Freddie's Transplant

[redfalken]

Great news! Is the Street Fire similar to the 6AL? I like my 6A and Duraspark combo. I read the Street Fire has dials on the side to adjust the rev limiter and a diagnostic LED.

[MacDee]

Yes, the Street Fire is almost identical in features to the 6AL for less money than a 6A. From what I understand, it's actually spec'd and marketed by MSD, but is foreign-made. I guess the 6AL also has some flexibility for upgrades the Street Fire lacks. It has an adjustable rev limiter just like the 6AL, and an LED, but I don't recall what the LED indicates .

Info:
http://www.street-fire.com/cdiignition.html

[MacDee]

I re-read some of the articles I've collected on ignition timing and Duraspark tuning. Armed with refreshed knowledge, I went out to the garage last Saturday and put the timing light to Freddie. The articles seem to indicate that I should be shooting for 38-42 degrees Total Advance (for 9.0 to 9.5 CR). I discovered I was only getting about 30, and that's with the initial timing set to about 12-14 BTDC! Hmm... Could this explain the poor throttle response?
Another article explained how to flip the upper advance shaft (I think that's what they called it) around to utilize the OTHER advance-limit notch. With much anxiety, I tore into the distributor. It was a very tense session, but I did finally manage to get all the way down to the upper advance shaft and see that it was set on the shorter notch. After struggling another hour just to get the upper advance shaft off, I finally succeeded in flipping it to the longer notch. I re-assembled everything and set the initial timing per the vacuum gauge method (it always seems to come out about 12-14 BTDC). This time, the Total Advance checked out to about 36 degrees.
I took her for a test drive, and BOY, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The throttle response is quite good now, and when I push it into passing gear, she really SCOOTS!

There are still a ton of issues to address, but at least she's comfortably road-worthy now. I'm looking forward to taking her out on drives, JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT!!

[BillP 98201]

Glad to hear you are making progress. Arent the little victories exciting?

[redfalken]

Very cool! It's amazing what a difference a few degrees will make. It inspired we to do some more reading last night on the theory behind the advance curve. I have the DSII spring kit and need to tear into my dizzy some day to experiment.

[Luva65wagon]

As I mentioned somewhere to someone I also did this DSII thing to the Flarechero and the instructions on the Classic Inlines page said I would see a heavy and light gauge spring inside, but I saw two identical springs. I looked at pictures as well as I could to do it, but I'll probably need to track it to see what it's doing in reality. Have only driven it from the garage to the carport.

Glad it's going better for you though Gary.

Say, on a different subject - who did you buy Freddie from and how did it get that name?

[redfalken]

Here's a link a lot of people refer to for the DSII:

http://reincarnation-automotive.com/...ons_index.html

I'll probably tear into mine this weekend and see what I can accomplish. Jeff's loaning me his fancy, new adjustable timing light so I can plot the advance curve. Unless someone has a Sun distributor tester I can come over and use!!

[MacDee]

Say, on a different subject - who did you buy Freddie from and how did it get that name?

Carter Burns actually found the car on the Boeing on-line classified ads. It was owned by a couple who both worked at Boeing. I think it was actually the wife's car, and she owned it before they were married. I know this because at the Greenwood show, in about 2002, I think, I guy came up to me and said he knew my car. "It was owned by..." and mentioned the first name of the wife (I've forgotten her name), and a different last name. I started to say, "Oh yeah, her name is now..." He cut me off and said "I don't want to know". He was apparently with her when she bought it!

"Freddie" was chosen because the front license plate frame indicates it was purchased at some prior transaction (probably by the aforementioned "wife") at Fred's Fine Cars.

[Luva65wagon]

Ah - OK. Just curious after having talked to Dave (Modified17) who said Jim Frey who was part of an earlier iteration of our local Falcon club, once sold a 63 hardtop also named Freddy. I thought it was an odd coinkydink if it hadn't been to you. And I guess it wasn't. But now you know there is another 63 hardtop out there named Freddy.

[MacDee]

But now you know there is another 63 hardtop out there named Freddy.

Al Langsett (Alsprint) calls his Sprint "Freddy" ...with a "y". Could it be...?

By the way, it turns out we got "engine #2" from Dave. We ended up not using it, but the rocker assembly and push rods from it are currently installed in [my] Freddie!

[Luva65wagon]

Could very well have been Jim Frey's car. Would be odd to have 3 Fred-y-ish cars locally.

Wonder if Al still pops up on here anymore. Al? You out there?

Dave's cool. He's got a couple Falcons for sale right now. Wish I had more room around here... (NO - YOU - DON'T ). Uh... maybe I don't.

[BillP 98201]

Roger there is a sean delivery on Craigslist for 999

[Falcon1]

Did you check your firing order? With all else you've done, it's just a thought. Crossed plug wire is easy to do.

[MacDee]

I finally got around to installing the “other” light spring in my Duraspark distributor yesterday. I believe it is now equivalent to the one Kenny had done by Vintage Racing Motors. It is as much as I can do with the ignition, but the throttle response still sucks. It acts like the accelerator pump almost isn’t working….
So…
I got out my Tech Information Bulletin on How to Tune a Holley (http://www.corvette-restoration.com/...arb_Tuning.pdf) and went to the section on accelerator pumps. First thing it says, in essence: “don’t mess with the accelerator pump until you’ve got everything else about right…”. So I went back to the beginning of the Bulletin and started reading:

1. Bench-Set the Idle Speed.
This section describes setting the secondary throttle plates so .020 of the transition slot is exposed below the plates. The adjuster screw for the secondary idle is on the underside of the carb, so you need to remove the carb to get at it. I don’t know where my secondary throttle plates are sitting at idle, but the engine is now idling nicely (well, considering the cam…), in gear, at around 800-900 rpm. I THINK what I want to do is remove the carb and do a “light gap” check; see how much light comes through the bores with the plates closed. What I think I want to do is adjust both primary and secondary idle speed screws so the total amount of light is about the same as it currently is, but is equally distributed between the primary and secondary bores. (I’m guessing I’ll need to open the secondaries and close the primaries each a tad.)

2. Set the Float Level.
Roger did this to my carb once. It was a while ago, but I don’t think I’ve really done anything to the carb since. I don’t know if it should be done again or not….

3. Make sure your Power Valve is in the ballpark.
It describes choosing a power valve based on your manifold vacuum at idle in gear (for an automatic). Because of the cam and intake manifold, my vacuum at idle is typically pretty low. I’d bet money I need a different power valve.

4. Now get the main metering circuit in the ballpark.
It describes checking mixture by reading spark plugs. I believe someone in the club has a meter that can check this directly? I do have a bung welded into the RH exhaust pipe….

5. Tweak your idle mixture screws.
Funny how the FIRST thing you usually do should be the FIFTH thing you actually do! Again, I don’t think I’ve touched the idle mixture screws since Carter set them a year and a half ago!

6. NOW FINE TUNE THE ACCELERATOR PUMP CIRCUIT.
Looks like a really complicated process of determining the right pump cam and shooter size to use based on trial-and-error.

7. Set the secondary opening rate.
Change out secondary diaphragm springs until the secondaries open “just right”.

Needless to say, perhaps, but I am really intimidated by all of this. Would it be possible to have a sort-of mini tech day, if for no other reason than to give me the courage to attempt this?

[redfalken]

I'd be up for it if I'm available. I need to do the same thing to my Weber this weekend. I put in a few different jets and now need to dig up the instructions I printed out.

Other than 6 jets you can swap out, the Weber only has a few adjustments and doesn't sound as complicated as yours. I always have to read through the instructions at least a couple of times before I do the procedure.

Most people say to get your timing down before you even start to mess with air/fuel (carbs in our case) and it sounds like you have that down.