Hypothetical Question

[MoparMinded]

Hello, new member here. Aside from tinkering around on my old Chrysler, I write and my love for the old muscle cars of course comes out in my writing, so here's my question.

One of my characters is like me at sixteen, can turn a wrench but also thinks he can just bolt on horsepower.

What would happen if you have a carb basically dumping more fuel into an engine than it could handle; on the extreme let's say a stock 170 cid slant six with an 1100 cfm carb, no other modifications except of course the intake.

Would it run and if so, how well or badly? I know enough to think that that engine could not handle that much fuel in stock trim, but not so much as to the effects.

And the same question if the engine were a little bigger, maybe a 225 and the carb smaller, maybe in the 750 range.

[Blue Bowtie]

Excessive fuel/air mixture can result in liquid fuel pooling in the intake due to insufficient velocity through the runners. That can wreak havoc on any attempt to control mixture, and you can probably imagine the result.

[fredjacksonsan]

Yup, but that said -- CFM is a maximum. It'll probably be fine at light throttle application, but will run rich when you get on it. Then it might put out black smoke, or it might bog down. Or pool the fuel. Postulating that the result may be rpm dependent (up to a point) but don't quote me.

The 225 "Leaning Tower of Power" CAN be safely built up to over 400hp, but just slapping on a carb isn't how to get there. (Not sure about the limits of the 170)

Curious what vehicle this engine is in?


Edit: hello, Chesterfield! I lived there from '03-'06.