Ok, got all that and I hear ya.
Now back to tri-power stuff.
I called the dyno guy from the Corvette Enthusiast article, Don Dixon. Real nice guy. We spoke about the tests.
He commented again that EVERYONE was expecting the tri-power set-up to s**k.
Paraphrased, he said,
"That's why Holley and Edelbrock gave me all of the other manifolds and carbs for free. They even gave me brand new 2300's because they didn't want any blame it on the old carbs issues."
"When I was young, I couldn't get free stickers. Now that I'm older and everyone thinks I know more than them because they're writing an article about it, I got more free stuff than I knew what to do with it...heads, cam, internals...everything I needed for the build except the tri-power manifold and the block. That's some sweet deal."
"I guess they (Holley and Edelbrock) were both hoping to blow past the tri-power with this new stuff. I know I sure was expecting that. Surprised the s**t out of me that they didn't. Surprised me even more they put all of that in the magazine too."
I asked about the carb mods. (basically all little things,accel pump cam, jets, lighter secondary springs) He said,
"I didn't do the carbs. The guy you want to talk with is the engine builder, Jerry Luck. He did all of the mods. Tough to get a hold of. Leave a message if he's not there and use my name."
So, call I did. Another great guy. We spent about 40 min. on the phone.
He restores and modifies muscle car carbs for a living. We talked about the motor, cam, heads, engine parts, my builder, Harold, the car, trans (he REALLY like the Richmond over the Tremec. As he put it,
"who in their right mind would buy a trans that made you cut up half of the car to make it fit when there's another one that's as good or better that bolts right in. All ya gotta do is modify the tranny mount a little and fart around with the shifter handle"), gear ratios, the 70's and yes, even the carbs.
He was actually reluctant to give up his "secrets" at first. Guess he decided I was a car guy after-all.
Here's what he did:
"I disassembled the carbs and machined the cast mating surfaces so the seal would be perfect (body, metering plate). You don't necessarily have to do that, but I have to, because that's what I do.
Then I smoothed all of the casting seams inside the throats with a small hand grinder. I don't think that made a single HP more, but ya never know and it doesn't take much to do it. You'd be surprised how much all the little things can add.
I opened the metering plate from 68 thousandths to 78 thousandths (I asked how hard. Piece of cake. Just use the right size drill), 65's in the primary jets and 80's in the secondaries, changed the squirters from the stock 21's to 28's, changed the accelerator pump cam to a 240 in the #1 position, keeping the WOT clearance of 15 thousandths, and used the yellow secondary springs. I used the 5.5 power valves, but I would suggest that with your combo to keep the stock 6.5 valves. You've got a stick. The one we did had an automatic. Try 'em both if you want. If you can feel a difference when you drive it, keep the ones that work the best."
"Everyone said to use a 50 cc pump...bulls**t, 30's plenty. The secret's in the squirters and the accel pump cam."
Another little item that I thought was pretty neat were his comments on the hyd roller used in the test.
"They all told me I was as dumb as a rock to try a hyd roller. They all said it would crap out at 5500 RPM. We ran that sucker to 7 grand, no float, no break-up, and it was still over 600 HP. All Lunati parts, still all together after 2 plus years of street driving...and he beats the p**s out of it."
Hope you enjoyed all of that.
Stay tuned...
I may have some more tri-power goodness to share with you in a few more days.