My car runs and drives now! just in time to put it up for the winter :af: Now for the all the fun stuff. cosmetics, little glitches, and the biggest part...tuning. Thank to a call to racebuicks i am in the ball park. didn't hardly run at first... ididn't realize how fast this motor wanted to se advance! so now i want to know what kind of timing, carb size/jetting, etc. you have been running with this cam. the carb is a race demon rs (i have 1025 and 1050 sleeves and a whole host of other stuff) sp1 intake ta headers 2 1/2" exaust with 2 chamber flowmasters no crossover or x pipe 1.65:1 distributor is a gutted hei with just it's pick up for a 6al. crane cams kit with stretched light springs. 11.1:1 compresion cam degreed in at about 2 advanced from cam card suggestion roller rockers 3.31 posi rear 1400/ 4000 sp stall from jim @pae sp 400 with built to stage 2 as shown by jim
I installed the TA 510 cam in my wagon last year after running a Lunati SP4 for a few years. My combination is a little different but maybe it'll give you an idea on what you can expect. My motor was a 12.25:1 462 with Gessler-ported TA stage 1 street eliminator heads. The intake is a TA SP1 with a Holley 850 carb. It's got 1.65 roller rockers, 1 7/8" M/T headers, full length 3" exhaust with Walker dynomax mufflers (no x-pipe), an MSD distributor with a Mallory hyfire box, 9" Coan converter with 4400 stall, and 4.10 rear gears. I installed the cam on a 106 degree centerline. For timing I am running 36-38 degrees and the carb is jetted with 72s in the front and 76s in the rear. With a race weight of nearly 4100 lbs, this combination pushed my wagon to a best of 11.18 but it consistently went 11.30-40s at 117mph in northeast air. I definitely think I could have benefited from a larger carb and possibly tightening up the converter a few hundred rpm. Hope this helps.
Paul, why did you install your cam at 106? Did your TA 510 outperform the SP4? I've been waiting for some time now (longer than I would like) for my back-ordered TA 510 to turn up, which will be replacing a wiped SP4 -- kinda reminds me a little of the Kenne-Bell back-order days :rant: :laugh:
Bob, I installed the cam 4 degrees advanced as recommended by several Buick engine builders and the cam card. This gave it a lobe centerline of 106 as opposed to the advertised number of 110. I think I picked up a solid 2 tenths over the SP4 cam. The only other change I did at the time was replace the valve springs with new ones. I think the valve springs might have helped somewhat as the old ones were many years old. But I still believe the 510 gave me most of the improvement. I was consistently running 11.50-60s with the SP4. The first pass out with the 510 cam, it ran a low 11.50 and then just improved from there to where it was running consistent 11.30-40s. Are we going to see the convertible out this year? Maybe a match race against Ken?
Thanks for the info, Paul. I doubt I'll have my car out again this year - too much engine work left and a back-ordered cam. Who knows, maybe some aluminum heads will show up Christmas morning. :laugh:
Interesting! When you say 36-38 do you mean locked out? i think i went 104 or 105* to get rid of some rpm and bring it down for my gears. i know that is not the hot set up for gears, but hopeing the 4000 hi stall will make up for some of it. i want the car to be somewhat streetable. so if i go up in gear it will be 3:73 max. right now it drives around real nice. drive along at 30-35 on the lope :grin: don't really have to give it much to maintain speed in 1400 low stall. Got the headlights in and used it as a parts chasere while grabbed some things at the parts store. the counter guy came out and looked at it. he about creamed his drawers :shock: when i fired it up :laugh:
forgot to mention... the heads are stage 1, conservatively ported with exception of the valve guide, polished, and chambers polished also. light port match.
Rob, your PM box is full. Thanks for forwarding the message. I spoke with Dave @ TA tonite and my cam was shipped from Schneider to TA on Monday, so it looks like only another week or 3. :laugh:
9.4 compression. I have done more work to the heads since they were flowed last, but they were about 265- 205 at 600 lift. Carb is an old 1050 Dominator with an SP1 intake. Rockers were stock at the time it went 11.04 but it has 1.6 rollers now.
only 9.4:1 :shock: wow. ta says at least 10.25:1 for that cam. how do you get away with that? it obviously worked.
Thanks Jeff, I was planning on going with a 28" tall slick next year. Car presently has 3:31 gears, so I'll probably have to go up to a 3:55 ratio in order to get the motor in the power band better.