Andy, Denny, Erik Lawson, etc:
the motor is 355", 9:1, mild hydraulic flat-tappet cam, 882 heads, cheesy block-hugger headers, weiand low-rise intake, edelbrock spread-bore carb, mini-starter, battery in trunk.
the question is: what should my distributor curve look like? IIRC, the fast setup used to be 12 degrees initial, 36 degrees total, all in by 3000. this one seems to have a hard time hot-cranking at 12 initial, so i'm wondering if i should go for more centrifugal, so i could set less initial and still have my 36 total.
i have a couple of friends with distributor machines, i just need to tell them what to do. one of them says 36 total is still correct, but he suggests all in by 2500.
after driving on the street about 1 mile yesterday, i'm pretty sure this car will never be driven on the street again, LOL.
PS check your starter mount bolts, wiring connections and grounds as well...
You should not have any issues cranking that with 36 degrees locked. I would expect your initial to be 20-24 all in at 3000 - total between 34 and 41 depending on the humidity. That low of compression will want timing. Those heads want timing. That cam needs timing. Battery and starter may be weak. I usually have a spare starter (168 tooth) with me if you get into trouble. Are you running a 153 or a 168? Is the starter a high torque or low torque? The positive to the windings are about 3/4" for the front end of the starter on a high torque, and about an 1 1/2 " for a low. Not to be a butt, but did you disconnect the vacuum advance to do your mechanical time settings?
Andy said "butt"
hee heehee heee hee he ehe...
wheels777 wrote:
You should not have any issues cranking that with 36 degrees locked. I would expect your initial to be 20-24 all in at 3000 - total between 34 and 41 depending on the humidity. That low of compression will want timing. Those heads want timing. That cam needs timing. Battery and starter may be weak. I usually have a spare starter (168 tooth) with me if you get into trouble. Are you running a 153 or a 168? Is the starter a high torque or low torque? The positive to the windings are about 3/4" for the front end of the starter on a high torque, and about an 1 1/2 " for a low. Not to be a butt, but did you disconnect the vacuum advance to do your mechanical time settings?
153.
don't know if it's a high-torque starter or not.
no vacuum connected. i'm not offended.
what dimensions are you telling me?
i'll check voltage at starter. currently using 6-ga welding cable, about 9 feet long, for the positive cable. maybe too much voltage drop, but the cable doesn't get warm. using a ford relay about 2 feet from starter, if that matters. i believe i've got a spare starter as well.
question: say i idle at 600rpm (it's an easy number for this example), and i'm running 12 initial and 36 total, all in by 3000. if linear response, that's one degree centrifugal for 100rpm. compared to 24 initial and 36 total, again all in by 3000, in a car with a stick (or a loose converter), what's it mean on the dragstrip? a tenth? more?
John Brown wrote:
Andy said "butt"
hee heehee heee hee he ehe...
I heard him say turd one time when he got mad
We run up to 38-40 degrees total with a combo like that,it all depends on what the engine wants/likes.
Now... are you SURE that TDC is actually TDC? 12 degrees should give you zero trouble when cranking. (I'm sure you did the old "disable the ignition when cranking" test to see if the problem was indeed too much ignition advance... [i]right[/i]?
noisycricket wrote:
We run up to 38-40 degrees total with a combo like that,it all depends on what the engine wants/likes.
Now... are you SURE that TDC is actually TDC? 12 degrees should give you zero trouble when cranking. (I'm sure you did the old "disable the ignition when cranking" test to see if the problem was indeed too much ignition advance... [i]right[/i]?
nope, but i will tomorrow. that's a good idea, i wish i had thought of it when i was listening to my starter barely spin the engine. the engine was kicking back against the starter the way they do when it's got too much initial advance, so i assumed that was the problem without testing it.
Would anyone like to buy a distributor machine? I found one in a dumpster (the community college was cleaning out the old auto shop and throwing everything in a big dumpster and smashing it so no one would be able to use it, but I got this before they ruined it). I dont have any use for it becasue its too expensive to convert to electrioic ignition use.
I could us one, shoot me a price.
Its a Sun 404, and its in good shape except for having a dent in the side. Its only set up to use for points, but you can still buy the stuff to convert it to use with electronic ignition. If you want it, make me an offer that you are happy with, and for that and whatever it costs to package and send it, its yours.
That stuff can be silly expensive to find.
We have three of 'em... just in case :)
