My new stock stroke 400 build

[qkcuda]

To be honest I've only driven the car about 2 miles since I got back from Carlisle and fixed the transmission. We are going away on holidays next week, so it may be a while before I get back at it.

 

[qkcuda]

We just returned from vacation. When we were away I had too much time on my hands and found an original Holley Thermoquad replacement on Kijiji for $100 plus shipping. It is a 650 double pumper. It has not been run since the 80's so it will need a complete rebuild. What's nice is that it has both primary and secondary metering blocks, so I can adjust the jetting and power valves. I still have a stash of Holley parts. I did put an extra half turn on the secondary air valve on the Street Demon. I will check to see if that helped. I also plan to test the Holley on the 361 before I do the 400 swap to see if it is worth using.

 

[icetech]

We just returned from vacation. When we were away I had too much time on my hands and found an original Holley Thermoquad replacement on Kijiji for $100 plus shipping. It is a 650 double pumper. It has not been run since the 80's so it will need a complete rebuild. What's nice is that it has both primary and secondary metering blocks, so I can adjust the jetting and power valves. I still have a stash of Holley parts. I did put an extra half turn on the secondary air valve on the Street Demon. I will check to see if that helped. I also plan to test the Holley on the 361 before I do the 400 swap to see if it is worth using.

Shame you coudn't get the street demon working well enough.. i haven't driven with mine yet.. hope it works out.

P.S. Thermoquads were made by carter, you have just a holley 4 barrel

 

[HawkRod]

Shame you coudn't get the street demon working well enough.. i haven't driven with mine yet.. hope it works out.

P.S. Thermoquads were made by carter, you have just a holley 4 barrel

I think he meant that he got a spreadbore Holley - a replacement for a Thermoquad, but still a spreadbore carb.

 

[qkcuda]

Correct Hawk. I could not get the Kijiji picture to upload, but this one is the same except for the electric choke.

 

[qkcuda]

Shame you coudn't get the street demon working well enough.. i haven't driven with mine yet.. hope it works out.

P.S. Thermoquads were made by carter, you have just a holley 4 barrel

I went for a short drive today, and it will still not take full throttle from a standing start. No problem from a roll though.

 

[BSB67]

I have the 800 Holley spreadbore. Ran it on two different stock-ish 440s. Very nice carb.

 

[qkcuda]

My buddy had one on a 350 Chevy and I remember it being very responsive.

 

[icetech]

Might wanna try more secondary adjustment since it only takes a few seconds... be nice to get it working

 

[Orig69]

I went for a short drive today, and it will still not take full throttle from a standing start. No problem from a roll though.

Now that you have put in half a turn clockwise you should test it at highway speed, when you go full throttle the air valve will start opening and you can feel how it's working.

Next I would continue to adjust it clockwise an eighth of a turn at a time until the engine starts to hesitate under acceleration.

 

[qkcuda]

I think if anything the air valve needs to be tightened even further. As I said, from a roll it is fine, and the air valve is opening. From a dead stop full throttle will stall the engine. Bear in mind this has a low stall converter and a 2.94 gear.

 

[qkcuda]

I went to buy a rebuild kit for the spread bore Holley, and my dyno operator talked me out of it, figuring it wouldn't solve my bog problem. On his advice I now have a deal pending on a Holley square bore 600 vacuum. He also recommended more initial timing. I was still running the stock points distributor in the 361. I decided to swap over to electronic ignition now, before the engine swap so I could use my recurved distributor, the same one I ran on the dyno. All went well until my dial back timing light quit working. I got it running, but I'll have to see if I can borrow one to get the timing set.

 

[qkcuda]

Picked up the new to me carb yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised as to how clean it was. I will be trying it out once I have it rebuilt. I borrowed my buddy's timing light, and will probably get it reset on the weekend and give the car a try with the current carb for a better baseline.

 

[Don Frelier]

I went to buy a rebuild kit for the spread bore Holley, and my dyno operator talked me out of it, figuring it wouldn't solve my bog problem. On his advice I now have a deal pending on a Holley square bore 600 vacuum. He also recommended more initial timing. I was still running the stock points distributor in the 361. I decided to swap over to electronic ignition now, before the engine swap so I could use my recurved distributor, the same one I ran on the dyno. All went well until my dial back timing light quit working. I got it running, but I'll have to see if I can borrow one to get the timing set.

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You do know that electronic ignition is the devil's work?

But I still prefer it.( I'm a sinner )
The mechanical voltage regulator is not recommended for use with the ECU.
But many have left them in.

 

[qkcuda]

I have a couple of electronic regulators that I couldn't get to work before, so I guess they we be my back ups if the mechanical regulator doesn't play well with the ECU.

 

[Don Frelier]

I have a couple of electronic regulators that I couldn't get to work before, so I guess they we be my back ups if the mechanical regulator doesn't play well with the ECU.

You need to have isolated dual fields for the electronic regulator.
I use the square back alternators.

 

[qkcuda]

Unfortunately electrical systems are a mystery to me.

 

[qkcuda]

I got the timing set with the help of my buddy's Inova timing light. It worked great, I need to get one. I set the total to 35 degrees and found I had only 13 degrees at idle. Timing was all in by 2500. I thought I had built less centrifugal advance into that distributor, but either my memory is failing or my previous dial back timing light was lying to me. I also checked the total timing with vacuum advance and it topped out at 55 degrees. I took it for a drive and it ran fine, no surging at a 65 mph cruise. No change to the carb situation though. Can't wait to try the Holley.

 

[qkcuda]

Sooo, I decided to bolt the AFB on to see if there was any improvement with my full throttle bog. Nope. To add to that, once it was rolling it didn't feel as strong as the Street Demon. That pretty much confirms the results from the dyno. It will remain on there now until the Holley is ready. I'm beginning to think I am beating a dead horse with the 361 and stock converter.

 

[qkcuda]

I went to a car show today (Thanksgiving here) and when I got back I thought I better prep the 400 for paint, before it gets too cold. There was a lot of surface rust, so I wired brushed it and washed it down with brakekleen. I also threw the old valve covers on so I didn't have to worry about overspray. I usually just apply engine enamel directly to the block, but due to the rust I bought some epoxy primer to use as a base coat.