78 cutlass W-31 build

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I didn't have much time for the car today. I did go to the shop and clean up. I had to grab some things for tomorrow so I tried touching up the tank with silver while I was there. That looked worse than the scratches so....
It got undercoated now everything looks the same and it won't rust.

 

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Well lately it seems like I'm constantly changing my plans but it's all good. LoL I was planning to work on the crew cab today but ended up getting insurance on this car and working on it instead. So before I even moved it from the frame machine where it's been parked I ran out an air line grabbed a pump for the machine and used the center jack on the machine to get it up and get the wheels off the back. I've been suspicious that my spongy brake pedal was rear brake adjustment. Just as I thought when I swapped out the rear drums I never adjusted the rear brakes. That's done now. The right rear adjuster was froze up but it came free when I cleaned it. The wife came by and we drove it around the building a few times. Stopping on every lap and moving the distributor. No matter what it just kept feeling like it needed more advice to the point it doesn't crank as easy as I'd like. And it doesn't have nearly the power it should. My thought is it really should have a stock HEI in it. So I called up an old friend of mine that always had a back for tuning. I explained the situation to him and he agreed with me so I'm going to order a brand new Chinese one and meet him at his house next Sunday to put it in and dial this thing in. I may drive it a little this week but I'd rather it was right. After the wife and I took it out for a ride literally and I quote "sprung from cages on highway 9" but not Chrome wheeled or fuel injected. LoL. We took it south down rt9 twords Tom's river from the Lakewood border a few miles it drove nice but it needs shocks bad! It still has the original gm shocks in it but I do have a new set for it. Maybe I'll change them one night this week. Next Saturday I'll be at island dragway selling crap maybe I'll see some of you there

 

[pagrunt]

One (late) suggestion would be putting an adjustable vacuum advance on it. The one on the current distributor might not have the preset advance to work with your needs.

 

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One (late) suggestion would be putting an adjustable vacuum advance on it. The one on the current distributor might not have the preset advance to work with your needs.

I'm leaning towards buying a cheap stock replacement because this car really doesn't need the MSD it was intended for my 87 so ether way I need to buy another distributor.

 

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Well when I got home tonight I found out Janet and Lauren went to go see top gun without me. So while I was sitting here alone my old friend Jonny showed up in his 54 Chevy and wanted to take a ride. Naturally we went to the shop to look at my Cutlass and I decided to drive it home. That was the longest trip sense I've owned it! Cruising at speed it's not to bad but the kick down doesn't work and it doesn't have nearly the power it should. On throttle from idle there's a stumble and the brakes still aren't perfect. It also needs shocks and either has flat spots in the tires or a tire severely out of balance. But it made it all the way home and didn't stall or break down once! I'm calling that a win.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Where is the flat spot? How much throttle causes it to happen? I found the Olds V8 like a lot of advance. The Chinese HEI work fine, good value for their cost. They have a more points like timing curve. Get new plug wires since you said they were questionable. Get an advance timing light and set it in the high 30's at full advance with the vacuum advance disconnected. The adjustable vacuum advance only have 20 degrees of advance, which should work fine at full advance.

 

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Where is the flat spot? How much throttle causes it to happen? I found the Olds V8 like a lot of advance. The Chinese HEI work fine, good value for their cost. They have a more points like timing curve. Get new plug wires since you said they were questionable. Get an advance timing light and set it in the high 30's at full advance with the vacuum advance disconnected. The adjustable vacuum advance only have 20 degrees of advance, which should work fine at full advance.

That's what I ordered. The flat spot is off idle it doesn't seem to make any power down low in fact from idle to 2000 or so it doesn't even pull like a stock 260 but if I stay in it it pulls harder up top. At best it could be described as lazy. Definitely does not have the power of a stock olds 350. In fact I was trying to see if I could make it ping by holding the brake and giving it gas. Nope. No ping and not enough power for a one week peal just laboring slug. I'll wait until the new distributor comes before I start messing with it anymore. I'm off today and the car is home so I'm going to clean it out and clean the garage a little. I want to see if I can get it in there and find more stuff to sell at island dragway next Saturday.

 

[olds307 and 403]

How smooth is the idle? I know there was some question of which cam was used. I wonder if that carb is super lean? If it is a late 70's carb, you can pop out the aluminum plug in the air horn, which I tap for a threaded plug and I count the number of turns the APT adjustment from its current position, remove and notch with a hack saw blade. I can adjust the APT in 5 minutes, anytime I want. If it is carb related for the miss, I bet one to two turns out might fix it. The other possibility is that an non ethanol friendly accelerator pump was used. Pull the air cleaner, without the engine running, open the throttle by hand and check for two little streams of gas coming out of the boosters. Possible the timing set wasn't accurate. I believe if the timing sets aren't accurate, they retard the cam timing, some by like 8 degrees! That would definitely kill low end power. Something sounds way off still. Good luck.

 

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Yeah something is still way off I guess I'll find out what next weekend.
Totally switched gears today. Spent most of the day cleaning the garage. Even packed a box for Bruce.

 

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Don't think I updated but the new distributor came during the week I'll be installing it tomorrow for sure. While I was at island dragway today I picked up a set of UMI upper rear trailing arms to put in this. It really doesn't need them but they were cheap so I got them.