Run on HeavyFuel (Resto)

[HeavyFuel]

Put a few more miles on her over the weekend, trying to do a good break in on the engine.  Re-checked the timing....I think it might be a little low on advance.   Took it out on the interstate for a while....varied the speed from 50 to 80 mph.   Seemed to run nice.

Stopped at my uncles place and we took some of his cars on a cruise Saturday night.  He's a Chevy guy....we took anniversary 'Vetts....a 25th, 40th, 50th, and 60th.  Pretty fun.

[HeavyFuel]

The ignition timing had me concerned a little bit, so I checked it again last night.

MP electronic ignition
Electronic voltage regulator
Original equipment mech advance springs in the dizzy.  
Accel 8140HV - Super Stock High Vibration Coil
XR5 - NGK V-Power Spark Plugs

The first check:

RPM      DEG
1000 = + 7
1500 = 10
2000 = 15
2500 = 20
3000 = 22

I halted this run at this point, obviously the timing was too retarded at 3000.  I advanced it a bit and checked again:

1000 = + 15
1500 = 20
2000 = 26
2500 = 30
3000 = 33

Again, halted here, because my curve was too steep.  Third try:

1000 = 10
1500 = 15
2000 = 20
2500 = 25
3000 = 30
3500 = 35
4000 = 35

Weird that the advance matched the rpms like that...I had to look at it closer just too make sure.    The timing stopped advancing at 3500 rpm...I think that should work, right?  +35 deg made me just a little nervous, so I backed the advance just a 1/16 of an inch or so and tightened her down.

That do you think?

[charge69]

I think your engine should be just fine with 35* advance total but it should be all-in by 3000 rpms.  It is not far off set to 35 * total by 3500 rpm but can you set it to be all-in by 3000 rpms?

Are you checking this with the vacuum advance plugged or do you run the engine with no vacuum advance?  If you are using the vacuum advance, please be sure to unplug it and plug the line so you will not have a vacuum leak. Then, I would set it to be all-in at 35* by 3000 rpms. Hook things back up and readjust idle accordingly and give it a try!

[HeavyFuel]

I did the check/adjustments with vaccum disconnected and hose plugged (golf tee works great). 

Will the vaccum advance (which I will use) speed up the curve a little?  I didn't check the advance curve with the vaccum re-attached.  Maybe that's never something that's done    .....I'm stilll learning about ignition timing. 

[charge69]

You know, I am sure the vacuum advance would advance the timing at idle but I am not sure about the total advance. My Charger has a billet MSD distributor without vacuum advance.

[firefighter3931]

You know, I am sure the vacuum advance would advance the timing at idle but I am not sure about the total advance. My Charger has a billet MSD distributor without vacuum advance.

If the vacuum advance is connected properly it will not pull any additional timing into the engine. The advance mechanism is supposed to be connected to ported vacuum...not manifold vacuum.  

The 10* at idle is a bit low...i'd shoot for 15-16* of base timing and have the total at 35-36 coming in at 2600-2800 rpm. With the MP distributors this is best achieved using one light weight and one medium weight advance spring. Yours probaly has 2 medium springs based on the late peak timing number.




Ron

[HeavyFuel]

Thanks for the tips.    

[HeavyFuel]

A small town (smaller than mine) nearby (30 miles) had a car show downtown Friday evening, so my bro and I decided to take our cars on a little road trip.

Good time to test the speedo and tach for accuracy and continue the engine break in.  I need a gauge shakedown because I show 4K rpm at 80 mph.  That can't be right.

Turns out, the speedometer is WAAAAY off.  90 mph on my gauge is really about 75 mph.

My tach is also showing much more that it should....4200 on the tach is about 3200. (we hooked up a remote tach and strung it into the cab  for monitoring during the trip)  That is good news, I think 3200 RPM at 75 rpm is about right. (3.23 gears)

Getting the gauges squared away is not a big priority, since I have an auto trans and shift points aren't as important as they would be with a stick.  I can use a GPS for MPH if need be.

Need to re-map the advance curve again with the remote tach...looks like it's currently set at all in between 25-3000.  Hopefully it wasn't advanced too much for the road trip, although I'd didn't work the engine too hard.  I'll set the total advance for around 2800 and call it good.

[johnnycharger]

1)  The plastic sides still showed a few light scuffs after the clean-up, but I don't want to coat it with anything.  I like the look of the natural plastic.

2)  Light rings didn't need anything, just a cleanup, and the SS trim got a nice polishing.

3)  The shift window turned out good, no scratches.  The plastic slider had a few and a small crack...no biggee.  The black line detail shows up nice, and it really makes the big difference on the overall appearance.  I considered not redoing the black lines......but it's must.  It's all in the details.

4) Should look pretty nice in the car.

sorry to jump you back in time.. your restoration looks great!
I am working on my console and floor right now as well did your carpet kit come with the extra carpet to cover the console?

[HeavyFuel]

The console carpet is a separate kit from the floor carpet.

Good luck!

[johnnycharger]

Thanks!  More stuff to add to my list!

[HeavyFuel]

Last weekend I modified the distributor plates to give about 20* mech advance, and recurved the springs.   I set my initial at 16* and it timed all in around 36* at around 2600 rpm.  (which now that I think about it, I should have done it the other way around, set my total at 36* and let the initial fall wherever...)

I also took the carb apart (again) and checked the operation and flow of the accel pump.   The check valve between the accel pump well and the bowl might have been a little gunked up...seemed like there was some back flow into the bowl when testing the check valve.   It's cleaned up now, and I'm getting good squirt.   The discharge check looked pretty good, but I cleaned it up a little to make sure air wasn't drawing back into the circuit.

Took the car for a drive last night....45* out.

Feels like the car is running better than it ever has.   The stumble backfire is pretty much gone......it still needs some tuning in the carb.

The engine SOUNDS different with the advanced timing....seems smoother when driving, less lumpy on idle.

The choke it still staying on a little bit in this cooler weather because of the blocked crossover.   I'll have to work on that. 

[HeavyFuel]

Got this nasty thing fixed.  Feels good to get rid of a bad experience that occurred during the final stages of the resto.

[RIDGERACER383]

Your car is looking good.

[HeavyFuel]

Decided it was time to put a stripe on.  Got it from Performance Car Graphics.....nice product.

Pretty straight forward installation and I'm very happy with the way they turned out.

There's a couple points of view as far as how to position the stripe in regards to the side marker.  I went with the factory position, which locates the marker as centered on the 'grouping' of the fat and skinny stripes.

[HeavyFuel]

Something in the steering went haywire late last year.  The gear, pump and reservoir were about the only things that did not get a rebuild before going back on the car, but they got it over the winter by Firm Feel.  

I like the way the car handles now, at speed, although it is kinda a bitch to turn during tight maneuvers like parking lots.  Worth the trade off.  

New Moog offset bushings are a plus as well.

1)  Gear before the original installation and subsequent shipping to Firm Feel.   I bet they loved removing the POR15.  

2)  The nice finished product, ready for install.  I must say the bare metal finish looks much nicer.

[HeavyFuel]

This will most likely be the last post from me on this 'resto' thread, unless someone asks a question or something like that.

The 'last part' has been installed on the car, and I can honestly say that I can't think of anything else that should be on the car, that isn't.  It was still missing one chrome and one black seat lever knobs.  I picked up a couple of nice originals from my local source.

The dissassembly started in summer of 2004, and the knobs went on a couple weeks ago........10 years from start to finish.   

[HeavyFuel]

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[HeavyFuel]

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[JB400]

You done a good job   Enjoy the ride

[Paul G]

10 years from start to finish. You have done a great job. How does it run?

[fy469rtse]

yep have loved reading your thread , beautiful car,
your thread is probably the one most refered to by myself, its because of the detail and photo's.
check the thread on here regarding speedo gear number, could be as simple as replacing for the correct numbered colour gear to get that speedo correct,
look forward to your new thread,
the one where you do someserious upgrades , you dabbled with it , alloy heads intake serious camshaft , mild hi stall LOL 

[Al]

This has been a very inspiring thread and a great read all this time. Thanks for sharing 
Al

[patcharger]

Wow!!!

[tan top]

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  awesome looking 68 !! nice work