Cruisin' Woodward

I wasn't going to let the weather and poor turnout at the Mount Clemens show rain on my parade. As I walked the show, I had already decided, after leaving I would take 16 mile west until I hit Woodward.

I wouldn't say that all my fixes this morning were in haste, as it did seem more streetable, even if it was also running rougher and missing perhaps even more than before. I know, that hardly makes sense eh? On the freeway, the engine temp stayed around 190 for most of my 30 mile trip up there, and slowly crept up to about 205 as I got close to Mount Clemens. I attribute this to the rpm's, and think a water pump underdrive pulley may be necessary.

As I left the show, I headed towards Woodward, a 20 mile or so trip in mostly 45 mph zones with frequent stop lights. This trip, along with my trek down Woodward to downtown, amounted to about 80 miles including my trip up. It was arguably my most enjoyable outing this year. Not for the car show, simply because it put my mind at ease in regards to whether this 700 hp engine would survive extreme situations. Granted, it was only about 80 degrees out, I was very happy to see that engine temps in slow traffic, and even bumper to bumper dead stop traffic, stayed right at 190 degrees, and that's with a 195 thermostat! As I have stated before, my charging problems were resolved with my new alternator, so that's no longer an issue.

A more recent concern was what seemed to be a slipping transmission when going into 2nd gear. I was able to test out various situations during my cruising, and concluded, the apparent slippage I believe is due to my 4,200 stall 10 inch convertor. When the rpm's are above 3,000 rpm's, it still hits 2nd hard, squawking the tires. So I believe that concern is a mute point. When in doubt, take it to the race track, and see if it holds up! LOL Perhaps next year.

It's amazing how much you forget when your car stays parked for nearly a decade...in pieces. Many of my issues have honestly been due to knowledge I've simply forget. Slowly, it's coming back to me, including the more obvious stuff, like the vent lever in the kick panel I discovered tonight, which was a relief considering I was sweatin' my ass off on this trip. I'm also finally getting over reaching down to turn on my stereo, which I have yet to install.

As for my engine miss? First I'm going to read a few plugs, and likely lean it back out at least the 3 jet sizes, if not more. Secondly, a change I had forgot I even made, is I'm going to swap the stock power valves back in. The idea popped in my head while cruising, I had gone with a significantly lower set of power valves when I thought they were causing my overly rich engine idle...which proved to be a bad needle and seat. I'm thinking now that perhaps those power valves are actually what are causing my engine miss traveling down the road. The only way to tell will be to swap the old ones back in and see what happens.

The only other idea in my head is possibly the timing. At 32 degrees, it may be a little bit low. Back at CMU during my college days, I found that my last engine build made the most power at 32 degrees total advance, so that is what I went with this time. Searching the net, it seems that everybody with builds close to mine is closer to 37-40 degrees timing. I need to go down in jet size regardless, but perhaps before even doing that I'll bump that timing up and see what happens. I'd really like to get this miss resolved before the end of cruise season, and before I head up to Woodward in a few weeks.

With Woodward Dream Cruise quickly approaching, to me, it signals the end of the cruise season. Having decided to keep my Camaro up here this winter, I hope to be able to tackle many of these nagging issues, finish up some interior work, and maybe even get a Ford 9 inch under it. . Where did the summer go?