Ok I got the 1962 olds 98 out today to tune it a little better as it was stinking rich because of the larger carb on the car. Well I wanted to read the plugs and see how good or bad they looked. They are nice and tan, the jetting line is nice also. But the heat line was badd. To my surprise I see signs of detination also. Not horrible but the speckles and such is definitly there on all the plugs. There gapped at .040 and are the normal heat range plugs(autolite 86). Im using 93 at the pump with lead additive. I know there was much better gas out in the 60's when this car was made but are there any other sugestions to help me feel at ease when I want to lay into the throttle.

I was thinking a range or 2 colder plugs and possible retard the timing? Im not the best at these older engines as I have a 1991 Camaro. But I know spark knock is a silent and sometimes a loud death to cars. I can't afford the 110 leaded gas arround here as its 7$ a gal. Any tips or thoughs is great! Also any tips on what plugs are better for the car and colder range ones also.

Thanks!

 

I would not change the plugs to a colder set, that is not what colder plugs do. What is your timing set at now? Which distributor do you have? Is your vacuum advance and mechanical advance working properly?

 

Olds recommended one heat range colder than spec for Starfire 394 engines that saw mainly highway use. The drawback to using them in mixed driving is that sometimes they will foul because they don't keep carbon (and back then, lead) deposits burned off.

I can vouch that the fouling will happen. I put 43 plugs in the blue 64 once, and it did great at road speeds, reduced detonation and everything. But- one night's cruising the strip with some 106 leaded in the tank lead fouled two plugs.

See what your Autolite 86's cross to in an older AC catalog. I have a feeling they cross to 45's, and 4-barrel 394 were spec'd to use 44's.

The old shop books also recommended retarding base timing 2.5 degrees from spec if a properly tuned engine detonated at the spec due to low octane fuel or carbon buildup. In your case, that means setting it at 2.5 degrees BTDC. 1962 HydraMatic cars spec'd at 5 BTDC, stick cars at 2.5.

You might wanna see if your vacuum advance is functioning properly too. These engines want about 26-28 total advance at cruising speed (14 degrees mechanical at 2000 RPM plus 12-13 vacuum advance at 18" Hg).

Face it- you're an Ultra High Compression guy in a rotgut fuel world.

 

The book actually calls for the gap to be set at 0.30"

 

Hence the question on which distributor you had and timing settings? What are you running for dwell if its points?

 

If I remember correctly, the base timing is set at 5* BTDC. I would have to go look again to see if its still the same and if the mech. advance is working properly.


The plugs are gapped to .040 so I will adjust that to .030. I will cross reference those plugs. To be honest I just replaced the same plugs that my grandpa had in the car when I started to work on it last summer.

The original dizzy and points set up is on the car. I just replaced the points, plugs, wires, exc last summer. I can't remember off the top of my head the dwell setting. I got this car up and running last year and looked over the whole ignition system. I wrote down the info and will find that pronto.

I am more of a Computer EFI person as for mechanics, and was totally lost with leaded gas, carbs, mechanical advances, and points. It was so overwhelming that I just did what I was able to do. The car didnt run for over 20 years and I got her to run so im still working out problem areas that are from the long time of it sitting or problems that I may of caused.



Thanks again for the help and tips so that this weekend I can check out some areas that need to be looked at.

 

Make sure your dwell is at 30, if you change your dwell then reset your timing.

 

Ok the dwell is set correct now and the timing is set to 3* BTDC. I took her out with some fresh plugs gapped to .030. I crused it then opened it up a little and no spark knock presents. I even looked with a mag. glass to ensure it was ok.

I then went WOT for a short bit in 3rd gear so that the trans would hold the gear, immediatly shut the engine off after letting off the throttle and checked the plugs. Theys look much better. The right color, no speckles and a good jet line.

Thanks so much for advising me on getting the dwell confirmed and setting the timing back 2*.

 

OK, now that you have it running, you need to bump your timing up a bit. I'd run it up 7 1/2 as it calls for 5. If you have a setback timing light, set your total mechanical to 34 ( with no vacuum advance) @ 3500 rpm and see where you initial winds up.

 

I have heard some about water methanol injection system I am thinking about it for my 394 olds