Don't be surprised if it wants so much initial timing that you ditch the vacuum advance, and need to limit total by modifying the distrubutor. I lathed up a couple aluminum limiting bushings that got mine to about 10 degrees of mechanical advance. I ran the car at 22 base, which put the total at 32 all in nearly right off idle. I was being cheap and running 87 octane, plus my compression was lower. You have more cam though so with good gas, you might end up somewhere like that. Ignore EVERY parts store goon that tells you timing like that is going to blow it up. Pay for the better pump gas, and tune it for what it wants. They're all different.
justa350 is way correct !!...I ran with that motor and the 310 many times 20+ initial and was limiting the mech to about 10-12 with no vac advance
I have my stock 400 ci converter that came with the car. I figure I'm gonna see what it feels like this spring with the 455. It's a new build so I'm not sure what to expect. It's got tons of torque. My buddy says usually slightly higher than stock converter works fine for mild builds. I'm assuming my build is on the mild side, even with all the torque and modest HP.
:shock: 20 degrees initial thats crazy.I want to try the 310 out after I get a new carb,one part at a time.I order the recurve kit from mallory today for my distributor gonna be playing with that today.:beer
Ok sooo now im haveing another problem.I hopped on the freeway to head to home depot real quick and my car chugs at cruise at about 55-70 mph.It doesnt do it when I accelerate just on cruise but only between 55 and 70.Maybe its the carb?I just put on a new fuel filter and mr gasket mechanical fuel pump.Any ideas??o No:
You can always rely on the VA to be unreliable.. dirtbags:blast: anyway.... Go to the Pick'n'pull in Sacramento and start looking under hoods for Q-jets.. Prefirably earlier than 1980 (don't want computer controlled crap) I found one on a '70's caddy there that was pratically brand new (looked like it had been rebuilt a couple hours before).. and to top it off, I looked down the primary bores and found out it was an 800CFM:grin: Mighty cheap.... sometimes you get lucky
dude, a freind of mine has an 800 q-jet said he wants 75.00 for it. ill check it out. numbers and such. think it came off an olds 455 wagon. let you know.
My friend got herself a 64 Falcon Ranchero with a 289 in it. It has weiand intake, holly 4 barrel, mild cam and dual exhaust. that thing hauls ass. i bet when we rebuild the engine and replace the old carb and dist. she could possibly take on my big block. although, its in my electra(5,000 pounds), but i do 0-60 in 8 seconds(no track time yet)
Soooo thanks for all the input.But I cannot figure out why my car is like chuggin once i hit 50 at cruise,any ideas?When I cruise below that speed its fine or acceleration is fine. Murdered an accord today on broadway street in sacramento felling a little better about my car.
Sounds like running out of fuel.... You have a fuel gauge hooked up? If not then hook one up and check out your fuel pressure while you drive. Do you have a dirty fuel sock in the gas tank? I had a fuel supply problem that was a clogged sock, fuel filter clogged at the carb will do this too. I remove the fuel sock and run a high quality re-usable fuel filter in-line with braided hose and NO rubber hose...As well the old mechanical fuel pumps can get weak adn stop producing good flow. I also like to remove the gas tank, add 1 liter trans fluid, 1 liter carb cleaner, and a box of BBs (yes like for a bb gun).... Swish it all around, drain, shake out all the bbs and rinse till clean with fresh fuel. light rope from the rafters helps hold the tank for you... Start with a fresh fuel supply by cleaning the tank, new sock at the pickup or remove it, fresh fuel filter. No use tuning for performance without good clean fuel flow!
Sounds good.I put a new fuel pump and in line fuel filter to the carb before I took the rear end apart gonna need to get a braided line now.
If it was posted in jest.....Then I apologize. I am really sick of the ol' 455 comment. If I wanted one in my car, it's just as easy to find as a 350....in everyone else world ....why do we even waste our time with the Buicks? Just go Chevrolet and have all the performance goodies as everyone else. OK, I'll cool off....just hate the 455 posts.... To get back on track..what was the last thing you did to the car? I had an HEI distro do this to me because the pickup coil went bad. You had mentioned it was a mallory dizzy (is this the unilite or a dual point), so as to not sound stoopid (duh)..........it more than likely is fuel related but I have never heard ANTHING good about a Mallory Unilite. The diode module in the dizzy ALWAYS goes bad...like running down the road, stop for gas, get ready to leave, try and start the car......BAD!!!!
Better not tell my car about that, it has the Mallory Unilite conversion in the stock distributor and has been trouble free for 3 years since I installed it. The car is dead consistent at the track every weekend too. My last one was good for 6 years, maybe more, I sold the car so it may still be fine:TU:
I'm not saying that is the problem cause it would not run at all since it is a optical LED type of pickup. Kinda like an LT1 Optispark......Good, just don't add water. OK, I believe it is a fuel issue but it sounds like you only notice it when on the Highway. I wonder if it is affecting you cars performance big time and you do not know. If it is surging at 50 MPH in high gear and minimal load....what about 2nd gear to the floor or in high cog???? It sounds like you need to find that issue. It may be the float in the carby.
Would this q-jet bolt on my skylark? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Quad...c0.m245&_trkparms=72:1171|65:12|39:1|240:1318 Even though it came off a 455?
