I agree.. something's not tuned right and there's plenty more left in it yet. Gears and a stall can hide underlying issues fairly well.. but if it's laying down on the top end?.. you have some fuel/timing issues to deal with. Are you sure it's got decent enough valve springs in it? Because that'll do it if they're surging bad enough. They may not even fully float and you'll still lose tons of power up high.
I assume you have solid lifters in this motor? the lemans cam is a solid grind and you may have the lash too tight if it wont spin above 6k
I haven't checked the valves. since they are solid do you have any ideas on what the valves should adjust at. The car may rev a little higher but it seems like 5500 was all it wanted to turn.
on the positive note it does have compression. 5 cylinders were at 150 2 at 155 and 1 at 145. I plan to check the valves this weekend and get a timing pointer to see where the timing is at
definetely check the timing.my sons 351 likes 36 degrees total. but combos are different.and i do think you should get more rpms out of it he shifts at 6500.anyways i hope you dont give up on it .
I will probably get a new balancer with timing tape and a pointer in the next few weeks. I had to have the transmission redone in my Camaro and that pretty much killed my budget lol
it should be faster, do you have enough valve spring? maybe they are worn out or weak, my 302's have alsways liked 42 degrees timing, start simple. Duane
that's immediately what came to mind for me too. Many get caught up on full float.. but surge can cause enough open/close seat bounce to act just the same without the sound. That'll kill dynamic compression enough to dump a power curve right now. And despite most saying that amount of ignition lead would be too much.. my experience has been nearly the same for timing spec's an iron heads. Once you get into improved chambers(swirl and quench) and/or aluminum castings.. then things can change towards more conventionaly accepted settings.. but I always just give the motor what it needs after going back and forth between ignition and fuel curves enough to really dial it in tight. I wonder what rear jet it's running too?
yeah new improved chambers, aluminum heads, and piston designs allow you to run lower timing, but old style wedge heads from back in the day like alot of lead, bub whittaker, a high end super stock and stock eliminator engine builder tells me the older heads have seen hp gains as high as 46 degrees of timing. Duane
I have a stock bottom end 351w with flat tops world cast heads 248/254@050 .654/.679 lift cam 5000 stall 4.57 gears in a 69 mustang and its went 7.08 with a 1.56 60 ft.
If you dont know how,get someone to help you degree your cam.Once you find true dead center on the #1 piston ,make sure 0 on your balancer and your pointer on timing cover align perfectly.I would then retard the cam at about 108 to 110 degrees.Now,when you set your timing,rev the motor to about 3500 and set it around 32 to no more than 34 degrees.If the mtr doesnt have more than a 10 to 1 comp ratio,going any higher wont help you.Next,tire size,carb & jet size and distributer.
went to the track again and it done better. The balancer is covered in paint plus I didn't bring a timing light. I guessed the timing and seemed to have done better. It went a new personal best of 8.44 with a 1.84 ft. I also went a new best 60ft of 1.80 but decided to shift at 5800 and the car only went an 8.57. I plan to try again next week and have a timing light so the car may run 8.30's or so. all in all I am pretty satisfied with the car even if it's slower than an lt1 firebird lol.
