dragnknights
Well-Known Member
I've got to give credit where credit is due here.
I recently rebuilt the 360 in my Dart, and I wasn't all that pleased with the performance. I had bounced some ideas around, talked to friends, and spoke to the guy who helped me build the motor. After all was said and done, everyone unanimously agreed that the 1000rpm fluctuation in idle, and the loss of power, bad gas mileage, and crumby acceleration was all carb related.
Then I got a phone call from a friend (Crackedback) who asked me how my car was running. I told him, and he invited me over to take a look at the car. I drove it over, and the first thing he did was put the timming light on it. We found that there was waaaaaaaay to much total timming in it like 52deg or something like that, but the initial timming wasn't that bad. Crackedback almost immediatley diagnosed the problem as a bad distributor. So, rather than send me to the parts store, or tell me "tough luck" we took it out, and the man literally performed distributor surgery in front of me on a cardboard box in his garage. He blew the whole thing apart, and welded it to limit the mecanical advance (I didn't even know this was possible) Meanwhile, he taught me every step along the way, so I could do it again if I had to. I could probably do it too, except for getting the retaining clip in and out. Anyways, we rebuilt the dist. slammed it back in and took off for a ride. I was treated to instant starting. crisp throtle response, smooth acceleration and the performance that I was looking for. I really appreciated the help.
For those of you curious, the engine spec reads out like this:
77 360 cui ten over
Small valve heads with some port work and bowl blending
10:1 Compression
Balanced rotating assembly
Ede 750 cfm carb
Ede Performer RPM intake
.292 duration / .505 lift cam
Long tube headers
pertronix ignition module.
I recently rebuilt the 360 in my Dart, and I wasn't all that pleased with the performance. I had bounced some ideas around, talked to friends, and spoke to the guy who helped me build the motor. After all was said and done, everyone unanimously agreed that the 1000rpm fluctuation in idle, and the loss of power, bad gas mileage, and crumby acceleration was all carb related.
Then I got a phone call from a friend (Crackedback) who asked me how my car was running. I told him, and he invited me over to take a look at the car. I drove it over, and the first thing he did was put the timming light on it. We found that there was waaaaaaaay to much total timming in it like 52deg or something like that, but the initial timming wasn't that bad. Crackedback almost immediatley diagnosed the problem as a bad distributor. So, rather than send me to the parts store, or tell me "tough luck" we took it out, and the man literally performed distributor surgery in front of me on a cardboard box in his garage. He blew the whole thing apart, and welded it to limit the mecanical advance (I didn't even know this was possible) Meanwhile, he taught me every step along the way, so I could do it again if I had to. I could probably do it too, except for getting the retaining clip in and out. Anyways, we rebuilt the dist. slammed it back in and took off for a ride. I was treated to instant starting. crisp throtle response, smooth acceleration and the performance that I was looking for. I really appreciated the help.
For those of you curious, the engine spec reads out like this:
77 360 cui ten over
Small valve heads with some port work and bowl blending
10:1 Compression
Balanced rotating assembly
Ede 750 cfm carb
Ede Performer RPM intake
.292 duration / .505 lift cam
Long tube headers
pertronix ignition module.
) 
