Event Coverage Big daddy goes racing with the 60 Elco!

No sir, didn't have time last week, and I worked yesterday. I'm back at the shop today, plan is to work on it this evening, gotta work on customer cars today. Thought about just switching the discharge nozzle on the new carb and putting it on there.

 

Wish we were all closer together! Can you imagine that?? Jeez. lol

 

Pulled the other carb off the shelf. Bowls are clean. This one was on Ashley's truck until I had the oiling issue. Just ran a few minutes. It has 66 jets. I put the plain silver spring in it, that says the secondaries shouldn't start to open until a little over 2200rpm and full open at 6100. I'll put it on later and report back.

 

Lloyd, That 3" stroke is not going to be too friendly with what else you've got there.
That being said, there's probably .50 to .75 of a second there, without spending any money on it.
Total timing, advance weights and springs, carb secondaries dialed in, etc.
There's probably some e.t. in the launch technique too.
Generally the tighter the converter, the tighter ( slower) you want the secondaries .
Stock converters might like to be at as high as you can them, rpm wise, on the line and still hold the car.
( Not necessarily true with high stall race converters)
If the tires won't spin, put more air in them, there's e.t. there too.
Lighter weight Mobil 1 will pick it up too.
Oil hot but engine cool is the way to go...
Open headers with bolt on collector extensions
On and on..
We'll speed that thing up

 

Just got back from a few test runs in the neighborhood straight stretch down the road. The only thing I did was change the carburetor, and it's 100% better as far as the cutting out and missing at higher rpm issue goes. It spun to 6000rpm without a hitch, multiple times. Still a complete pooch off the line, tried to brake the car and it still won't spin a wheel lol. Guess that's the nature of the beast when you're running what I've got. But it's a huge improvement over what it was.

 

How much total timing?
What are the advance springs and weights like?

 

Total is 36, all in by 3000. I just read the instructions on the adjustable vacuum advance and turned the screw out 4 turns it was all the way in. As far as the springs and weights, they are the same as I took it out of the box.

 

sometimes we try to get more initial advance, and try to get it all in sooner. To help it get moving off the line.

Vacuum advance should not have any effect on racing situations, but it will affect gas mileage and other part throttle things.

 

For all of us wondering!

 

It was spark knocking at part throttle. That's why I check that adjustment. It said if you hear detonation, crank the screw out 2 turns and recheck. I'm a wild man so I went 4 turns so can I gain anything off the line with the advance springs?

 

Glad to see you out and having fun, I think that heavy leaded fuel is slowing you down, you need to try the lighter unleaded stuff

 

Two of your replies prior made me
spit my coffee out…the one where the guy was “dogging” on you and the one reply why your car was so heavy.
You owe me a cup of Folgers and a phone screen cleaning

 

Maybe. I tend to limit the degrees of mechanical advance, and set the timing so the total is where I want it, and this results in more initial advance. You can play with lighter springs so it advances sooner, too. But if you're having pinging when you get vacuum advance, you might be close at WOT when racing, so you need to sneak up on it...

 

Jim beat me to this one.
If nothing else, I'd disconnect and plug the vacuum advance when you get to the track.
Manifold vacuum goes away at full throttle anyway. Just turn the idle up a bit..
Yes..Take one advance spring off and try it.. You just need one to pull the advance back for starting purposes.
3000 kinda late, with about a 1600 converter ;-)

 

Big L, vacuum advance is for street driving (partial throttle). As Squirrel mentions, it should not be affecting full throttle drag runs, since the engine is not seeing much vacuum at full throttle. The advance springs affect centrifugal advance. That will change the advance curve, the slots will affect total centrifugal advance. EDIT, just block off vacuum at the strip. 36 may be a little much, You can try a bit more initial and check for knock.
The plug you showed looked pretty darn rich. Glad to hear the new carb feels better.
Since the car looks the part, dead hooks ( ) and the driver needs to work on reaction time and keeping the thing together, I'd suggest you just keep making small tuning changes, get better at the lights and have fun. Everyone agrees that the 60 foot time is where you can gain the most. This is something you can work on away from the track safely. Much easier to do a few pulls down the street instead of chasing a high speed miss.
Once you get a good tan color, no pinging, consistent times (in the hundredths, not tenths), and the driver is cutting a good light each time, THEN worry about going faster.
Way back, the local (Carlsbad) guy to beat in street cars was a dude that bought a 74 Firebird brand new. He raced darn near every weekend for 29 years, making only a few changes to get to that HP level. The car ran 13.50s and he cut sub-.510 lights every time. Sportsman light, so .500 was perfect. He had a great time, never hurt the car, and as said, would get through rounds and have more fun because he would be a tough combo to beat. Stock seat belts, street tires, a helmet and casual attire. Drive there, race and drive home. Said he didn't like golf!!!

 

I'll pull the cap off and see what's going on. I've got the assorted springs that came with the distributor. On an HEI I usually run one medium and one light. Should I do the same on this setup? I appreciate you and @squirrel

 

Is that why your back hurts?

 

Thanks a bunch man yeah I don't like golf either lol. I used to be decent on the tree in my day, but I wasn't fighting car problems at the same time! Lol

 

No that's from carrying a bunch of young guys at the firehouse

 

usually the thought process is heavy car = heavy load = slower advance = heavy springs.
Lighter = you guessed it.
Since this is a dog off the line, and total advance is already 36, I'd say try lighter springs as you said, paying attention to any pinging and for any 'pepper' on the plugs (detonation). This is one of those where you don't want to cross the line too much.

 

A long winded but short example of timing. Hop on your bicycle and try the following:


Start pushing down on the pedals right at or just before the top of the stroke (TDC). it will take all your weight and the effort does not translate to more speed because you have little to no leverage and it just pushes the force straight down into the crank.
Then try late pedaling, pushing only at 90 degrees (pedal at the forward point) with the most leverage. that is late or retarded timing. You are only applying power during half the stroke. If you are going up a steep hill (load), this may be the best you can do.
Now try it just say 10-15 degrees after TDC. This is the best use of the available stroke without just shoving all the effort straight on the crank.
A variety of factors (speed of flame front, engine speed, load, octane) determine how much advance is required to time this right, but 32-36 total is common for early SBC almost universally. How much initial and the centrifugal advance curve are on a case by case basis.

 

Damnit! I don't got a bicycle!! Lol.. but I get what you're saying. I'll look in the distributor.

 

Nice run on an ugly looking track surface

 

That's just the theory and practical application, but hopefully it works in anybody's head who has ever ridden a bike, especially up a hill and how load and speed change things.

 

Do yourself a favour. Spend a dollar and run the car over a public weighbridge to get an accurate weight so you're not guessing or use the one at the track if they've got one.
The piddly six cylinder in my avatar puts out 100 h.p. on the dyno. With a lightened flywheel and little horsepower there's not a lot of torque so I keep the tyres aired up a bit to allow them to spin on sticky tracks which lets the engine get on song and I get going. Too much air and the tyres grip but the engine bogs.
Manual gearbox makes a difference as well.

 

Too late guys, it's officially a race car lmao!

 

Cool, now to raise one..

 

I was gonna panel stripe it, but after Mark's adventure I was afraid I'd get my ass kicked