Keep it Running Right!

 I talk to a lot of people who spend a lot of money restoring their musclecars, and then are disappointed in the car's performance. Here's some simple tips to avoid the mistakes that cause this problem. # 1 Cars were meant to be driven. A lot of people don't drive their musclecars every day, or even once a week or once a month. If the car sits for long periods of time, the gas can go bad, water can get into the fuel system. If they do start it occasionally, they let it idle for five minutes "To keep the battery charged", but they don't drive it for even 5 or 10 miles, because they don't want to put "Too many miles on it." This is bad.  If the car is never going to see the high side of 3,000 rpm and only be idled on and off of the trailer or around the block, then you should go a range or two hotter on the plugs. If you decide to take it on a trip or to the drags changing the plugs to the recommended heat range only takes a few minutes. Which brings up...  #2 Leave the carburator(s) alone!!! People spend thousands of dollars building a killer motor and then drive it like my grandmother on prozac because their afraid of blowing it up. It's bad enough on 4bbl cars, but it's really rampant on Tri-power Pontiacs, and Corvettes, Six-Pack Mopars, Dual-quad Hemis, and 409s etc. They never run it through the gears to even 4,500 rpm much less the redline. Then the second it fouls a plug, they start screwing around with the carbs. Pretty soon it won't even start, much less run to it's full potential. It's worth a few bucks to have the car professionally tuned- I don't mean your brother who thinks he's a mechanic-I mean a real shop with a scope, an infrared exhaust analyzer, carb synchronizer or even a dyno. Then leave it alone!! If it fouls plugs, drive it faster, or go one range hotter.  # 3 Tune the ignition properly. I see this all the time. The timing is way advanced or retarded, the points are closing up, the vacuum advance is unplugged or inoperative, they have bad plug wires, etc. Even on a mild, stock engine, bad tuning can cost you 30 or 40 hp and 3-4 mpg.  # 4 Be careful with "Upgrades".  For example- You buy a nice 1977 "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans-Am. It has T-tops, automatic, power everything. You decide when rebuilding the 400 to install the legendary "Ram Air IV" cam and make it really rock like your buddy's 1969 Judge. You get it done, and it won't idle, and doesn't even have the power it did before you rebuilt it. The T/A with 8.0:1 compression, an automatic and 2.56:1 gears is killed by the big cam and falls on its face every time you step on it. Why? Well, the 400 in your pals 69 GTO has a 10.75:1  compression ratio, and is backed by a 4-speed and a 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 axle-ratio. There's a reason the RAIV was only available with 3.90 or 4.33 gears! The 231/240 duration (At .050 lift) cam has a lot of overlap and bleeds off a lot of cylinder pressure ( Ok with nearly 11.0:1 compression) and trades low-end torque for top-end rush. You should have bought a mild cam that builds low-end and mid-range torque like the Edelbrock Performer. It has 204/214 duration, builds cylinder pressure and "fools" the engine into feeling like it has a higher compression ratio, and works with higher axle gears like 2.41-3.08. Or if you just had to have the big cam, you should have raised the compression, installed at least 3.42 or 3.73 gears and a 2,500 rpm stall converter. The same for carb/intake combos. It's better to err on the side of caution. If a pure stock Firebird can run 11.80's with an iron manifold and a Quadrajet, why do you need an 850 Double-Pumper and a "Victor Jr." intake?     # 5 Be reasonable about your expectations. I had a friend who had a nice 440/Six-Pack Super Bee. He swore the car ran "Very low 13s or Very high 12s." He got this idea from an old Car Life road test where Mopar engineers had then Pro Stock champion Ronnie Sox pilot a prototype 440/6 Road Runner to a string of  13.10s in the 1/4, with the best being a 12.93. He did not want to hear that his car, sporting a Torqueflite, 3.23 gears and street tires, would likely run substantially slower than the 4-speed, 4.30 geared, drag-slicked test mule. When we did go to the drags, he was utterly shocked that his car ran a 14.10.  Like I said, with street rubber and 3.23 gears, I thought that was pretty good. He was crushed. Hope this helps everyone out!  Mastermind