Ignition and carb swap

[wagonman]

I am looking for some more power and consistancy from my 68 R/R 440. Current setup is points and a Eddy 600. When cool it has good driveability and decent power, but I want more. Got a Mopar Electric dist from E-buggers site and have a 3310 Holley. What can I expect from this combo? With the current setup it gets lazy when hot. The 440 has 906 heads with KB hypers with a reverse dome for quench and a Comp Xe268H-10. I will report back when it is upgraded some time next week. Base line for the carb is 72 jets front 6.5 PV and whatever plate comes in the rear. Opinions yay or nay??

 

[Jeremiah]

With the DA and heat we have had this summer I can see engines seeming lazy. If it was me I'd try a bigger AVS or AFB before going through all of the headaches changing linkage, fuel lines and air cleaners (assuming your car is mostly stock). How is the current ignition and carburetor set up? I don't see much performance increase in the point to electronic ignition swap unless the current ignition has a problem. I do see benefit in a bigger carburetor. I'd setup the carburetor as Holley suggests it for jetting and use a PV based on your vacuum measurements. I'd think you could get away with a 8.5 PV with because you should have plenty of vacuum with that cam.

 

[Yatzee]

I am looking for some more power and consistancy from my 68 R/R 440. Current setup is points and a Eddy 600. When cool it has good driveability and decent power, but I want more. Got a Mopar Electric dist from E-buggers site and have a 3310 Holley. What can I expect from this combo? With the current setup it gets lazy when hot. The 440 has 906 heads with KB hypers with a reverse dome for quench and a Comp Xe268H-10. I will report back when it is upgraded some time next week. Base line for the carb is 72 jets front 6.5 PV and whatever plate comes in the rear. Opinions yay or nay??

Well your first mistake was the Mopar distributor as your choice. Mancini sells a Firecore plug and play unit that's heralded as one of the best on the market for performance at $159. Got one planted in my 383 and when timing, the marker does not bounce even at 5500 rpm. Ball bearings all the way, top and bottom and one of the best out there for manually setting timing curves. Hate to piss on your intake but "here we go again" with power valves, float levels, choke adjustments and idle adjustment screws. For what you paid for the carb you should have added a bit of cash and gone EFI. You're gonna do it anyway because word on the street is all carb manufacturers are suffering or changing venue in the midst of companies like Fast, MSD etc. The best an engine can run is with the perfect fuel/air mixture and you ain't gonna get it with a carb dumping buckets of unburnt fuel down the pipes to wash the cylinder walls and dilute your oil. If you want a serious driving experience give these two items a try and if you buy a big enough EFI unit you can carry it over to that monstrous HEMI in your future and never buy a carb again. Not just my opinion and I realise not everyone has the cash, but when you turn just the key and hell wakes up under the hood, you'll be glad you did it once and did it right.

 

[wagonman]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. First off I have used the MP ignition before and it worked well with the added benifit of parts availability should it fail on the road. Second I got the carb doing some swapping for free save for some small parts. Hemi and EFI yeah I wish. Yeah Jerimiah I hear you on the heat and DA issues and the PITA of the Holley swap issues been there done that,not a real big deal though. When I had my 70 Charger, stock 383 Magnum A/T I did this same swap and loved it. Albeit that had the Holley 600 from the factory so was a bit easier. I will also add a 1in wood spacer to further isolate the carb from heat. The ignition is almost done and will try a compare before the carb install. I will report back on the results ASAP.

 

[67 coronet]

once you slap a tune on that carb and get the timing right for the cam and you should see a notable improvement.good luck.

 

[wagonman]

Ignition is done with a coil relocation kit to the rear of rt side of intake, this makes more room for the Holley. Going to play with timing and get some fittings for the fuel lines. More to come.

 

[moparedtn]

Fun fact:
The Holley 3310 (750cfm vac sec) was originally designed for use on big block Mopars.
I've had a lot of luck with those on mostly stock 440's for a long time now - a little jetting tuning and it's pretty good to go, unless you have some built up monster motor.
Nothing wrong with the Mopar electronic ignition conversion, either. Great street/stock setup there, works fine, easy to install and set up.

 

[WileERobby]

Fun fact:
The Holley 3310 (750cfm vac sec) was originally designed for use on big block Mopars.
I've had a lot of luck with those on mostly stock 440's for a long time now - a little jetting tuning and it's pretty good to go, unless you have some built up monster motor.
Nothing wrong with the Mopar electronic ignition conversion, either. Great street/stock setup there, works fine, easy to install and set up.

Yup... you don't need a bigger carb, you don't need EFI, just set that carb & adjust your timing. Done that to plenty of engines for the past 40-plus years, with the 3310, it's a good carb for your combo.

 

[wagonman]

Well I got the timing sort of dialed in with 12 degrees initial but still need to plot the whole curve. I have a buddy with a dial back lite I can borrow,it runs good as is but I am curious as to the curve ect. Pulled the Eddy carb to mock up the Holley lines and linkage. Had to order some A-N lines and a linkage adaptor for the throttle and trans kickdown. Should be in later in the week. Cool Fun Fact about the 3310 though. More to come.

 

[wagonman]

Well she is all together and sounds good. Maiden voyage tomorrow as it is getting dark and the deer are thick. Went to the Holley site and the carb is set up per factory specs in my first post. One issue is I dont have ported vaccum at either of the ports.The one on the throttle is full time as is the one on the primary block.WTH !! More to come.

 

[wagonman]

Man what an improvement, now this thing Rips like a 440 should. No pinging,idle is nice and smooth. Might play with jetting and PV to get some economy but not a big deal. Big Smiles,thanks everyone.