Just got the new valve covers on and so I was naturally taking some photos (as you do). Took some good shots but I think that this one "Nailed" it. Pulled it into photoshop and came up with this. I love photoshop and Nailheads.
I've decided to make the first picture my first official BuickStreet.com wallpaper. Click below to download it to your computer. Open it in Internet Explorer and right click, then click on "Set As Background". http://www.buickstreet.com/images/wallpaper/wp-nailhead-splendour-1024.jpg (245 kb jpeg image)
How's she run? Well, off the line, the increase is amazing. It's almost a bit difficult to drive slowly. I have both carbs hooked up solid so that they both work at once. At first I had to take off with the brakes applied so I didn't slam into the car in front of me! I don't think it's suppose to be that sudden but I get a laugh every time I take off. It must be because as soon as I move the accelerator I open up four barrels. That makes a huge difference to the response. It's truly a different car. Mid range is also startling. Top end is still a bit soft but that's because I've turned the timing down to try to control the idle speed and it could be running a bot rich or I don't get full throttle. I haven't started to play with jets and rods yet and it idles too high. I can't lower the idle below 900-1000. Something needs adjusting. I'm sure I'll work it out with assistants like Tom Telesco and Dave Ray by my side (albeit shaking their heads). I have two strip kits with as many rods and jets as I could need to get it running right. In fact, I'm about to go out for a drive and do some 'testing'. Who wants to come for a drive? Here's another angle and yes...I was playing with the lighting. It's amazing what a workshop light and a broken multi-colored umbrella can do.
We dub you the official carbie tester for the V8 Buick web site. With this title goes a new greeting, "Hello, my name is Bill S., and I am a carbie-tester"! Nice work, Bill. AVS's next!
Judd, that is PERFECT! Do you mind if I use that? Dave, You crack me up. What you gotta ask yourself is..."Are ya having fun"...well punk,...are ya? The answer is a resounding ...YES! Actually Dave, I'm finding this setup surprisingly driveable. It idles too high and stumbles when I floor it from standstill and I'm not even going to check the gas mileage (I don't care about it anyway It lasts more than a week which is all I'm concerned about) but it pulls very strongly from just past off-idle through the midrange and the top end is less than spectacular (timing?) but all in all I din't think it would be as driveable as it is now. I'm excited about the possibility of making it behave better. For example, I've had to lower the timing back down to around 2 degrees. With your curve Dave this was less than ideal so I installed some looser springs to bring it back into play earlier. This seems to have helped a little but now I have a less than an ideal curve. I want to get the carbs sorted out so I can re-adjust the curve because with around 10 initial this motor REALLY comes to life. The pull is amazing and is the most I have ever felt in any of my cars but of course it pings when I get to the mid and upper rev ranges. I know you've told me what to do before so I'll have to go researching. I've got to get that idle down. I've got two full strip kits so I think today I might invetigate what's going on inside them both. I've also got to eliminate any vacuum leaks in case there are any. A friend of mine suggested spraying water instead of something flammable which he said would make a mess of my clean(er) engine bay. Sounds ok to me. I guess I'd be listening for a slow down in revs instead of a speed up. As long as it tells me that I have a leak I don't mind which way it goes. Actually, I've just started 4 weeks holidays. I plan to get a lot down on the Buick and on BuickStreet in these coming weeks.
Bill Have at it ! I was thinking about a bumper sticker for my 56 with that on it for Cruisin the Coast in Biloxi, MS next week but it don't look like I'll make it. Judd
Bill - which strip kits did you buy? Also, did you look inside to see if both carbs are jetted the same?
Bill, have you seen the t-shirts that So-Cal speed shops sell that have a picture of an engine and says "ITS A HEMI"? Obviously we need a NAILHEAD shirt to counteract that one!! Black shirt with your engine....oooohhh :beer I just set my wallpaper. Thanks!
Judd, thanks. John, I'm about to pop the tops today and check out what size jets rods and springs I'm running. I have two 10-201 Strip kits (pic below shows one of them) and 2 AFB Zip Kits (gaskets etc). I've seen baseline jet sizes posted somewhere. If I'm going to be removing and re-installing the tops of the carb to change primary jets I'm going to run the risk of tearing a gasket. Is vaseline still a good idea on gasket surfaces on a carb? Ted, I'll have a look at the SoCal T-Shirts.
I wasted my money on that one too. Well, not a complete waste. The bigger needle and seat were OK to have. And the one pair of jets that I ended up using were OK too I guess. The rods they give you are practically worthless, I should glue fins on them and use them for darts. The rods in that kit fall into two catagories. First bunch take your cruise mixture drastically richer or leaner without changing the power mixture much. The second bunch take your power mixture much leaner than it was before, and make the same drastic richer/leaner changes to the cruise mixture. Probably what you need to do is go richer on the power, and make small changes to the cruise mixture. That kit doesn't have those rods. What you probably have is .098 or .100 primary jets, .070 x .047 primary rods, and .095 secondary jets if nobody has monkeyed with it yet. What you probably need is Edelbrock .070 x .042, .070 x .037, .073 x .042, .073 x .037, in that ballpark. Still got that excel spreadsheet of a 'fuel map' I sent you?
Useless eh? Well that's no good. Does the larger needle and seat help any with a non-modified engine or should it only be used with a modified engine. I occasionally run it up to 5,000 but usually it sits below 3,500-4,000 rpm. I'm using a new (stock) fuel pump with a Holley Blue and regulator standing by. I have looked everywhere for that spreadsheet. I think it was lost in the great crash of June 2003. Could you please send it through again? I can't remember exactly how it worked either. Could you provide me with a simple explanation again as well? Thanks John.
