wallaby

Yep. Higher stall means increased slippage (the trans shifts just as quick as before but the high stall takes out the harshness) and it also reduces the engine braking effect. On the freeway off-ramp mine used to slow down pretty quick by just lifting off of the pedal... now it feels almost like it's in neutral.

When I worked in a garage many moons ago, this was a common repair. Every GM car had the same setup. We had a neat set of tools to do the job and it wasn't bad. It's a different story when you have to improvise with tiny screwdrivers and such at home. Grrr. After looking at that plastic part and seeing how it works, I'm amazed it works more than a couple of times. Somehow it lasts for years... Still, I am reluctant to move the turn signal lever all the way. I am fine with just pushing the lever until the lights function, and holding the lever in that position. I have never been comfortable snapping it on and letting it self-cancel. Before I saw how it worked, I was fine with it. LOL Oh, and what's with that 4-way hazard switch? Easy to turn it on, but you think you're going to pull the knob off trying to shut it off.

I did that years ago. They were shooting a scene from a film that was supposed to be in the late 50's. They contacted vintage car clubs in the area and had them simply park along the street so it would seem period correct. The main focus of the resulting film was a dialog between two people as they crossed the street. In the background you could see the cars, and several were actually chosen to be in motion as if it were traffic. The concept was good, but they first contacted the Buick club and then the Packard club. This was a simple dialog shot outside, but it was clear this was no ordinary town. It looked like average housing but everyone had the money to own a Packard or Buick. Add a couple of Studebakers driving by and you get the idea. It's really amazing how long it takes to get the shot they want, and then the result is a movie you can't remember. Still, it's an experience. Coffee and donuts were free.

If you ever have plans in the future of changing to a larger engine (cheapest bang for the buck) you can fit your current engine with a carb and intake. Those are easy to swap to something in the future. Sadly, you probably won't notice any difference on your current setup, and it might require different tuning to get it to run really right. For me, having a distributor shop reset my advance curve for performance was my biggest "seat of the pants" mod. The intake, carb, headers, mufflers...blah. Everyone says you need to do it, but the gains are tiny, if you notice at all.

Sounds normal. I put a TH400 in an old truck years ago and thought I would be clever and put the electric kickdown switch on my shifter instead of the gas pedal. The idea was I could activate it with my thumb whenever I wanted to.... well, it did just as you describe. It would send the transmission into 1st gear and somehow remove the sensation of engine braking.. so from the drivers seat it felt like it was in neutral and the engine needed like mega rpm to propel the car. It works great as the factory designed it, but does weird stuff if the engine isn't at full throttle. Turns out that the gas pedal activation was a better idea.

I'm coming in late on this topic, but after my first read of it, my first thought was the shifter itself moving something. It's just a thought because the rotating column and the speedometer reside so close to one another in the dash. Is it possible that the speedometer cable is being pulled or deflected when you are in the drive position, and not when you are in the neutral position? It's a wild guess for sure, but the speedometer cable has two ends that both need to work. Maybe the problem isn't at the trans end.

I did the conversion on mine. I did a write-up on the process, but can't find it. I bought the complete kit from Summit, turns out it was a hydratech system. I'm trying to remember where I had issues, and I think it was all related to the return line to the pump reservoir. For me, the "T" fitting didn't work. I had to buy a bulkhead fitting and install it in my original pump housing. The problem was that I had to take the pump out of the reservoir to drill the giant hole for the fitting, and it requires a flat surface to seal against. That's where the "O-clock" position is important. The whole lower half of the reservoir is curved, and there isn't room on the backside because the pump sits so close to the engine. I ended up with a return line going into the reservoir at about the 2 o-clock position as viewed from the front. Problem solved? Nope. Now I had fluid returning near or above the fluid level and there must be a lot of flow form this line...it would foam up the fluid in the reservoir and the steering would make that "out of fluid" sound whenever I turned the wheel. I had to extend the filler neck on my pump so I could raise the fluid level enough to stop the foaming of the fluid. If I had a welder, I could have brazed a fitting to the lower/curved area of the pump and it would have been a better arrangement.

That sounds like most everything. There is a coil winding, a moving wiper contact, the float and arm. Oh, and a convenient housing to hold it onto the gas tank. You can still get a replacement new assembly from spectre. I've never seen one rebuilt.

Those 2bbl carbs are nearly bullet-proof. It's pretty rare that one has a problem, but if your engine needs that much initial timing to run, either the balancer is wrong (as discussed above) or your carb is running way lean. With the noxious fumes out the tailpipe, I vote for the lean carb. Try running the engine with the air cleaner off, and moving the throttle with your hand as you lean over the fender. Next you want to open the throttle with one hand as you cap your other hand over the top of the carb. The idea is to put a strong suction on the internals of the carb to pull through any debris that might be clogging things up. Take your hand off the top of the carb before the engine dies. A couple of pulls this way should do the trick, or its something more serious and requires the carb be taken apart. Another possibility is bad gas. Is your gas fresh? Old gas just doesn't want to burn and can cause all kinds of grief. Just ask anyone who has stored a motorcycle or snowmobile or boat....

Been there, done that. It's a fuel starvation issue. At wide open throttle, the engine is pulling more fuel than the carb can deliver. Eventually you drain the float bowls and the engine bogs, or shuts off. If you were to leave your foot planted on the floor, after a couple of seconds the engine responds again as the bowls fill. Check your float level. A little high is better than having it low. This is probably your issue. There are also better needle and seat assemblies available that flow better than the stock pieces. They just have a bigger hole through the center. The filter in the carb is a problem... from a design standpoint. Very restrictive and hard to change without stripping threads or causing a leak. I leave them out and use a good in-line filter.

Yes, the thickness of the ears is 5/8 where the bolts go through. How much had to be removed to get them flat? Can you maybe use a shorter bolt? I'm thinking a flat manifold is better than a used one that isn't.

maybe these guys have it? LINKY

Alright, I made some progress. I pulled the carb and the baseplate was flat. Next I checked the secondary throttle plates and found them to be open a bit. I did some checking online and found that there is a secondary stop screw designed to hold them open a bit. Strange. On a Q-jet you drill tiny holes in the primary plates to get a good idle with a lopey cam, but Holley has a screw to do the same thing. The idea is to have the primary plates nearly closed so they don't expose too much of the transition slot. Once that slot gets too much exposure the carb starts running on the main metering system and your mixture screws loose their ability to adjust. That was where I was. I had the idle adjustment set too high to let the mixture screws do their lob. The solution was to open the secondary plates a bit with the "bugger to get to" screw, and then slow down the idle with the idle speed screw. It's a bit of a balancing act, but I think I got it.

Ok, I used a 160 stat because it was a requirement for my engine warranty. That has expired time-wise, so I'll try a 180. My normal scenario is I drive to work in the wee hours of the morning (like 3am) and it behaves beautiful...even when I get there and it has to idle. But the same drive in the other direction is a different story. This trip is done in the late afternoon and it isn't as smooth, even at cruise. Idle in traffic, and it goes way lean. I got home today and tried to richen the idle mixture while it was still hot and idling lean, and found that the screws are essentially all the way out already. Backing them out further made no difference. I tried cupping a rag over the primaries and got little or no response. I then tried the rag over the secondaries...and it stumbled and nearly stalled. I thought maybe it was my giant rag (a towel) covering the bowl vents, so I made sure to avoid those and tried again. This time it stopped the engine dead in its tracks. From this I'm guessing that I have a vacuum leak...probably the secondary plates not fully closing. That would explain why the idle screws are all the way out and the idle is so unpredictable. Anyone had this issue with a Holley? This is the first Holley I've ever run and it's brand new. It's a street avenger vacuum secondary carb with electric choke. Again, a recommendation from my builder. So far I'm not real impressed. Oh, and that Tee shirt should be printed backwards so you can look in the mirror for reference. And if your computer asks for a new password, and helps by suggesting "What's your favorite restaurant?" Don't do it because everybody knows it's Red Lobster.

I am still trying to sort out the tuning on my new 468. The timing and fuel ratios and such. For the longest time something didn't seem right, and I was blaming an exaggerated dyno sheet and inside I was cursing my builder. Then I found this handy guide for general settings to get you in the ballpark. For me, it worked wonders. If you are running a big-block, you can probably run the lower end of the timing figures. This is a great thing to reprint and tack to your garage wall next to the periodic table of the elements, the rotational lathe speeds for different metals poster, the tap/die/drill guide, and the Chevrolet firing order chart. It reads:... 10 to 12 degrees of initial timing when the camshaft duration is less than 220° @ 0.050, 14 to 16° of initial timing with less than 240° @ 0.050; and 18 to 20° of initial timing with a cam with less than 260° @ 0.050. For those of you with air/fuel meters, here are the general ratios to target: ...Starting points when you are setting the air/fuel mixtures of a generic engine are: Idle: 1% to 3 % CO or a 14.1-13.4 to 1 air/fuel mixture, Cruise RPM: 1% to 3 % CO or a 14.2 –14.0 to 1 air/fuel mixture, Power Mixture and Acceleration: 6.6% CO or a 12.0-1 air/fuel mixture. Some high performance engines with fast burn cylinder heads may use a slightly leaner power mixture of 4% CO or a 13.0 to 1 air/fuel ratio. I was at 12 degrees initial with a cam with 236/244 duration @ .050... Advancing the timing up to 17 made a WORLD of difference. Now for those with know-how, why is it that as my engine gets to the fully warm state it leans out at idle? I can drive for about 30 min on the freeway and it might get to about 170 degrees, and when I exit into stop/go traffic the idle goes way lean (15-16/1) and it idles rough and puts out obnoxious fumes. It idled fine with good ratios at 160 degrees...(160 T-stat, choke long ago fully open). I'm wondering if it might be the underhood heat that the engine is intaking....thoughts? Should I just readjust the idle mixture when the engine is fully-fully hot and live with the resulting rich "normal" temp ratios?

I had a rear give up long ago...it lost ONE tooth from the ring gear, and it flew right out through the cover plate. The oil trail was a giveaway that something was wrong. LOL

Better design than the Hookers. I can't say which is better for changing plugs, but the ARH have tubes that are much closer to equal length, and have what looks to be a more gentle bend right where the tubes exit the cylinder head. I did a quick measure of tube lengths, and the Hookers vary from just 18" long on the rear cylinder, to 32" long on the front cylinder! They're trying hard to get from point A to point B, but not giving any effort to making the tubes equal length. The ARH looks to be about 28" rear, and 28" front. Can't get any better than that. It's a quality piece. I just might need a pair of these.

That was quite the comparison. The 1950 crew wasn't without time-saving methods; check out the neat jacking device that lifts the entire front end! (they just needed a bigger guy to work it), and of course those speedy knock-offs for the wheels. The 2oz paper cups were amusing...head back to the water cooler for a second serving. The whole pace of things was different. Listen to the sounds of the passing cars on the track.

Oh really? These have the neat foam pads with them...did you have problems with the same setup? I ran mine for about 3 yrs and then relocated my fan; couldn't even tell where the old set had been.

I just used these: LINKY They can't be any easier, and easy to undo also. Autozone, Pep Boys, etc has 'em.

10 degrees is normal for the vacuum advance. Stock setup may be more. You can get an adjustable vacuum can and limit the amount, and set the vacuum needed to pull it, but 10 is the target. You want 10 at cruise from the vacuum can. But that's not important right now. The centrifugal is different. This is the number everyone refers to. You want somewhere around 38-42? total with the centrifugal advance. The centrifugal should be all in by 3000 rpm. Stock may require up to 4500 to be all in. The vacuum advance should be disconnected for this test. With a dial-type timing light, slowly speed up the engine until added speed no longer moves the timing mark. At that speed or more, turn the dial on your timing light to align the mark and the pointer and the dial will tell you your total advance. The vacuum can will bring more to the party later when you hook it back up. A quick test of the vacuum can is easily done by sucking on the vacuum hose going to the distributor. (might need a longer hose).You can easily pull enough vacuum this way to see how much advance it adds: at idle suck on the hose and adjust your timing light dial as above. Again the target is 10 degrees. Remember, the total advance number is what you get when you have the initial timing plus full centrifugal timing, so it needs to be measured when the engine is at speed. Vacuum advance adds more above and beyond when you hook it up later, but if it's not more than 10 degrees, you're ok. In this example, initial timing + centrifugal advance + vacuum advance will have the timing at a whopping 52 degrees at cruise...don't sweat it, that's ideal. At light throttle the engine runs lean and will like the added timing the vacuum brings...and better fuel mileage too. Sorry that all these tests require a dial-type timing light. The tricky part is when you have to retard the total advance to get a reasonable number (less than 42) and then it's too retarded to idle well. At that point you need to advance the dist for a decent idle, and then mechanically limit the total advance from going too high. The other option is to run the vacuum advance from a manifold vacuum source to help the idle condition.

The clamp-on cable ends aren't a good option. They corrode easily, and even when new, they don't transfer current as well as a pre-terminated end. I vote for new cables.

I have aluminum in mine. They say the aluminum works better than the old copper/brass and weighs less. The only real clue that it isn't original is the tanks that are welded on instead of soldered. Ok,... and the color. I painted my tanks black and anything not covered by the shroud. once the shroud is installed you really don't see anything that looks out of place. The AC hides the front. If all else fails, you can paint the entire thing black. [i just noticed that even the aluminum unit shown in the picture has the upper fitting located lower than yours.] You may need to source a real radiator shop to have yours re-cored or at least rodded out to get it clean. I like 1-800 radiator here for new replacement, but their application chart only goes back to 1978.

A quick search brought up these: http://store.alternatorparts.com/repair-kits-and-upgrade-kits.aspx http://www.ebay.com/itm/10DN-Delco-alter...=p2054897.l4275