okay you guys I have a little update. So it seems that the machinest who built the engine, built it for a customer and stored it cause long story short customer bailed on him. Sometime later i bout it from him as a drop in motor with 0 miles on the rebuild. So I try to get specs from him and he says he not sure if he has them he has to look. But he most likley be able to give me certain specs that he knows so im waiting on that. So if i can't get the specs is there a way to know CR, or estimate HP. Without knowing the specs on internals? Or way to find out specs? I am happy with the way the motor runs with small adjustments I need to make and I no would be 100 times better with a posi rear and lower gears. But i feel the response on low end speeds/low Rpms. Is not that good but once i pick up speed i can punch it good ? Any sugjestions and thoughts on my delima.

 

What have you done since we talked about it last? Did you bump your timing up, torque converter, ...?

 

I haven't done much just changed out the brake in oil so now I can drive it like i stole it. But i notice a slite hesitation? It won't pick up good at a stop but once it moves it accelerates good. Should i advance timing and so by how much? I got it at 20*deg?

 

Wow, 20* initial seems hi. What is your timing with the vacuum advance disconnected @3600 rpm? And then with it connected @3600?

 

I will check the timing with it at 3600 but will have to check it on the weekend.. so ill update with that answer soon. But i put it at 20* because It was the recom. For hei by factory correct? So i put timing to that and left it?

 

And if it helps any the edelbrock 1406 I bout brandnew from edelbrock and all I did was adjust the air screws in front. And bend the throttle linkage a little to clear egr

 

acceleratorpump at full or in the middel setup.

somethimes it makes a differend.

 

Hard to believe the shop doesn't know what went into the build, as you're really wanting to find this out. Without any written specs, you'll probably have to remove at least one head and camshaft for chamber volume and timing events. Maybe at least pay for a chassis dyno pull at a tuning shop to see what rpms the power bands at. Good information to have, for torque converter and gearing choices. Probably hard to go wrong with a 3.42 axle and 700R4, 3.05 1st, 0.70 4th lock up tranny on the street though. I agree with others, if an off line hesitiation, look into the carb acc pump shot.

 

And also is the carb fully opened up a WOT.

 

I agree that he should know what is in it or at least have it documented and stored. He did give me a good warranty cause he does a lot of work with my friends/family. He said he warrenty the engine as long as I do all my oil changes on time and use oil with zinc. He recommend Joe gibbs, all in all I'm happy with the engine just not the beginning acceleration. Hoping I can fix that with adjusting carb and playing with it. What kind of info can I determine with a chassis dyno? And how much do they cost normally. Yea I can't decide between 3.23 or 3.42 gears. And as for tranny mabye in the future cause I had the th350 rebuilt when my motor was out. So I just have to play around with acc. Pump. Float level ect. And just take it from there ?

 

And yes when put wot it fully opens

 

For the chassis dyno, finding a shop that has one, may be your biggest problem, but generally a $100 bucks per pull. You'll get a rear wheel hp/torque print out across the engines rpm band showing where the powers made. If not much hp peaking early, then a mild build not needing much converter and axle. If more hp peaking high, then wanting more gearing. Keep in mind, the rear wheel numbers will probably be 15-20% lower than at the engines crank. Most of these shops can set up the carb and dist too. Maybe keep an eye for car show events(possibly Corvette, import, ext) as sometimes have portable dyno set ups there. Also, you didn't mention the intake, as a dual plane will have much better low end torque on the street.

 

Okay thanks for info. I will do a dyno then forsure but after I run my true duals cause i got single exhaust right now with the crossover. I want to get maybe 350 Jr exhaust and run duals. As for intake I have a edelbrock performer intake

 

A quick note I'm sorry but I confussed my carb numbers I have a 1400 not 1406 don't no if there's a difference there?

 

i run my hei at 14 inital and im getting about 28 to 30 around 3000 rpm .the eldebrock 1405 and 1406 are the same But the electric choke is set up for ecenomy if you buy the calibartion kit it is deiffrent for the 1405 and 1406. The manual choke comes tuned richer. i ran a friends 1406 and my 1405 and off the line you felt the diffrence. I have never had to touch the air fuel mixture either they usually come dead set from factory. and those settings usually only affect idle quality not off line performance.

 

big diffrence the 1400 is for maximum fuel economy get a 1405. It was enough fuel for my low 13 sec motor. i have one for sale too with the calibration kit and extra airhorn gaskets used it this summer and that was it still looks new .

 

Okay I'm going to try and tune the carb the best I can. I don't want to get a different carb, cause i plan on getting my qjet rebuilt. Is it hard to adjust the float level for the 1400 serious

 

the float level can be set by taking the top air horn off. Just make sure to not mess the gasket up i have reused them as many as 5 times between jet changes etc. but if you take it apart too fast you will need a new gasket .

 

It was in the middle set up should I raise it to the top setup?

 

Timing is something I dealt with recently, too. I've got a couple of different threads on it, but bottom line is, my HEI was setup for 20* initial as well. I took out the HEI and rebuilt it with a Pertronix kit and Moroso weight/spring kit. Two things I noticed:

• I was running 20* with 33* all in (no vac) because the plates in the HEI were actually stuck and it couldn't fully advance. It did start well with 20*, though...
• After rebuilding it, I ended up with 13* initial and 33* all in (no vac). I have no idea if 33* is right or not, I just targeted it because that's what it had with the old setup.

You may want to pop off the cap and have a look at the advance and see if things are gummed up / rusted out in there. I'm no expert, but even I knew mine wasn't right just by looking under the cap!

 

Okay you guys I really want to appreicate everyone who contributed with their input and opinions. Thank you all, so this is where I am at. I need to get my motor to its peak, its a rebuilt motor but has all the parts off my 35 year engine.(ex. Ignition,exhaust ect.) So I am going to take the next couple weekends when I have time to work on the car to tune properly. Still have my tranny pan gasket leaking, and p/s leaking need to fix that. So from what im getting out all the helpfull advice is.

1) get timing correct. (Dose anyone have a helpfull guide on how to set up timing/curve? I reserched a lot found a very helpfull guide off Rop, but lost the link . I think i got the jist of it but it always hard to undastand a little when your brealy learning so helpfull described guild will greatly help. I think I would want to get my mechanical to around 34*-36* at 2800-3000 rmp?

2) check 35 year old distributor and see if it is functioning correctly.

3) properly adjust carbuerator. ( going to hook Up vac gauge and get highest vac pressure I can at around 850 rpm in park?( that around rite rpm range?) Also check my accelerator pump shot to see if i need to increase and hopefully this would get rid of off idle hesitation.

4) what is a good stall converter for a nearly stock 350 rocket?(don't know anything bout converters and stalls will be reading up on this as well.)

Is there anything I'm missing on trying to tune my engine to get most out of it? I would like to get everthing i must tune and I'm going to print out guides and info on each subject and start at it. Any and all helpfull link to guides will be greatly appreciated. I will post back on all my progress and recored my information. So before I start are these above stated things mainly everthing I should inspect/tune? I would like to get most out my motor and atleast burn the tires on the weekends ;-) once again thank you guys I no it can fet repeditve answeing a lot of the same questions but i greatly admire all you car enthusiast for taking your time to pass on the knowledge! Thanks

-Ray

 

A good timing curve should come in betwee 30-34 at 3000-3400 rpm depend on application. I used a proform unit and it worked perfect on my street strip combo. There are some hei's on ebay for 50 I have one it works good I dare to say almost as good as the proform. A good stall for almost stock app it around 2000 to 2200 I have a near new tci I can sell for a good price if you are intrested I have way too much stuff that isn't getting any use lol. Also weight plays a big role in a timing curve too soon on a heavy car and it will bog too late and the same thing. Your total timing might come in total by 3300 rpm but it can spike fro 14 degreed to 22 in 500 rpm of diffrence that's too fast that's where playing with the springs come into play. I also think you need more fuel than what the 1400 eddy carb feeds . Imho I would buy a nice ebay hei for your stock app. It should work perfect I have one in my old high 13 second motor that's in pops car it works great. By the time you rebuild your stock dist. You are in it more that 50 bucks. Also invest in a good carb the 1400 is 600 cfm but its set up for fuel economy not wot pulls so the primaries are probably lean . Last but not least a good set of gears in the rear end a 3.23 or 3.42 is perfect . These are just my thought I have had a few diffrent set ups in my 72 in the last few years and I have played with diffrent carbs timing exhaust gears all in the effort for lower e.t's. When you build a combination make it a whole package not just the engine what good is a 400 hp engine when you have stock trans and rear end.

 

Thanks for offer on tc but funds are really low right now cause dverthing is being put aside for my body/paint soon almost got enough. So that will be put off lower on my list.. just curious though estimate for a quote? And yes i have seen these 50 dollar hei on eBay and they were mentioned time to time on the forums, and have heard good things. Maybe worth a 50 dollar invenstiment. As for carb I have my 77 qjet off my old engine I want to rebuild after i get my single exhaust set up for true duals. I want to send in the qjet to cliffs or sparkys to get rebuilt hopefully when I'm done the qjet will be a nice cause as stated before by a different memeber(forgot who) my carb and exhaust is really going to be a restricting factor

 

I know how that goes. You want to have your ride looking nice . If you have questions as far as body work goes pm me.

 

Hey a little update guys i played with the carb today I put the accel pump linkage to the 3rd hole for a stronger shot. Got vaccum 22 at around 850+rpm in park. The off idle hesistation feel alot more responsive pump gas and it responds to it way better.. will check timing when i get a little more time