wasco
Well-Known Member
A little background: 1964 383, Edelbrock E-Street heads, Edelbrock Performer intake, Edelbrock 1411-750, Comp Cams CL23-223-4 Xtreme Energy 224/230 camshaft, headers and HEI ignition. Engine was rebuilt and has about 80 miles on it so far. I’ve only used Ethanol-free gas, 89-91 octane. I have the vacuum canister on the distributor turned a couple turns back from all the way to clockwise (least amount of vacuum needed for advance).
I noticed what I thought was the lifters clattering at low RPM, thought maybe I wasn’t giving it enough gas when taking off (four speed), but then thought maybe it was detonation. The car just didn’t seem to have the power I thought it should. So I started down the rabbit hole of getting the timing set right.
I currently have the idle at about 900, the timing set to 18 BTDC and at idle the vacuum is at 12, which seems very low? Could the camshaft kill the vacuum that much? I thought I’d try setting the idle mix screws to maximum vacuum, but they don’t have any effect - unless I have the timing set above 40 BTDC. Currently I have them each two turns out from seated.
The vacuum headlight doors work slowly, but work - I have them connected to the full manifold vacuum port on the carb, using ported vacuum for timing.
Does all this sound about right or should I give the engine more timing? Tuning using the vacuum gauge doesn’t seem to work on this engine.
Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated! Thanks
I noticed what I thought was the lifters clattering at low RPM, thought maybe I wasn’t giving it enough gas when taking off (four speed), but then thought maybe it was detonation. The car just didn’t seem to have the power I thought it should. So I started down the rabbit hole of getting the timing set right.
I currently have the idle at about 900, the timing set to 18 BTDC and at idle the vacuum is at 12, which seems very low? Could the camshaft kill the vacuum that much? I thought I’d try setting the idle mix screws to maximum vacuum, but they don’t have any effect - unless I have the timing set above 40 BTDC. Currently I have them each two turns out from seated.
The vacuum headlight doors work slowly, but work - I have them connected to the full manifold vacuum port on the carb, using ported vacuum for timing.
Does all this sound about right or should I give the engine more timing? Tuning using the vacuum gauge doesn’t seem to work on this engine.
Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated! Thanks