Its amazing how much fun Darwin has become now that she actually runs right. Between a defective Holley, which somehow disolved in fuel and junked up the fuel bowls, and an improperly stabbed distributor throwing timing off The 4.3 has been in an extremely poor state of tune for so long I figured that the V6 was just too small to pull the wagon. The carb was eventually removed, disassembled and found to be so bad that Holley sent a replacement free of charge. When the head gasket blew early this year, my mechanic (who was not the one who installed the distributor) was forced to reinstall the distributor and set the timing correctly. Now the engine is actually able to take advantage of the DUI (Davis Unified Ignition modified HEI)'s supposedly optimized timing curve and the car is running better than she has ever run. She is just fast & loud enough to be fun and slow enough that I can enjoy myself without alerting the cops. I'm even beginning to believe that there might be some truth to all that Davis Unified ignition hype.
I'm having so much fun that I've deep sixed plans for an engine swap and am thinking of how to get the most out of what I already have. My first plan (once the job situation gets sorted out) is to optimized Darwin's carburetion. Her best fuel efficiency came right after I had her original 4160 rejetted and had a higher pressure power valve installed. The practical thing would be to use a vacuum gauge to see which power valve I need then take her down to Wilhites and have the new carb rejetted with a wide band oxygen sensor and have a new power valve installed. I'm still tempted to install a new Street Demon instead. The newest Demon seems to have a lot of quadrajettish features (like the triple stack boosters) that could make it the perfect carb for a cruiser. Mind you it could also turn out to be the greatest dead end since the Holley teapot style 4bbl carbs of the 50s, and I'll probably have to get it rejetted anyway. Either way, it would be a good start.
Other plans involve replacing Dar's 3 speed Saginaw with either a Super T-10 or some sort of 5 speed and new rolling stock. While Darwin handles well, I've often thought the current "big & little" 205/60R15 & 225/60R15 tires were a bit overkill. I'd like to try and go with "small and smallers" 195/65R15s and 205/65R15s mounted on a set of Centerline autodrags. Those should still look smart, allow me to make the most of the six's meager hp and maybe even net a little better fuel economy
dancin_banana.gif
I'm having so much fun that I've deep sixed plans for an engine swap and am thinking of how to get the most out of what I already have. My first plan (once the job situation gets sorted out) is to optimized Darwin's carburetion. Her best fuel efficiency came right after I had her original 4160 rejetted and had a higher pressure power valve installed. The practical thing would be to use a vacuum gauge to see which power valve I need then take her down to Wilhites and have the new carb rejetted with a wide band oxygen sensor and have a new power valve installed. I'm still tempted to install a new Street Demon instead. The newest Demon seems to have a lot of quadrajettish features (like the triple stack boosters) that could make it the perfect carb for a cruiser. Mind you it could also turn out to be the greatest dead end since the Holley teapot style 4bbl carbs of the 50s, and I'll probably have to get it rejetted anyway. Either way, it would be a good start.
Other plans involve replacing Dar's 3 speed Saginaw with either a Super T-10 or some sort of 5 speed and new rolling stock. While Darwin handles well, I've often thought the current "big & little" 205/60R15 & 225/60R15 tires were a bit overkill. I'd like to try and go with "small and smallers" 195/65R15s and 205/65R15s mounted on a set of Centerline autodrags. Those should still look smart, allow me to make the most of the six's meager hp and maybe even net a little better fuel economy
dancin_banana.gif