I'm working on a 67 with a 540 and it runs like crap. It has a hyd cam, 240 duration and about 570 lift. The heads are cast iron world products square port, has gigantic Hooker header, what a waste:sad::sad:

Intake is a world deal with a Holley 4781. The ignition is a MSD, with a MSD distributor with no vacuum advance. When I picked this pig up yesterday the battery would not crank it, in the trunk, and when he put his booster on you could tell it has a ton of initial timing.

I also noticed the MSD is not wired to a direct battery source, it's on the alt/battery block by where the battery would be up front. It also has a set of Accel #276 plugs, Accel is not my favorite plug and I think this thing is more of a racing plug.

I'm thinking AC R45TS or R46TS, anyone have a combo close to this and if so what plugs are you using.

Got to do something about that distributor:(:(:(:(

Compression ratio?

Compression ratio?

9.5 to 1 with iron heads.

Wally,
Just looked in the World catalog and 276 is what they use in thier crate engines. My take would be to get rid of the distributor and get one with vacuum advance. You know the routine :) Give me a shout Monday if you have time.

Wally,
Just looked in the World catalog and 276 is what they use in thier crate engines. My take would be to get rid of the distributor and get one with vacuum advance. You know the routine :) Give me a shout Monday if you have time.

I don't like Accel plugs, I looked at the cross for them and the same plug, 276, is listed for the R43TS to the R46TS, now how in the hell is that possible, three heat ranges higher in a AC and the same Accel plug?????

He has a MSD distributor now, he is going to hate life when I tell him it needs to go:yes::yes::yes:

This thing is fat as a pig, I can't find any info on that Hardcore carb to see what jets are in it. I'm tempted to put the jets that come in a 850 and try that.

4781 should have 80 in front and 78 or 80 in back depending on if it is dash 1,2 etc. 65 power valve

fwiw--my hardcore 870 dp was sqaure jetted with #74,s and 6.5" pv,s.Milled horn,quick change dominator bowls,jet extensions, threaded hlab,s and .061" pvcr out of the box.

why would you rid of an MSD distributor?? plus, most have the provision to run vac advance...there's no need to tell him to toss a 200$ distributor, just have him pick up the vac can and the hardware. I know my pro billet came with all that, so you should be able to get it from MSD...

Either AC R44TS or AC R45TS. A "46" is too hot, and a "43" is too cold for that compression.

I run r44t in my 468 with 13:1comp. I run them in my 9.3:1 350 I also ran them in my 9:1 468 i pulled from the velle so I could put the new one 13:1 comp one in.

why would you rid of an MSD distributor?? plus, most have the provision to run vac advance...there's no need to tell him to toss a 200$ distributor, just have him pick up the vac can and the hardware. I know my pro billet came with all that, so you should be able to get it from MSD...

I tried to find the necessary parts to swap it over on their web site, what a joke that was:noway::noway::noway:

It would be nice to talk to them, maybe I will try that next. There is one thing that bothers me, they say you only get 10 degrees of advance out of the vacuum system, need more like 20 to work right.

whats the base and total timing on this motor? what rpm?

Accel plugs are nice plugs. I use them on all my builds and they run great.

I tried to find the necessary parts to swap it over on their web site, what a joke that was:noway::noway::noway:

It would be nice to talk to them, maybe I will try that next. There is one thing that bothers me, they say you only get 10 degrees of advance out of the vacuum system, need more like 20 to work right.

yeah, I'm not sure how much I was geting with mine...I tried it, didn't like it, so I set up mine without Vac. one less variable.

whats the base and total timing on this motor? what rpm?

36 total, I don't know what the inital might be, in the 10 to 12 range I'm betting, not nearly enough for the beast at idle.

I'm going to put the 850 back to stock specs, dig out a new vacuum advance HEI I have and wire it to work with the MSD and see what happens.

There are so manythings wrong, the MSD is wired to the alt., a very bad spot for a MSD. The noise from the alt. can cause problems with the MSD.

The car runs on if you kill the main battery feed and I'm not sure the trick optima battery is any good.

Wally, it's confusing the way that MSD describes the amount of advance with their vacuum canister. When they say "up to 10 degrees" they are talking about degrees of advance at the distributor not the crank. So, their "10 degrees" is really 20 degrees at the crank. I know, stupid way for them to describe it. Its almost like they do it to intentionally be confusing.

>> "So, their "10 degrees" is really 20 degrees at the crank. I know, stupid way for them to describe it. Its almost like they do it to intentionally be confusing."

Cloyes did that stupid deal with their 3 keyway timing sets into the mid/late 80s. Put the cam in on the advanced keyway and waaa-laaa, it's 8 degrees advanced. Not only stupid but useless to boot.

Well I figured out the no idle problem with the 543, Mr Bill sent me looking in the right direction. The MSD distributor had no vacuum advance, so I gutted a HEI, installed the optional coil cover, put a curve kit in and ran it on my good old Sun machine. When I removed the MSD, the thing was coated with that bronze looking crude inside. I put it on my machine and spun it up just to see what had been done.

One of the problems was the car would change idle all the time, set it and it would creap up, lower the idle and it would try to shut off. I discovered the weiights were so loose that they would stick full advance. If I shut down the Sun machine you could hear the weights fall back.

I can't imagine what was the thinking behind this.

Yup,that 240 deg dur @.05 cam needs at least 18 deg base timing maybe evn 20 deg.

Get your new dist from "Dave Ray" and he can set it up with the proper 18 deg mech all in by 2800 ish rpm.

Then you can run 18 -20 deg base timing + 18 deg mech = 36-38 total (depending on base timing ) all in by 2800 rpm.

Dave can also setup a vac that limited to lets says 10-12 deg max to keep the cruise /low load/part throttle timing conservative at 48-50 deg but some setups are fine at 52 deg.

Dont forget,retartded base timing makes you have to crank up the idle speed setting higher then normal to obtain an idle.

Having to do that due to retarded base timing very often pushes the prim throttle blades partially or most of the time completely out of the idle circut so the motor is now idling on the mains which makes it pig rich.

And to add to that problem is if the idle vacuum is lets say 5.5"-6" due to retarded base timing at idle the carb has a 6.0-6.5 power valve it can be partially or almost fully activated with motor idling on the mains .

So now the motor is idling on main circut with more fuel also coming from a partially or fully activated/open power valve too which will eventually fuel foul just about any plug with a reasonable heat range for setup being run.

YOU KNOW THE DRILL,IT'S THE OLD BURN YOUR EYS OUT AND CHOKE YOU KIND OF RICH EXHAUST SMELL.

Then after you get the timing right(esp base timing) then get an intake vacuum reading at idle with full int vacuum/not ported with auto trans in gear to see what that is with 240 deg cam in a lrg 540 motor.

Then if for example it's 8" with motor idling try 5.0 power valve on primary side and maybe jet it a bit if you think it needs it too and step back up in a het a little at a time as required.

Dont forget to chk to see if the sec side has a power valve and is so make sure its correctly matched to cams intake vacuum to or that can give you fits trying to tune the carb if your not aware it has a p/valve in sec side. Or you can simply plug it off and jet it up accordingly to make up for no power valve on the sec side that will make dialing the in sec easier to do.

Good luck.

Scott

Yup,that 240 deg dur @.05 cam needs at least 18 deg base timing maybe evn 20 deg.

Get your new dist from "Dave Ray" and he can set it up with the proper 18 deg mech all in by 2800 ish rpm.

Then you can run 18 -20 deg base timing + 18 deg mech = 36-38 total (depending on base timing ) all in by 2800 rpm.

Dave can also setup a vac that limited to lets says 10-12 deg max to keep the cruise /low load/part throttle timing conservative at 48-50 deg but some setups are fine at 52 deg.

Dont forget,retartded base timing makes you have to crank up the idle speed setting higher then normal to obtain an idle.

Having to do that due to retarded base timing very often pushes the prim throttle blades partially or most of the time completely out of the idle circut so the motor is now idling on the mains which makes it pig rich.

And to add to that problem is if the idle vacuum is lets say 5.5"-6" due to retarded base timing at idle the carb has a 6.0-6.5 power valve it can be partially or almost fully activated with motor idling on the mains .

So now the motor is idling on main circut with more fuel also coming from a partially or fully activated/open power valve too which will eventually fuel foul just about any plug with a reasonable heat range for setup being run.

YOU KNOW THE DRILL,IT'S THE OLD BURN YOUR EYS OUT AND CHOKE YOU KIND OF RICH EXHAUST SMELL.

Then after you get the timing right(esp base timing) then get an intake vacuum reading at idle with full int vacuum/not ported with auto trans in gear to see what that is with 240 deg cam in a lrg 540 motor.

Then if for example it's 8" with motor idling try 5.0 power valve on primary side and maybe jet it a bit if you think it needs it too and step back up in a het a little at a time as required.

Dont forget to chk to see if the sec side has a power valve and is so make sure its correctly matched to cams intake vacuum to or that can give you fits trying to tune the carb if your not aware it has a p/valve in sec side. Or you can simply plug it off and jet it up accordingly to make up for no power valve on the sec side that will make dialing the in sec easier to do.

Good luck.

Scott

All I'm using the HEI for is the trigger and the vacuum advance. I have 20 in the vacuum system, that gives me 28 at idle, and I have the mechanical in later, car has a 4.10 so it buzzes going down the highway.

What is impressive is the tire blazing performance, just idle along in low gear and stab the loud pedal, back tires go up in smoke:D:D:D