Had Some Hot Rod Fun Last Night

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Friend at work is building a bucket list toy. 69 Firebird convertible that he cloned into a Trans Am. Guy who did the body and paint was an absolute artist. Car is gorgeous.
My friend also paid some guy who claimed to be a Pontiac specialist to build the engine. Took him two years. Thankfully, it's sound and runs pretty well. Guy ran it on a dyno and sent it to the shop where the body was being done where it was installed. He then asked my thoughts on why the car was hard starting and wouldn't idle. I said I don't know. I'd have to look at it. We get there yesterday after work, pop the hood, everything looks ok with one big glaring problem. It's got one of those Holley Quick Fuels on it with absolutely no choke whatsoever. We started the engine and manipulated the throttle until it got warm and would run on it's own. It wanted to idle at about 1500 RPM.
I shut it down, connected a hand held vacuum gauge and a timing light, turned all four idle mixture screws in and then back out a turn and a half and started it again.
As I did each corner, the vacuum signal became stronger and I was able to close the primary throttle blades to where they belonged. Ended up getting a nice, solid 850 RPM idle with excellent throttle response. Made me feel like a million bucks because I haven't messed with anything with a Holley carb in about twenty years.
 
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Holley...
everything is adjustable...
because you need to adjust everything.

Found a little bag of accelerator pump cams, and vaccum diaphragm things in my move.

Get them to run
Get them to idle
get them to tip in throttle.
Get them to full throttle
Get them to drive
 
I guarantee after he monkeys around with this for a while it's going to get EFI. The oxygenated E10 we get here on LI doesn't lend itself well to carb'd big blocks.
 
Originally Posted By: funflyer
Nice work, however real Pontiacs have 3 carbs
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I agree. My dad had a 421 tri power in an Aston Martin when I was small.

This thing is pretty cool. Butler prepared Edelbrock heads, Edelbrock Performer intake, Stroker crank... Should move a little F body around pretty good.
 
I tried talking him into putting an LS3 or something into this car. He almost did and then worried about what purists would say. I said are they paying for YOUR CAR?
 
Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
I tried talking him into putting an LS3 or something into this car. He almost did and then worried about what purists would say. I said are they paying for YOUR CAR?


Purists would say: "You can drive it every day!"
 
Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
I tried talking him into putting an LS3 or something into this car. He almost did and then worried about what purists would say. I said are they paying for YOUR CAR?


And he already made a fake T/A ragtop, what will purists say about that?? Funny what motivates people but sounds like a fun ride no matter.
 
I taught myself how to properly adjust Holley's because it's basically become a lost art. I'm pretty darn good at it now and wouldn't trade mine for the world!!
 
Awesome. That year has always been one of my favorites.

Do you have any other details about the engine displacement?
 
He says it's a 400 block with a Scat rotating assembly and is at 467". It has a Tremec 5 speed in it and a Strange twelve bolt with 3.73 gears. Dual 3" stainless exhaust. Some hydraulic roller cam I think he said 286 degrees.
Disc brakes front and rear. Definitely a solid car. Oh yeah, Vintage Air too.
 
So... Last Saturday they took the car to get an alignment. It ran perfectly to the shop. On the way back, after heat sinking, it wouldn't run until they let it cool down completely. I went back over there today and rerouted the fuel line from the tank to the pump away from the header, changed the thermostat from a 195 to a 180 and separated the PCV line from the vacuum to the brake booster. The engine builder had it T'd.

Gave it three pumps, hit the key, darn thing fired up and ran like a new car. I'm happy I was able to make it run nice but I really believe he needs to EFI that thing. Hopefully, it continues to run good.
 
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