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Old 03-25-2005, 08:36 PM
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MagicRat MagicRat is offline
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Re: test and tune... who does it?

Why curtis, you come to AF of course!!

I might suggest to tune it yourself. Other people will not be bothered to do the time consuming trial and error to get it just right, unless you pay them lots for their time. Besidees its easy and fun.

First, I would suggest to do a baseline acceleration run. It is a fair substitute for a dyno.
Any quiet highway will do, where you can go from zero to up to 70 or so.
Do some timed runs from zero to 30, to 40 etc.
Thias will give you a record of the engine's low end and mid-range performance, too.
Keep track of temp and humidity if you can, too.

If your speedo is a bit shakey, use landmarks, ie: accelerate from point A to point B

Next, make any changes to the tuning one at a time, then test it, so you can track the effectiveness of the changes.

For your engine it should be fairly easy to find a published distributor advance curve. Tell me you are using a GM HEI system or an aftermarket type....no points?

I have stacks of car mags in storage, so I am not sure of the specs. Anyways lots of racers have already done the trial and error to set up the optimal curve. Find and use their specs, if you can.

You can get advance tuning kits. Use a timing light and tach to plot the distributor curve, and total distributor advance. You can install a timing decal on the harmonic balancer to provide a more accuate scale of the advance in degrees.

Did you degree the camshaft in, when you installed it? The cam manufacturer should be able to provide specs for the grind you have, a degree wheel and an off-set keyway or adjustable chain and sprocket set. I am sure you know how manufacturing tolerances can throw off the cam timing, even with a new chain set.

As for swapping jets......its easy and likely may be necessary for optimal performance. The carb.......what kind do you have? I know Holleys up, down and sideways, (Q-jets and Autolite's, too) but am a bit shakey on the other brands.
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