www.TuningMadeEasy.

com Cars: Tuning

y

Fundamentals

Before starting to tune your car, the fundamentals have to be right. The car must be able to start every time. A car that can t start when hot can t be tuned properly. And it must not overheat after a few trips down the track or when idling for a long time. And a much worn engine with leaking valves, worn throttle axles and burning oil can t be properly tuned either. It can probably be improved, but you ll find that a worn engine will not act as expected on the testing needed, so results become inconclusive, and instead of being able to deduct for example whether it should have a richer or leaner idle, it ll be guesswork.

y Testing
In some steps of tuning the result can be seen immediately on an instrument, or felt. But some tuning can only be verified by getting in the car, drag race it and note the result. And that has to be done consistently. You can t do it over 2 days if the weather changes, hot or cold air or even worse rain on the track produce different results. You have to try to make the surroundings consistent. And you have to make sure your driving is consistent. Consistent launches and changing gear at the same rpm every time is critical. What you re looking for is not an absolute number, but it s whether the last change you made resulted in a car that car was faster or slower. So in theory, it s about doing one change (only one!) and then testing. Never change more than one thing at a time, because you won t know which change resulted in what. If it s faster, try more of what you just did, and test again, if it s slower go the other way. Example: Setting the timing. Go to the track, test the car, and write down the result. Now the car is warm. Test again, write down the result. This is your base line. Then increase timing to 3 degrees earlier. Test again, write down the result. If it s faster, do additional 3 degrees earlier. If slower, do 3 degrees later timing than baseline. Test again, write down the result. Continue until you get slower both earlier and later timing. Then set back the timing to the original setting and test, write down the result. Now you ll have a set of data points, plug them into a table in the sequence you did them. The reason to do this is that the car might have changed performance simply from the repeated use and heat build-up, we want to eliminate that from the results. Results

We see that the 0 result has improved by 1.5 MPH, which has to be eliminated because it must be attributable to other factors than the one we re trying to test for. So we extrapolate the 1.5 over time and get to this result: Results adjusted for outside factors

Then we sort the data by the degrees:

Then we plot it into a graph. If you re into Excel you can get the program to calculate a polynomial trend line, as seen in graph below.

Based on this, we would set the ignition at 7 degrees early, that s where the curve would be the highest if we had tested all settings. This was an example of testing. It takes time, but doesn t cost too much. And it produces a lot better results than listening to some guy who knows that an engine like that need at least -10 degrees to perform. You can set it to -10 degrees, and improve performance, and you ll think he was right, but you re losing out on some power. It could be the power that makes you cross the finish line a wheel length in front of him. Note that we ve used MPH, not seconds. When you have a track to test on, you would normally go there with a stopwatch. But trap speed is more accurate to get you to best performance. Why? Because getting consistent E.T. is much harder than getting consistent trap speed. If you hesitate at the start, or if you do more or less wheel spin it has a huge effect on your E.T., but when hesitating or when spinning the wheels, you don t move that much, so you still have the same distance in which to accelerate even though your start may have been bad. Besides, fumbling with a stopwatch while driving can be dangerous, a brief look at the speedometer is quicker. If this process seems long and tedious, there are a few tricks on how it can be shortened, see section Tuning an ignition, part 1

y Vacuum gauge, the wonder tool

There is one tool that can tell so many things about an engine it s simply amazing. Yes, it s a vacuum gauge. And it must be the best kept secret to tuning in the world. We ve walked around performance cars and visited the pits at professional drag races for years, seldom have we seen a vacuum gauge in use. A few cars have them like most BMWs at one time, but they were disguised as a fuel economy gauge. Besides, the vacuum gauge shouldn t be in the dashboard it should be in the engine room. Every car and boat we ve raced on an ongoing basis has had a vacuum gauge permanently installed on the engine. Not to be viewed while driving but to be viewed while dealing with the engine. The engine is in fact an airpump. The better it pumps air, the better it runs. A vacuum gauge measures the difference in pressure between inside the intake manifold and the surrounding air, and therefore measure the effectiveness of this airpump. That means that the vacuum gauge can be used extensively both for diagnosing/troubleshooting and for tuning. A vacuum gauge will be mentioned many times in the tuning section on these pages. So, if you don t have a vacuum gauge, get one! You can do like us, have a beautiful AutoMeter vacuum gauge complete with mounting cup permanently fixed to your engine, or you can buy a cheap vacuum gauge as a testing tool and use on all your engines. Absolute accuracy is not critical, it s more the relative movement that is important. And remember to plug it to manifold vacuum, not the ported vacuum port on the carburetor. Diagnosing/trouble shooting Fortunately a lot of different faults can be found with a vacuum gauge, because the behavior of the needle is different to most situations. Here are the 7 most common scenarios (engine idling and warm):

1. Steady needle, at 15-22: Engine in good condition. (An engine with long duration camshaft will have a lower vacuum and a less steady needle, maybe 10-15 with 1-2 jerks . That s still an engine in good condition) 2. Steady needle, lower than normal: Ignition timing too late or vacuum leakage 3. Steady needle like in 1. but occasionally fluctuates at idle: Ignition miss or sticking valve 4. Steady needle like in 1. but drops regularly: Valves need adjustment or burnt valve 5. Floating needle, maybe in the area 10-20: Carb out of adjustment or vacuum leakage 6. Shaking needle, becomes worse as rpm increases: Ignition miss, blown head gasket 7. Shaking needle, becomes steady as rpm increases: Worn valve guides If we re driving and suddenly the engine behaves differently, then we first check the vacuum gauge, then we know where to start Tuning Most of the tuning actions that we talk about in that section involves a vacuum gauge. While a vacuum gauge seldom can tell you the absolutely best ignition timing, it can get you close and save you a few test trips on the track. In the example in the Section Testing we test all the way from -12 to 3 degrees. Without a doubt a vacuum gauge could have narrowed that down, probably vacuum would drop noticeably below -10 and above 0, would have saved a few test runs. Mostly we adjust carburetor idle mixture and ignition timing simply by turning the screws until maximum vacuum is achieved. That s a real good starting point.

y Where to start
If you ve just added one new part, like a new distributor, then you would think you only needed to tune the ignition and then you d be OK. That s only true if the part you change is similar to the old one. But if for example you install a camshaft with more duration, it s guaranteed you have to adjust almost everything, on the carb and ignition. Every part is working together, and the first time you add a non-original part, 1) all variables need adjustment, some more than others and 2) you can t read in any manual how many degrees ignition you need. And that s where the advice on these pages come in handy So, if you want to do it totally right, be prepared to tune everything each time you change a part. In reality, and assuming the parts you add are not significantly different (bigger carb, longer duration camshaft) from the old part, you can do the next best thing and only tune according to the table: New part Ignition Carb Headers Yes Yes Ignition Yes No carburetor No Yes Camshaft Yes Yes Intake No Yes Heads No Yes Pistons * No No Blower/Turbo ** Yes Yes Nitrous Yes No * If compression is changed: Yes/Yes ** Requires modifications to carburetor Again let us emphasize that ideally both ignition and carb should be adjusted, but adjusting the part with the No in the table above will not add significant power in most instances.

Sequence So what do we tune first, the ignition or the carb? Well the ignition is the most critical, if that s far from the correct tune, then tuning the carb wont be easy. The best sequence is: Ignition (vacuum gauge) -> carb -> ignition (at the track) -> carb (at the track) We need to get the ignition in the ballpark before tuning the carb. After the carb is tuned we will tune the ignition again, at the track, and then, still at the track, the carb. Theoretically we should then retune the ignition, and then the carb again, this can go on forever because the parts affect each other, but we ve found no measurable increase in performance by going on after the ignition >carb->ignition->carb sequence Warning on detonation Detonation.Pre-ignition. Concepts that make engine tuners a little scared. This is the biggest risk for your engine. We won t go into details on what happens when an engine detonates. But you should know about and how to avoid it. If an engine detonates it can break itself in 5 seconds. So if you have serious detonation, you must stop your engine immediately and remedy the cause. Sometimes detonation can be heard, it sounds like a super tuned popcorn machine, mostly under acceleration. But you can t always depend on that. A noisy car can make it impossible to hear, and if you re at the track with open headers, you can t hear detonation. And from painful experience we know that in a boat where the engine is in the rear and the noise is carried backwards, detonation can t be heard. This created a 502 cubic inch boat anchor Detonation happens when you have y Too lean Air/fuel mixture y Too early ignition y Faulty plug wires inducing spark in the wrong cylinder y Too hot spark plugs y Forced induction There are a few simple tips on this, they are that every time you start tuning, if in doubt, make sure that you have richer mixture/later ignition/colder plugs than the other way around. It s better to err on the side of caution than on the side of oops, I need a new engine .

y Tuning an ignition, part 1

The most important variable is initial timing. But there are other things to consider: dwell angle, vacuum advance, centrifugal advance, advance curve. Let s discuss these before starting tuning. In this section we ll deal with the systems in this sequence: y Dwell angle y Vacuum advance y Centrifugal advance y Advance curve

Dwell angle A term from when ignition systems had points, it s a measure of how many degrees the points are closed. On electronic ignitions it s non adjustable Vacuum advance An engine generally needs to have timing advance variable in relation to the throttle. This is obtained by having vacuum advance on the distributor Centrifugal advance

An engine simply stated need the same advance timing all through the rpm band. But here we mean the same advance timing measure in time, not degrees. If we didn t have centrifugal advance, the timing would constantly be for example 10 degrees before Top Dead Center (TDC). But the combustion process in the cylinders doesn t care about degrees, it cares about time, meaning that at higher rpm the ignition should deliver the spark several degrees earlier to obtain approximately the same time for the air/fuel mixture to ignite properly. If it sounds complicated, just remember this, an engine with maybe 10 degrees early ignition ad 1000 rpm would need 30-35 degrees early timing at 5000 rpm. This is obtained by centrifugal weights in the distributor. The total amount of centrifugal advance is depending on the weights and springs that control this Advance curve This is the curve with which the centrifugal advance works, it s plotted in a graph as seen below Note one thing. In a 4-cycle engine like we re dealing with here, the pistons go up and down two times per ignition spark, once to ignite air/fuel ratio and make power, the second time to get rid of the burnt gasses (exhaust). This means that the distributor turns at half the speed of the crankshaft. All the degrees mentioned on these pages are crankshaft degrees, not distributor degrees. But if you buy a new distributor, the data on it may be in distributor degrees. Tuning First we need to set the dwell angle. Every time that is changed, the timing is automatically changed and need to be readjusted. If you have an electronic ignition, forget about this step. Some distributors like Chevrolet can adjust the dwell angle from outside with the correct size bacho tool, or if you don t have that, you can probably find/fabricate a screwdriver that ll fit. If this is the case, connect a multimeter set on dwell, note it has to be set at the correct number of cylinders. If you don t know how many cylinders you have, you should probably close the hood and do something else ;-). With the multimeter connected and engine idling, turn the tool until you hit 30 degrees, this will be OK for most cars. If you find that you have to do this adjustment every few months, then your points are being worn too fast, buy new ones. If the dwell can t be adjusted from externally, note the angle on multimeter, stop engine. If the angle is too big, it means that the points are too close to the axle, and needs to be moved slightly (0.1mm means a lot) so that the points open more. If the angle is too small, the points need to open less. Try a setting, install the distributor cap, start the engine and see the result on the multimeter. The engine might run worse than before, don t worry about that, it s because any change affects the timing as well, we ll adjust that later. Next is the vacuum advance. Normally it s not adjustable, but you can buy parts to make it adjustable. For our purpose it s not that important because when we push the throttle to the floor, vacuum becomes very low, and the vacuum advance goes to zero. So you can probably leave the vacuum advance as it is. Only thing to note is that when we later adjust the timing the vacuum advance hose must be disconnected and the carburetor port providing the vacuum must be plugged. To that end, but a collection of caps or find a hose that fits and insert a bolt in the other end. Note also that the hose has to go to ported vacuum (above the throttle plates), there s a special port for that on the carburetor, it should not go to intake manifold vacuum. Centrifugal advance/advance curve is a complicated topic. You can either leave it alone or do the full tuning. As a rule of thumb, if you ve changed many parts on your engine but still has the original distributor, then you need to change the advance curve. If you also have a performance distributor they will most often incorporate a more suitable advance curve, and there is very little to gain from spending time on it. To find out how your current advance curve looks do the following: With the vacuum advance disconnected and plugged, use a timing light to measure advance at 1000 rpm,

1500 rpm, 2000 rpm, 2500 rpm, 3000 rpm, 3500 rpm, 4000 rpm, 4500 rpm and 5000 rpm (you neighbors are going to love you ). Put that data in the graph, it ll look something like this:

You can buy kits with weights, springs and bushings that allows you to adjust this curve. When you increase the power of your engine, the curve generally requires the following: Less total centrifugal advance, earlier centrifugal advance. When we say less total centrifugal advance, note that we don t mean a lower total advance, but a higher initial advance. Total advance rarely needs to change. So a better curve for a performance engine would be:

To obtain that curve you would need to first insert a bushing that limits the total centrifugal advance from 24 degrees (34-10) to 20 degrees (34-14). Secondly softer spring or heavier weights will make the centrifugal advance come at a lower rpm. Most kits tell you which springs/weights to use to get a certain curve, but of course you have to test when installed, again measuring advance at several different rpms as describe above. Now it s time to set the ignition timing. Some people do this by listening to the engine, where does it sound like it s having a good steady idle. Some use the tach. We always use the vacuum gauge, see section Vacuum gauge, the wonder tool. And in theory it s quite simple, turn the distributor until the maximum steady vacuum is obtained. That s going to be very close to optimal. However, note that there are some natural limitations on how early timing/high vacuum you can use: -First, we're talking steady vacuum. If the needle starts to be more unstable, that's probably too early timing -Second, you need to be able to start the car(!). The earlier the timing, the more the engine refuses to turn because ignition happens when the piston is on the way up. This can be avoided by either getting a better starter, or by getting an ignition cut off switch in the car, where you cut off ignition until the starter has gotten the engine turning at a high enough rpm, then switch on the ignition and it starts. Or the more cumbersome way, keep the accelerator to the floor until the intake empties itself of fuel, then revs come up, lift the accelerator a bit and it starts -Third, but not least, if your engine detonates, reduce the early timing immediately In conclusion, you want as high vacuum as possible, but the three limitations above must be taken into consideration.

We ll settle for this adjustment now, we ll fine tune the ignition later in section Tuning an ignition, part 2, after having tuned the carb.

y Tuning a carburetor, part 1

A carb has several adjustments, it contains many separate systems, for example the fuel needed for idle and for full throttle are delivered through different passages. In this section we ll deal with the systems in this sequence: y Float level y Choke y Idle mixture y Power valve y Accelerator pump y Secondaries y Jets Float level This is the first you deal with, it has to be right, or all the other systems will not function properly. It s not tuning as such, at least not in the sense that you can try different settings. If people tell you to, don t listen. The floats have to be set as per manufacturer s instructions, there s only one correct setting. Choke A cold engine (and when in cold air) requires a richer air/fuel mixture, the choke deals with this. There are 3 different types of chokes, choke opening principle: manual, electric or intake heat. We

prefer manual because we want to be in control, this requires a cable to the instrument panel. Intake heat chokes are simple but often come off too slowly. Electric chokes work fine when it has the proper voltage, many make the mistake of getting the ignition-on-only 12V+ from the ignition coil, which in many cars incorporate a resistor so there s only 9-10 volts. This means that the choke comes off too slowly or not at all. Some people take the choke of all together, and you can do that in the sense it won t hurt performance. But it ll make starting a cold engine less fun, and a properly set choke does not hinder performance in any way. Idle mixture This is extremely important to get right. This is not just about a decent idle. Your idle circuit controls how your engine behaves 90% of the time. Because the idle circuit provides power up to around 60 mph/100 km/t. And more important for racing, the idle circuit is critical in the transition from stand still to above 50 mph. So your idle mixture is perhaps the single most important item to get right. Usually it consists of a screw per side adjusting the fuel flow, the further in they are, the less fuel passes through. Power valve All carburetors have some sort of Power system. In Holleys it a valve that opens under a certain vacuum (when accelerating vacuum is almost 0), it s an on/off function. Only adjustable item is at what vacuum the power valve opens (can t be adjusted as such, requires a selection of different power valves to tune). Other carbs like the original Autolites and Rochesters have a more sophisticated system, in line with their more daily drive focus, that as vacuum lowers, raises rods out of the jets, making more room for the fuel to pass through. This system s main function is to avoid a stumble when accelerating mildly (it also helps when accelerating more, together with the accelerator pump). Accelerator pump This is an entertaining feature. Try taking off the air filter and look down the carb when opening the throttle (engine shut down). A clear squirt of fuel is sent down into the intake manifold. On a double carb it will be 2 squirts, on a Holley double pumper it ll be, you guessed it, 4 squirts. Critical factors are volume and timing, this has to be tuned to engine demand. On volume, too little makes the engine stumbles, too much makes your exhausts smoke and you waste money. On timing, too early creates a great start and then it stumbles, too late creates an instant stumble, and then it quickly picks up. Secondaries Some carburetors, like most performance carburetors, have a secondary circuit. The reason for having 2 steps instead of 1 step carburetor are twofold. First, as engines got bigger and more powerful 50 years ago, simply having one big throttle would make drivability bad, just like when buying too big a carburetor in the first place. Secondly a 2 step carb that only uses the first step in normal driving uses less fuel. So there are advantages to the added complexity of having a secondary step. The secondary circuit is almost like the primaries (first step). The differences are: Secondaries often have bigger throttle plates, no choke, normally no idle circuit, normally no accelerator pump, come on based on engine demand instead of accelerator linkage position. There are exceptions, for instance the Holley double pumper has its own idle circuit and accelerator pump, and are directly linked to the accelerator linkage, though delayed. So it s almost like 2 carburetors, clearly focusing on performance more than economy. Jets The jets are the main holes that the fuel has to pass through. The larger jets, the richer fuel mixture (rich mixture always means more fuel, less air). They re in most cases simple to change, most carb

require some dismantling though. Jets are probably what most people think about when they talk about tuning, and they may need changing, but you can t tell until the other systems are in tune. Secondly if you buy a carburetor that s built for the form of driving you intend to do, albeit they are universal carburetors, they are often jetted correctly or very close from the vendor. Unless you buy a 850cfm double pumper for you 350 smog engine, if you find out that you have to change jets more than 3-4 sizes, then there s something fundamentally wrong with you engine or the parts you have on it are not right for each other or your tuning skills lack something. Now we start the tuning section, step by step. Just like in the Ignition section this will be the basic tuning that can be done at home, no need to go to the track for most of this. Tuning the float level As mentioned above, this is simple in the sense there s only one correct setting, no tuning and testing, no trial and error. For most carburetors you have to take the top off and measure, and to be able to do that you of course has to know the ideal measure. That measure can be hard to find on an old carburetor, but if you buy a rebuilding kit, it ll be included in the package. You ll need that kit anyway because you need new gaskets, and on an old carb, you ll find you ll soon need many of the parts in such a kit. On Holleys this adjustment is very easy as it can be done without dismantling. With the engine idling take out the sight plug on the side of the fuel bowl. Be ready with a rag to catch the fuel that might run out if the float level is too high. With the sight plug removed, use a big screwdriver and a 5/8 /16mm wrench to adjust (the screw should just be loosened, adjustment is done on thenut). Adjust so that fuel is up to the level of the sight plug hole and just slowly trickles out. Note that if the level is too high and you adjust down, you have to wait until the fuel is consumed or trickled out, which can be an issue especially on the secondary fuel bowl. Also note that if you adjust down too low the nut loses its grip on the float bolt and when you try to get it back up it won t work. In that situation, stop the engine, take off the screw and nut entirely and screw the float bolt up with your fingers. You may need a new gasket after doing this. When both floats are adjusted as specified above, you can screw in the sight plugs. Tuning the choke So you decided to keep the choke to improve drivability. Our choice as well. Engine should be off during this session. Chokes are tuned by loosening the normally 3 screws, and then turning the round choke housing. Which direction is rich and which is lean is normally seen marked with arrows, if not, try turning it, and note when the choke plate closes (you may need to slightly open the throttle for the choke plate to move), that s the rich condition, since closing for the air richens the fuel/air mixture, just what a cold engine likes. Try placing the choke housing in the middle of the scale. Then start the engine and drive a normal trip. Note that the engine has to be totally cold, this means not started for 4-5 hours. This means that testing several settings of the choke normally takes days, we often try a new setting when we come back from a trip, then leave it until next morning, and then test. How does the engine behave. Is there a lot of smoke from exhaust it s much too rich. If it stumbles, spits, and is not easy to drive, it s too lean. If it runs fine, then you re close, but you should try the next leaner setting until it starts to stumble, spit etc., because having too rich a choke setting costs fuel and fouls your spark plugs. We like a choke setting that s a little on the lean side. Why? We know it costs a little on the drivability some cold mornings, but remember that an automatic choke, electric or intake heat controlled will take some time to heat up after a normal 1 hour shut down. So if you go to the shops, do your shopping, goes back to the car and starts it, then the engine is still so hot it doesn t need choke, but the electric and also to some extent intake heat controlled chokes

take a few minutes to heat up and pull the choke fully off. So you ll be driving a few minutes with too much choke, which uses gas, fouls your spark plugs, and maybe even most critical to us, it makes your car send smoke out the exhaust which indicates the engine is out of tune! Embarrassing! So choke tuning is really trial and error approach. Set it as lean as you can live with. Tuning the idle mixture Start with engine off and warm, the choke must have heated enough to not be affecting the fuel/air mixture. Slowly and softly turn the idle screws all the way in, noting how many turns. Make sure you down force them in too hard, it ll ruin the finely tapered ends, and then you need new idle screws. Were they a similar amount of turns out? In the future they should be. Most carbs we dealt with should start the tuning 1-1 turn out. If your carb ran fine and it was 2 turns out previously, start there. But in general, turn out both screw 1 turn. You now need to hook up your vacuum gauge. If you don t have one, buy one, see sectionVacuum gauge, the wonder tool. Most people that tune cars and don t have a vacuum gauge, use the tach instead, but tuning based on rpm is a lot more difficult, inconclusive and inaccurate than tuning with vacuum. The vacuum gauge hose should be attached to a permanent vacuum port on the intake or on the carburetor. Do make sure it s not ported vacuum, or on cars from the 70-80s with plenty of vacuum hoses, some were affected by temperature. Do use the correct port. Start the engine and let it idle. Automatic transmission cars need to be in drive, so have a friend in the car with a foot on the brake, the parking brake is not sufficient. Look at the vacuum gauge. It should be high and steady. If the needle is floating back and forth more than 2-3 it s rich. If it s steady but occasionally drops a little, it s too lean. If it s totally steady you re close to the right setting. If the needle does strange things, troubleshoot your engine in the section Vacuum gauge, the wonder tool. Now turn the screws 1/8 of a turn. If the vacuum gauge indicates too lean, turn out and vice versa. If the needle is steady, turn in. Do both screws at the same time, then give the engine 30 seconds to settle with the setting. If you got a higher or a more steady vacuum, you re going in the right direction, try once more. If not, try the other direction. Turn only 1/8 at a time, it s a lot for the carb. When you get close to the absolute right setting, go to 1/16 increments. Vacuum gauge Steady, high Steady, high, occasional drop Floating more than 2-3 Idle Good Lean Rich Action Try either direction for higher steady needle Try 1/8 out until needle is steady with no drop Try 1/8 in until needle is steady

When this is done, you ll end up with a strong steady idle and probably at a higher rpm. So you need to reduce the idle speed to the required level by adjusting the idle screw (not the idle mixture screws we just tuned ). Some engines with long duration camshafts will not be able to obtain a high steady vacuum. On those engines you need to settle for the highest vacuum you can get, and it wont be 100% steady. That s the price you pay for a long duration camshaft (but the idle sounds great). Now you have tuned not only your idle, but also your 0-60 mph driving circuit, and if done correctly, the car will feel much stronger in that area. But as we see in part 2, we re not satisfied with feeling faster, we will test and verify it.. Tuning the Power valve As mentioned there are many power -systems, many different constructions. On Holleysit s separate valves you have to buy, install and test. On a Rochester it s a small spring that can be interchanged. In this section we ll focus on the Holley set up, partly because of the volume of Holley

carbs out there among enthusiasts, and partly because Holley are so nice that the stamp the specific vacuum with which it opens on each valve, this makes tuning easier. Holley power valves are not tunable with regards to volume of fuel, only when it ll start flowing, at which vacuum. If you car feels strong at part throttle, also up a long hill, then there s no tuning needed. The power valve is not the main player at fast acceleration, that s more the accelerator pump, idle circuit and jets. The power valve is to cover for when you take that long hill or overtake on the freeway. If you in those situations feel a stumble or just lack of power, then you should go to a power valve that comes on sooner, at a higher vacuum. Let s just reemphasize, when you press the pedal down you decrease vacuum, and when the vacuum gets below the vacuum stamped on the power valve it ll open for extra fuel. Most Holleys come with a 6.5 power valve as standard. Rule of thumb is that you should have a power valve that is at half the vacuum at idle. So if you have 15 vacuum at idle, you should have a 7.5 power valve. The 6.5 power valve will work fine (unless you feel the stumble and lack of power as mentioned) in most cars. But some hi perf engines, especially those with a long duration camshaft, will idle at maybe 10-12, then you need to go a 4.5 or 5.5 power valve. Some racers think it s smart to take out the power valve and install a plug instead, and then richen up the carb with jets to get to the same end result. Only problem with that is that the carb will be rich all the time, also when it s not needed, so fuel economy goes out the window, and spark plugs foul. Not recommended In the old days Holleys were rumored to blow the power valve when the engine backfired (a well tuned engine never backfires). Holleys has added a checkball to avoid this to as far as we know all carbs produced in the last many years, so it shouldn t be a problem anymore. Tuning the accelerator pump Again here we would say the set up when buying would in 80% be perfect. But if you bought too big a carburetor as many people do, then there s a bigger hole to cover when you smash the pedal to the floor, so more pump shot is needed. There are many things you can change on the accelerator pump. The total volume, standard is 30cc, a bigger pump can be bought pumping 50cc. We ve so far never seen an engine needing more than the 30cc though. Secondly the speed of the arm can be adjusted by changing or moving the colored plastic cam on the throttle shaft. It determines the volume in relation to throttle position. A Holley kit contains the following cams (least pump shot>white, blue, red, orange, black, green, pink, brown->most pump shot). Thirdly the size of the holes in the shooter determines how fast the fuel is squirted into the bores. So adjustments are infinite. Which makes things easier but also more complex. This is not just a screw you can turn. One thing before we start. Regardless of which colored plastic cam and size of pump (30/50cc) it s critical to adjust end play when throttle is fully depressed. If end play is too much you lose pump action, if it s to little you end up destroying the pump. End play is determined by opening the throttle fully (engine off) and then seeing how much further you can press the accelerator pump at the are situated on the fuel bowl. You should be able to create a gap of 0.4mm, adjust spring just above to obtain that. You need to tune the accelerator pump based on two sets of info. Is it too little or too much? Is it too soon or too late? This must be based on experience when flooring the pedal. First though, let s get rid of a myth. People that experience a stumble when suddenly accelerating often describes it as it wont take the gas . It is in fact the opposite that happens, the engine doesn t get enough gas to cover the hole when the pedal is pushed down, throttles open and vacuum drops. So what s your experience? Does it stumble or is there smoke out the exhaust? And is that condition immediate or after few seconds? Stumble Smoke Immediate 1) 2) After a few seconds 3) 4)

Here the accelerator comes in with too little fuel too late. This can be solved by either changing the cam to one that provides more shot earlier, or a shooter with bigger holes. Notice the spring on the accelerator pump arm? Fluid can t be depressed, so when the pedal is floored, the spring depresses and only extends as fast as the holes in the shooter allow. So if you need to get more shot faster, it s the cam or the shooter size. The cam comes in kits, normally with data on each cam. If not, put them on top of each other, you can clearly see which has the most aggressive profile. Shooters are starting around size 0.025 . Go up approx 0.003 at a time until the problem is cured. What s best, cam or shooter? Well a cam kit is a lot cheaper than various shooters, and in 90% on the cases it solves the problem. 2) This is the reverse of 1). Except that here it s our experience that decreasing shooter size is more effective than cam changes, maybe because there are no cams radically less aggressive than the standard cam. Anyway, 2) is a rare occasion 3) So initially it s OK, but after a few seconds it stumbles. This is because all the fuel in the accelerator pump is used up. This results either from too big holes in the shooter or too little total volume of the accelerator pump. If you see smoke on the immediate throttle opening, your shooter is too big, squirting too much fuel in too soon and running out of fuel. If there s no smoke on the immediate throttle opening, that part is perfect, then there s just not enough fuel for your engine s demand, and you need to increase form 300cc pump to 50cc pump. As mentioned this is rare, never happened to us. But then again, we never buy our carburetors too big for the engine, that would necessitate the bigger pump. 4) This is also a rare condition. The shooter size is OK, the immediate reaction shows that. But then it just pumps on and on and thereby too much. It would be logical to decrease pump size from 50cc to 30cc, but we never seen anybody go that way, against human nature maybe. We suggest a milder cam, one that gives less arm travel per throttle movement. Find a cam where the initial lift is the same but the lift after that is less. If all this doesn t solve a stumble, it could be because the secondaries are opening too quickly, so let s look at that. Tuning the secondaries First let s talk about secondaries on double pumpers. You can t (shouldn t) adjust the linkage, point of primary throttle position that the secondary throttle start to open should not be changed. Only thing to check is that when the primary throttles are fully open (engine off), the secondary throttles should also be fully open. If there is a problem with the secondaries on a double pumper, it s usually the secondary accelerator pump that needs adjustment, see previous chapter. We haven t ever had a need to adjust anything on the secondaries on double pumpers except the mentioned full throttle opening. Let s discuss the other type, the vacuum secondaries. In fact some models open based on vacuum, others on flow through the bores. Holleys are the latter, but we still name them vacuum secondary carburetors. Some carburetors keep the plates closed until demand is there with springs, others use weights. Common is that they can be adjusted as to how soon and how much they open. If they open too late, you lose power. If they open too early you get a stumble. On some carbs changing the spring/weight is easy and aids tuning, but on others like the Holley it s tricky to do on the engine and the choke has to be removed. Fortunately Holley s made a kit to avoid that, a quick change kit so you can change the spring in 1 minute. Regardless of whether it s springs or weight, the procedure is simple. First you should adjust the manual linkage from primary throttle axle to secondary throttle axle. Yes, there is a linkage, also on a vacuum secondary carb, but it doesn t open the secondary throttles, in fact the opposite, it ensures that they close when the primary throttles are being closed. This is to avoid the engine running on when you release the pedal. What you need to adjust is so that at idle it s closing the secondary throttle all the way.

1)

Then you can start tuning with the springs/weights. If your car has no stumble you try softer springs/lighter weights until it does, then you go one spring/weight heavier. If you have a stumble, you try heavier spring/weight until that stumble is gone. So you aim for the softest spring/lightest weight that doesn t make the engine stumble. Just to clarify, what is a stumble here as compared to what we talked about when tuning the accelerator pump? A stumble here is something that is felt when cruising and the quickly pressing down the pedal slightly, like an overtake manoeuvre, since the extra angle of the throttle axle is small, the accelerator pump doesn t help much, and maybe the power valve doesn t even come into play. But the engine will only stumble like this if the secondaries open too early, which in fact more than doubles the size of the carburetor. Tuning the jets When everything above is perfect, only then can we start to look at changing the jets. But since we have to do that at the track, the guidance can be seen in section Tuning a carburetor, part 2. But there are some things we should discuss first. Obviously when the carb is perfectly tuned as described above and smoke comes out the exhaust when the engine is warm, it s probably too rich. And if the spark plugs are too dark, that would indicate the same thing. Are the spark plugs too white, it indicates too lean condition, and you should fix that a.s.a.p.. See section Spark Plug reading below: Spark plug reading Reading spark plugs is another window into the engine, what happens in there. It's an important methodology because it can tell you so much, but it's also a difficult methodology, it can easily be misinterpreted. To make it easy to read the plugs we'll discuss 3 steps: 1. 2. 3. Getting the proper heat range spark plug Reading spark plugs for problems Reading spark plugs to help tune the engine

The biggest problem is that if you read a plug and it looks rich, there are 2 possible causes. One is that the plug itself is too cold while the jetting of the carb is OK, the second is that the plug is the correct heat range but the carb is jetted too rich. These 2 causes require very different remedies, so it's critical to find out which it is. On 1. Getting the proper heat range plug If your engine is stock the manuals will tell you which plugs too use. If they read rich or lean it's because the carb jetting needs tuning. Be especially careful if you change brands, make sure the translation from one brand's heat range to another is accurate. Don't trust the guy in the local shop selling it to you, it could be that he sells you what he has on the shelf. If your engine is a performance engine, having improper heat range plugs can kill the engine. If in doubt, throw them out, buy new ones, plugs are cheap. If your engine is stock plus a nitrous system you have to go 2 heat ranges colder, the same for a blower engine. Remember that on American spark plugs, the higher the number, the hotter the plug while on European and Japanese plugs it's the other way around. It's better to have too cold a plug than too hot. So if in doubt, go for the colder one. When it then constantly fouls and you know your engine is in good tune, buy the next hotter range until it doesn't foul anymore. So what's bad about a hot plug, it sounds great, being hot is generally a good word and it sounds like it could aid combustion. But if it's too hot the electrodes burn away too fast and even worse it can glow red hot and cause detonation which can kill your engine. Having too cold a plug doesn't include such risks, the only risk is that the plugs foul.

So here's how to find the right plugs if your engine is not stock. Drive a while on the freeway (remember that new plugs may take 500 miles to get their colour). If the engine from time to time pings or detonates, try colder plugs until it goes away. If not, then stop somewhere safe and pull the plugs. Are they soothed black try hotter plugs until that condition goes away. When you get to the right heat range plug, there will be one tell tale that can't be confused with carb jetting. When the heat range is right there will be a narrow bluish ring around the electrode, approximately 1mm from the tip. If the heat range is right and the carb mixture is right you'll be able to see it right away, but if the heat range is right and the carb mixture is too rich you have to clean the plug first. Always buy copper plugs their effective heat range is wider, so they're more forgiving if you don't have the exact right heat range, and more important they can better handle the different chores of keeping the plugs clean when idling and not getting too hot when accelerating full throttle. On 2. Reading plugs for problems Yes, we know, it's not fun looking for problems. But if there are problems, they have to be remedied before we can tune the engine. Let's try to look at the serious symptoms one at a time: Electrodes are melted: Over-hot condition, way too lean. Fix immediately or expect to kill engine on next run down the track if it's not already dead Electrodes are broken/bent: Mechanical interference of the worst kind. Did you just put high dome piston in it? Or longer thread plugs. If you find that the gap between the electrodes tend to decrease over time, they could be just kissing the pistons at high rpm The plug looks wet: If it's gasoline, this can normally be fixed by tuning as we'll do later (smell it). If it it's oil, there are (at least) three possible reasons: 1. a performance engine with loose tolerances, 2. intake gasket leak, 3. engine worn, need a rebuild Small bubbles on center electrode and shiny look on side electrode and porcelain: Too hot plug, see previous paragraph Small black or silver deposits on porcelain: This is bad or very bad, it's sign of detonation. If it's black, it is the carbon deposits that are in every combustion chamber that's been rattled loose and is melted onto the porcelain. Remember that detonation is like hitting the piston with a hammer. If it's silver-like it's even worse, then it's part of your aluminum piston being thrown all over the combustion chamber, maybe it's time for a rebuild... Plugs are not the same: At the start you have to pull all plugs, not just one. Later when it comes to fine tuning and you know you don't have fuel distribution problems one will be enough. If you pull all plugs and remember which goes where, and see differences this has to be addressed. It could be jetting that needs to be changed on one side. If some plugs look much leaner than the rest there could be a vacuum leak near them. We had a boat with a blower and a single Holley Dominator. Cylinder 1 and 8 were always leaner than the rest. We tried turning the Dominator 90 degrees, we modified the intake manifold, we tried all sort of jet combinations in the Dominator, none helped. In the end we bit the bullet, bought 2 smaller Holley blower carbs and an adapter for them to sit on top of the blower, did some jetting and only then were all 8 cylinders the same. On 3. Reading plugs to help tune the engine So with the proper heat range plug and no serious problems, we can start reading the plugs to help us tune the engine. The ideal plug will look something like this: The porcelain is chocolate colour (leaded fuel) or very light brown, almost white (unleaded fuel), the tips of the electrodes (center electrode and side electrode) are grey, the rest of the side electrode is straw colour. There will be some deposits on the plug, but only dry and low gloss, no shiny and no wet deposits. And of course you can see the narrow bluish ring around the electrode, approximately 1mm from the tip. If the mixture is too rich the plug will be sooty brown/black. If the tips of the electrodes are grey, then the plug is still firing, so it's a mixture issue, but if the electrode tips are also sooty brown/black,

the plug doesn't fire, and that has to be fixed before the plug can be read, the sooty brown/black stuff will maybe disappear when the plugs starts firing again. If it's only one or two plugs looking like this, it's very likely it's an ignition issue that has to be solved first. If the mixture is too lean and you use leaded gas the porcelain will be all white and the center electrode tip can be white as well. If you use unleaded gas, things are more difficult because an engine in perfect tune will almost not colour the porcelain. Look for white center electrode, signs of overheating like bubbles and burnt electrodes to help find a too lean condition. Since we're trying to build a performance car more than an economy car, we recommend again to go on the rich side. And since it's difficult to see the difference between OK and lean, that's another reason to go a bit too rich, for peace of mind. So our recommendation is to be a little too rich, have plugs that are somewhat sooty brown, at least not white. Then you know you're alright and has margin of error on your side.

y Tuning an ignition, part 2

So now it s off to the track. The procedure is described in section Testing. We cannot emphasize how important consistency is, both in where you drive, how you drive, what the weather is like (if it starts raining, give up and go home). Great effort must be made to ensure the only variable is the one we re trying to optimize. The beautiful curve in the section Testing will never happen in real life, but if it goes up and down too much, you can t use it to conclude anything. Be prepared, a few items can make tuning ignition timing a lot easier. The first is that you have to be able to see the timing mark on the damper or equivalent. If you have an American V8 to tune you can buy timing tape to put on the damper, it goes all the way around that has clear indications of degrees. Even easier is to buy a kit for the distributor that has a degree plate mounted to the intake manifold and a pointer mounted to the distributor. So you can adjust ignition timing without a timing light. Of course you have to set the plate and pointer in the first place using a timing light, but from there on you don t need it. Remembering that the rotor in the distributor turns at half speed, make sure the degrees on your plate show crankshaft degrees, and if not, make a mental note so you know what you re doing. What needs to be done here is only adjust the initial timing at idle and then test. Here s a repeat of the relevant text from section Testing:

Go to the track, test the car, write down the result. Now the car is warm. Test again, write down the result. This is your base line. Then increase timing to 3 degrees earlier. Test again, write down the result. If it s faster, do additional 3 degrees earlier. If slower, do 3 degrees later timing than baseline. Test again, write down the result. Continue until you get slower both earlier and later timing. Then set back the timing to the original setting and test, write down the result. Now you ll have a set of data points, plug them into a table in the sequence you did them. The reason to do this is that the car might have changed performance simply from the repeated use and heat build up, we want to eliminate that from the results. Results

We see that the 0 result has improved by 1.5 MPH, which has to be eliminated because it must be attributable to other factors than the one we re trying to test for. So we extrapolate the 1.5 over time and get to this result: Results adjusted for outside factors

Then we sort the data by the degrees:

Then we plot it into a graph. If you re into Excel you can get the program to calculate a polynomial trend line, as seen in graph below.

Based on this, we would set the ignition at 7 degrees early, that s where the curve would be the highest if we had tested all settings. There are two factors that could force you to not go for the optimum 7 degrees. One is if you hear detonation, either when doing the testing or when driving home normally, maybe up a long hill. That has to fixed immediately and that s done by reducing the advance to maybe 5 degrees early or even less, until the detonation is no more. Detonation can kill your engine and ruin your day. The second is that some engines have so much initial advance that they have a hard time starting, the air/fuel mixture ignites so early that it is before the piston has reached Top Dead Center (TDC), so it actually works against the engine turning. This can be fixed by either less advanced timing (not as early) but then you lose performance, or it can be fixed by having a switch on the dashboard that cuts the current to the ignition coil. Thereby the engine is given a chance to get up to decent rpm on the starter, then the ignition is switched on and the engine starts willingly. Keinehexerei

y Tuning a carburetor, part 2

Since we already tuned the choke, idle mixture, power valve, accelerator pump and secondaries, there s only one thing left, the jets. On some Holleys the secondary jets are replaced by a nonadjustable plate. On Rochester Quadrajets the secondary jets (actually rods going into permanent jets) can be changed from the outside in 30 seconds while the primary jets require some dismantling of the carb. The primary jets should not be too rich since the affect daily driving and you fuel economy. Secondary jets on the other hand are rarely in use, so you can go quite rich on those. Primary jets You have to tune the primary jets first. This is done by a combination of how the car feels and looking at the exhaust and reading the plugs. Normally we re against going on feeling , we d rather measure, that s more accurate. But here we have to. Because if the primary jets are too small (fuel/air ratio too lean) the car surges. So try driving steadily at a speed above where the idle circuit

is involved, above 55 mph, does the car go slightly up and down in speed? If yes it s a sign of too lean primary jets. Too light spark plugs will indicate the same. If on the other hand your primary jets are too rich, you ll have smoke out your exhaust and dark colored almost black spark plugs. If your car has neither a surge, smoke or abnormal spark plugs, you re OK, no need to change primary jets. This will be the situation in most cases when the carburetor is meant for the engine, meaning that it s the right size and a performance carb for a performance engine. On the other extreme, if you have the surge, smoke or abnormal spark plugs symptoms and you change primary jets to solve it, if you end up having to change the jets more than 4 sizes something is wrong, you must have another issue not functioning or totally out of tune. Secondary jets These jets only come into play when you accelerate hard or drive fast. It that case economy is not that important, performance is the only target. So you can go a little rich, and most carbs are already tuned rich on the secondaries. You ll rarely find more power by going leaner, unless the spark plugs are very dark after a run down the track and people tease you about the amount of smoke coming out of the exhaust, try bigger jets by testing, see section Testing. Keep trying bigger jets until performance doesn t increases, and then go back to the smallest jets that produced the most power

Here the #74 jets would be best choice. This completes the ignition/carb tuning. You now have a well-functioning engine that delivers power in all situations and should be fun to drive. Don t forget to use least amount of gasoline possible for a performance engine. Well done!