR sensor that bolts on the timing cover using the fuel pump bolts (electric pump), installed EDIS parts and a MegaJolt control box, and done. (also used the megajolt to turn on the dual radiator fans)

If someone was very very particular about their layout, I imagine the job could be done with hand tools.

Jim

 

The using the escort wheel doesn't require any moving of the pulleys either and it's behind all the belts and out of the way as well.

 

Bought a set of Taylor 8mm universal spark plug wires. Each wire I made worked out to be about 11"

So I have enough left for about 3 more sets haha

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On initial start up remember to run straight water to make sure there are no internal leaks before you switch to anti-freeze.


Anti-freeze is a bearing killer, water not so much plus any water residue will easily evaporate after removed from the crankcase. Better to be safe than sorry.





Derek

 

It runs! Believe it or not the motor fired up the second turn of the key. Of course there are tons of little bugs to work out and a huge learning curve to the EFI system.

The motor idles okay, but doesn't like gradual application of throttle, I think I might have a vacuum leak somewhere. I am also having trouble getting the car to self learn above idle. I guess these are things that can be addressed once the car is driveable.

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Nice! Sounds good!

It doesn't look like a vacuum leak to me, you have 40kPa of manifold pressure and based on the exhaust note it looks about right to me. A ~900rpm idle and rich AFR's, doesn't seem like a vacuum leak at all to me. If it's a whistle/air noise that has you wondering, it is likely the IAC valve if you have one hooked up. Tip in stalling is common until you get either set the "pump shot" accel real sensitive and rich, or get the fuel table smoothed out enough to dial back the accel enrichment.

I found my IAC valve to be sort of undersized for the 455, and took some "tuning" to get the noise to a bare minimum, the 350 shouldn't be as sensitive. My method is, get the engine fully warmed up (over ~160F) then command the IAC to about 10-15% open, and adjust the throttle blades as wide open as needed to achieve your target idle rpm. This should lower the amount of air through the IAC opening and reduce the noise. It also gives some wiggle room to lower the idle some if the air density goes up (lower elevation, cooler air, cloudy day, etc). If the Holley uses ignition timing to target an idle rpm, you can fully close the IAC instead of commanding 10-15% to further reduce whistling at high idle.

My favorite method for fixing the "tip in" hesitation/stall is to completely turn off the accel enrichment and manually richen the VE table in the higher kPa cells above idle. Ease into the throttle, see where the dot goes, add fuel to those cells and a bunch of fuel to the cells above it (higher kPa), then be a little more aggressive into the throttle, adjust as necessary, then a little more aggressive, and adjust, until it rev's cleanly with smooth motion into the throttle, even quick. Then you'll find when you stomp the throttle, it'll hesitate but shouldn't stall. At this point re-enable the accel enrichment and start with a lot of fuel, then dial it back. You'll simply stomp on the throttle and lift, once dialed in the engine should rev fast and cleanly from an idle. That will put you pretty close for driving.

It's ALWAYS easier to tune from rich to lean. Tuning lean to rich usually creates lean pops and backfires. I usually try for 12.0-12.5 AFR's and incrementally work my way leaner. It's quick and easy work on a keyboard.

Fun fun!

 

I richened up the idle area of the base fuel table a lot to try and get rid of the huge lean spike off idle. It definitely helped but holding rpm at 2000 still results in occasional lean pops. This is still all another language to me so its tough understanding the best way to start adjusting the AFR table, fuel table and spark table. I'll have to try adjusting the idle as you explained, that seems the best way to start. I hear the Holley self lean does amazing things but I am not sure why it won't work above idle.

In the future I think it would have been best to have a carb and distributor for break in because it sure does make me nervous tuning on a brand new engine. Its a roller motor but it is still nerve racking hearing pops and watching the AFR climb when getting into the throttle.

The car certainly starts and idles though which is really cool considering I've never done this before. I really appreciate all your help. Using your build as inspiration has certainly made planning for my build much easier.

 

Nice work Jacob!

 

For basic entry level tuning, set the entire timing table to something like 18 (or if there is a fixed timing option, turn it on). Maybe give it 25 above 2,500rpm or so. Basically take timing out of the equation when doing the first fuel tuning work. If you haven't yet, double check that the commanded timing is what you read on the balancer. That way you know any pops or such are fuel related, and usually mean lean.

Again, I don't know the Holley system, but my experience with the MegaSquirt system is auto-tune generally will not work at idle or free revving the engine. It is designed to work where the engine has a load on it. So a minimum rpm of say 1,200rpm and then a load on it so if your idle kPa is 40, it has to see at least 60kPa (and be above 1,200rpm) for it to start doing something. Holley could be different, and the Megasquirt settings like that can be manually overridden, so maybe the Holley's can be too, just remember that you did so if it does weird things later.

 

I found out later on as I was cleaning up wiring that I had a manifold port that wasn't plugged. I thought it was a partially drilled hole that needed to be drilled and tapped but I was wrong ou: I guess that stuff happens when you take 2 years to build a car. So now everything runs great. No more lean issues, the efi is learning as it is supposed to. I went out for a quick drive for gas with no problem and no hood.

The next day I took a drive for a car wash and threw a belt. No tools and no spare belt. Amateur. I've been spoiled by new car syndrome. Im so used to just turning the key and going on my way. I believe my water pump pulley is bent. I haven't had any luck finding a new one and I think I may look into a serpentine conversion.

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Sweet! Lots of good tuning tips there too. I should see if I can get my brother to read page 2. So often advice for tuning efi is incomplete and even inaccurate but that was right on the money.

Jim