The SAGA Begins - '66 300 Convertible

[65sporty]

Do you have advance timing light? So you can dial in advance? It makes it easy to check total timing. Disconnect the vacuum advance and drive it with 12 initial and centrifugal, see if it still pings. Like Dave mentioned you may needto talk to Hops and maybe have him custom taylor a advance curve.

 

[Clay Harrison]

Good luck, completely out of my knowledge zone.

You and me both! Now I'm starting to worry about my build when it comes time to tune.....
BTW, Great job Rip!!!

 

[Zymurgy]

Do you have advance timing light? So you can dial in advance? It makes it easy to check total timing. Disconnect the vacuum advance and drive it with 12 initial and centrifugal, see if it still pings. Like Dave mentioned you may needto talk to Hops and maybe have him custom taylor a advance curve.

One of the best things I ever did was have a distributor rebuilt with a custom curve to match a supercharger modification I made on my car. It was not a Mopar, but the results were dramatic. It made it so drivable, easy start, smooth running no more ping either.

 

[Ripinator]

One of the best things I ever did was have a distributor rebuilt with a custom curve to match a supercharger modification I made on my car. It was not a Mopar, but the results were dramatic. It made it so drivable, easy start, smooth running no more ping either.

Thanks, Mike. Looks like I am heading in that same direction. Maybe I'll get Ray at @halifaxhops to take a look at my distributor. I'm thinking the guys who re-did my distributor originally set it up in race form. The machine shop that sub-let the work to them builds a lot of race motors, so I think that may have been baked into their thinking. I hope so. . .

 

[Ripinator]

Your CR it too high for 93 octane. What heads are you running?

Rex: The engine was rebuilt to stock specs. The only non-stock item is a higher torque Comp Cam. The cam specs are here: 21-222-4(Single Bolt) - Xtreme Energy™ Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts

The heads are stock '66 440 516s; the CR is also stock 10:1. As a side note: the previous engine in the car was a '66 383 HP. It also had 10:1 CR and 516 heads. I had no issues with that engine pinging on 93-octane gas.

 

[Ripinator]

Do you have advance timing light? So you can dial in advance? It makes it easy to check total timing. Disconnect the vacuum advance and drive it with 12 initial and centrifugal, see if it still pings. Like Dave mentioned you may needto talk to Hops and maybe have him custom taylor a advance curve.

Yeah. That was my thinking too. I disconnected the vacuum advance altogether, plugged the port and took the car for a drive. Still pinged a lot and ran like krap when I retarded the timing to compensate. The light I have is an old Sun unit with no advance feature. I like the advance feature, but I figured the old one I have is adequate enough to find and set the initial advance to 12 degrees BTDC.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

You need to go see a man about a distributor.
You should be okay with the closed chamber heads. They give you more turbulence, helping to prevent detonation.

 

[Ripinator]

You need to go see a man about a distributor.

Thank you, thank you for validating my thinking. . .

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Thank you, thank you for validating my thinking. . .

Get some specs on yours running so he will have better info to work with.

 

[Ripinator]

Get some specs on yours running so he will have better info to work with.

Do you think these specs would be helpful?

 

[70bigblockdodge]

View attachment 282358 Do you think these specs would be helpful?

I'm sure he has that info. You need you actual specs in car now.
Like 1000 rpm timing is at...
1500 timing is at...
2000 timing is at...
2500 timing is at...
Repeat with vacuum advance hooked up.
I just believe your timing curve is too aggressive for a high vacuum/mild engine.

 

[Ripinator]

I'm sure he has that info. You need you actual specs in car now.
Like 1000 rpm timing is at...
1500 timing is at...
2000 timing is at...
2500 timing is at...
Repeat with vacuum advance hooked up.
I just believe your timing curve is too aggressive for a high vacuum/mild engine.

Alrighty boys. The distributor problem is sol-ved. I pulled it out and sent it to Ray at @halifaxhops. He did an awesome job on customizing the advance curve and a couple of other un-related repairs.

I re-installed the distributor, set the timing and took the car out for spin this past Sunday afternoon. No more pre-ignition issues, and the car runs better than it ever did since the new engine was installed.

BUT. . . All is not sweetness and light. . . Now I'm having some kind of vapor lock issue that I'll hafta chase down. I think the problem is related to a venting issue with that piece of krap new gas tank I installed last year. Stay tuned. . . Because the Saga never ends. . .

 

[halifaxhops]

Alrighty boys. The distributor problem is sol-ved. I pulled it out and sent it to Ray at @halifaxhops. He did an awesome job on customizing the advance curve and a couple of other un-related repairs.

I re-installed the distributor, set the timing and took the car out for spin this past Sunday afternoon. No more pre-ignition issues, and the car runs better than it ever did since the new engine was installed.

BUT. . . All is not sweetness and light. . . Now I'm having some kind of vapor lock issue that I'll hafta chase down. I think the problem is related to a venting issue with that piece of krap new gas tank I installed last year. Stay tuned. . . Because the Saga never ends. . .

Good to hear it worked out. I hate when I vent but it gets worse if I don't!

 

[Zymurgy]

Glad to hear your distributor issue is resolved. Good luck sorting out your other problem, wish I had some profound insight to give you.

Just in case, your new tank does have the proper vents and you did install a non-vented gas cap?

 

[Ripinator]

Glad to hear your distributor issue is resolved. Good luck sorting out your other problem, wish I had some profound insight to give you.

Just in case, your new tank does have the proper vents and you did install a non-vented gas cap?

Thanks, Mike. Yes. The new tank has two small vent tubes that attach to small hoses that are routed to somewhere near the top of the trunk compartment. I may have pinched one or both of them when I half-assed re-installed the back seats in the car to get them out of the way. And yes, the gas cap is new and non-vented. I'll get back into diddling with the car again, after the holiday weekend.

 

[MarPar]

 

[Ripinator]

View attachment 288186

Well. . . Its been a while since I updated this thread. And I've been busy. Here are a few pictures of some of the accomplishments.

As you may remember from previous posts, I had a hassle getting the A/C compressor mounted, because I didn't have the correct mounting bracket. Here it is finally mounted and ready for the rest of the accessories, etc.

My bible:

And viola! Here we are all ready to go:

Along the way, the radiator shroud needed repair. Maybe I'll replace it some day, but for now its good to go:

Some of my dash trim is in poor shape. A year or so ago, @LatPeahy was parting out a '66 300, he sent me some good trim that I shined up:

Just prior to the Carlisle meet, I took a stab at buffing out the old original paint. Came out pretty good:

More later. . .

 

[MarPar]

Well. . . Its been a while since I updated this thread. And I've been busy. Here are a few pictures of some of the accomplishments.

As you may remember from previous posts, I had a hassle getting the A/C compressor mounted, because I didn't have the correct mounting bracket. Here it is finally mounted and ready for the rest of the accessories, etc.

View attachment 332862

My bible:

View attachment 332869

And viola! Here we are all ready to go:

View attachment 332867

Along the way, the radiator shroud needed repair. Maybe I'll replace it some day, but for now its good to go:

View attachment 332873

View attachment 332874

View attachment 332875

Some of my dash trim is in poor shape. A year or so ago, @latpayhe was parting out a '66 300, he sent me some good trim that I shined up:

View attachment 332876

Just prior to the Carlisle meet, I took a stab at buffing out the old original paint. Came out pretty good:

View attachment 332877

View attachment 332878

More later. . .

Looks great, Rip! Keep on pluggin away!

 

[MarPar]

Hey Rip, rookie question fer ya...what does that book have that the FSM doesn't?

I would assume little tricks to get more performance?

 

[Ripinator]

Hey Rip, rookie question fer ya...what does that book have that the FSM doesn't?

I would assume little tricks to get more performance?

No. It tells you everything about how to remove a big block Mopar engine from your car, how to go about getting it rebuilt and finally how to re-install your engine, get it running and broken in. It has lots of tips regarding what to do from the first step to the last. I never would have been able to do my engine swap without this book.