Im finally street tune driving my Cuda :D

[The4ork]

some of you more in-tuned forum followers will know I'm a total cuda / muscle car noob, all my engine experience comes from 4 and 6 cyl watercooled vw's and all my tuning is limited to laptop based standalone systems.
so ive had my fair share of trouble with this car and ive been wrenching on it since august to get it to this point.

so im on my 3rd cam 2nd cam change, and 3rd carb.

but today, i got the thing dialed in well enough to start street tuning it. too bad its 10:30 at night and i dont want to piss the neighbors off any more...

im on a lunati 268 voodoo cam now with a BG street demon 625


unfortunately i should have listened and got a proform carb but im dealing with what i have for now since $ is tight.

here is what ive learned. the street demon is for a stock engine (yay... since im not very stock) and doesnt like big cams (or even my mild 268) so i had to drill 1/8" holes in 4 butterflies to get enough air into the engine in the idle circuit - now im some how still too rich with my mixture screws 1/2 turn out and my fast idle backed all the way out. im rich and idling too fast. i think i drilled too much (doh!) guess ill be busting out some jb weld to fill in at least one hole in the secondaries and go from there.

i coulnt get it to idle without cranking the fast idle too far in and being way too rich with just the two holes. though it was miles better than no holes at all. but i didnt realise until after i drilled the secondaries i had my timing way too far retarded. im not sure what the timing is at idle bc i dont have a light and no timing marks really on my balancer but after tuning it with the seat of my pants i think i have it set right.

im running pretty good at part throttle and its very snappy when bliping the throttle in neutral or with the clutch pushed in. but if i try to get on it... it wants to go then cuts out. im not sure if im lean or rich or if its timing related.

its got a comp 9000 with a mech adv and no vac. so im not really sure how to tune the distributor. its got the out of box setting right now which im guessing is somewhere in the middle range?

jets are 64's up front, 78's in the back. power valve is a 6,5 and im pulling 15-18" vac at idle, however my idle is a little fast, its 1200rpm right now. i imagine it would be around 12-15 at a normal idle speed.



anyways now for the hard part - fine tuning. but at least its rolling! 

[Jesus H Chrysler]

Coming from a tuner/laptop background into the "stone age" muscle car realm must be a culture shock.  But on the plus side there are familiar things you can use to help you out.  If you're handy with a welder (or know someone who is) you can weld a bung in the exhaust and use a wideband AF meter to help tune the carb.  It won't be as easy as it was with the laptop because you still have to change jets, timing etc.  But it will allow you to have a better feel for what you're doing.

I kept the Zeitronix unit I had for my SRT-4 just for the purpose of helping tune my Six Pack once I get my engine setup.  Any little bit of info helps. 

[The4ork]

i have a tech edge wideband unit but it seems to be inop. not sure why - brand new sensor - i may have to get a new unit but as i said above, $ is tight as im putting my wife through school right now

[The4ork]

I've got the engine running much smoother in the power band now. I def know I want to swap out the rear end... Is this easy? It's way too short, in 4thim wanting to cruise at 35mph lol
I'm 68/78 on the jets, 6,5 power valve and still working the timing. Setting highest degrees for vac at idle makes me ping at higher rpm under load so I have it backed out and runs smooth
I'm going to try to get more static timing dialed in tomorrow and try to recurve the distributor to be less aggressive. Anyone know how to set up a comp 9000? Guess I'll break out the manual!

[Chryco Psycho]

I am glad you are getting it close to sorted out finally 
 the rear diff gear swap is easy if you change out the whole center section , harder if you swap the gears into the carier you now have

[The4ork]

im not quite following... im used to FWD where everything is in the trans....

i have a rear gear set that came with some spare parts. the guy said its taller but how do i found out what it really is so i can tell if its worth the hassle or not?

If i remember correctly i think the PO said it had something in the low 4's a 4:11 or 4:10? does this sound right? id like to come down to something at least in the mid 3's and ill also be getting bigger tires in the rear which will help also, i may swap the tires before i do any gears - it def sounds easier and it will give me an idea of what size i need to get. but first i need to get a tach working so i can find the rpms the engine likes to cruise at... stupid rally gauges. none of them work except the amp gauge!

[msbaugh]

im not quite following... im used to FWD where everything is in the trans....

i have a rear gear set that came with some spare parts. the guy said its taller but how do i found out what it really is so i can tell if its worth the hassle or not?

If i remember correctly i think the PO said it had something in the low 4's a 4:11 or 4:10? does this sound right? id like to come down to something at least in the mid 3's and ill also be getting bigger tires in the rear which will help also, i may swap the tires before i do any gears - it def sounds easier and it will give me an idea of what size i need to get. but first i need to get a tach working so i can find the rpms the engine likes to cruise at... stupid rally gauges. none of them work except the amp gauge!

I understand your pain on the gauges... none of mine work either... get an autometer gauge.  Easy way to keep from driving blind.  I need to stop putting it off and just send them in so someone can rebuild them for me