Recent content by David Ray

Ah, the endless "dyno vs seat of the pants" setups. Completely different results, dyno loves excessive timing, and jetting, seat of the pants makes the engine run right. Enjoy the dyno delusion, win that dyno race, it is real world, to some that don't have anything else to attain.

Wow, "Bewy", not enough personal integrity to post under his own name. Just one of those persons that hangs out at websites and causes trouble for those that are actually helping. Now, oil vs epoxy, lets take a closer look. "Bewy" has stated, or, copy and pasted that epoxy coils run more...

So, just what is bad about a degrees retard in the upper RPM's???? Answer: Proven for decades, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, in fact, it is a benefit. I have been doing this stuff for only 43 years now (novice at it, compared to some of the new day "engineers"), and have built/modified just about...

As far as your efforts to build a better mouse trap, most people are far past even U-L systems, but, for them, no matter what some engineer says, do both stock and Mallory (MOPAR) resistors, there is NO loss in spark efficiency, nor output. U-L is a simple electronic set of points, same as...

All the moaning I have heard over Uni-Lite failures stems from people NOT running the system correctly is amazing. I never saw Boots Mallory ever run any Uni-Lite without correct ballast resistance. All that came about after Boots died, and some know it all "engineer" spewed that "take that...

Happy to help.

Yes, well, when I was directly involved with the initial development of the GM HEI, we did not design the system to be a performance system, it was to build a 50K mile, low to no maintenance, consistently higher output ignition system to fire extended spark plug gaps over points system output...

The reason the ballast doesn't do as much as RPM's increase, is that the number of spark events becomes closer together as RPM's rise, and when this occurs, less time in micro-seconds for the coil to charge, the points see far less current loading. This is why things like an HEI, other...

Yup, that is the way a crank trigger works, for locked out mechanical distributors, WHEN THEY ARE USED WITH AN ELECTRONIC TIMING CONTROL BOX. Crank triggers ARE NOT used with mechanical advance curves inside the distributor. So, full race, crank trigger, it is obvious common sense, the...

If this is truly a strip only engine, it is easy to lock the distributor out, FOR SERIOUS DRAG RACING. Take the gear pin out of the gear, remove the gear and spacers, pull the shaft assembly up, lower the rotor plate on the shaft, and see the single hole 180 degrees opposite the groove the...

THE way to do it right, well, here is this, the only way Engines like to idle with between 20 and 24 INITIAL degrees, but don't like starting with that much lead. So, how o get it right? How about 14 initial? Well, not enough. OK, lets fix it, we have the talent. Build a simple degrees stop...

Why, yes, the email address is mine, and gives detailed info, with pictures of how to add stops to vacuum advances that have the correct vacuum level for the engine build application, but too many degrees of timing for that engine, A simple stop that separates vacuum level from degrees given, so...

My small-body HEI conversions use a round, oil filled coil, NO BALLAST RESISTOR, and spark plug gaps no larger than .045, maximum. Oil filled coils MUST be "stood up", NOT laid on their sides. Black coils I use, O'Reilly Master Pro, 2-5195 Lets stop calling 'coil saturation time', by its old...

8.5 distributor degrees, 17.0 crankshaft degrees, R - right hand rotation distributor. Now, want to make it easy to start, AND get between 20 and 24 IDLE degrees? If so, shoot for 14 INITIAL and add with full vacuum, 10 crankshaft degrees for a total idle of 24 degrees. A very simple degrees...

We have Black Widows here, profusely, not so many Brown Recluse. This one came in via a distributor order from Louisiana, and, yes, confirmed Brown Recluse, two days from bite to 1st operation. I took the spider to the operating hospital, 90 miles from my home, all the way to Reno, confirmed...