one thing you might want to add is a fuel pressure gauge, if you dont already have one. not a 1" one that is underhood because they will vary with engine temps underhood. a good quality one that mounts to the cowl where you can see it down the track. use braided brake line to be safe, -3 or -4. make the mount removeable so that on the street or when parked the gauge is under the hood. a piece of 1" x 1/8 aluminum bar stock and a dzus fastener will do it. bend it in an L shape so it will fasten underhood on the cowl & go up between the hood and cowl. it will provide useful info on your fuel system. put the tap for the gauge before the carb inlet, after the filter.
A good electric pump setup will require a return line and a regulator. If you go electric, just ditch the mechanical altogether and do it once.
My experience of going from Torker 289 to RPM, with no other changes, was terrible. I lost power big time. The Torker pulled better everywhere, and the RPM felt flat from 4000 and up. I finally realized the whole thing was slick marketing and put my Torker back on. My power came right back. This happened when the RPM was introduced back in the early 90s. I was young, dumb, and working at a speed shop... I sold the RPM to another sucker. Dave
I've heard that from another racer too, Dave. 'Course their combo was a VERY mild 302...nothing more than a simple RV camshaft and headers. BTW, the manifold I was referring to was also a Torker 289..the one with the weird carb position. IMO, I do think that the RPM is better suited to a good built 302...one that's got a little cam and head work done to it. The T289 works...but lacks power up top and low speed driveablity. It (the T289) is awesome for hood clearance, though. Disclaimer: Everyone's combo is different. What works for some simply just won't work for others. Only way to know is trial & error....Trust me, I know all about that. I've got receipts for tens of thousands of $$$ worth of used one time drag car parts that didn't work.
228/235 @ .050" T289 Toploader and 4.11s Chebbie valves, 750 DP, iron heads, 10.5:1 compression. 8.4/88 mph in 1/8 mi. The T289 had been on a couple of milder engines and worked amazingly well. Even with 3.00:1 gears, C4 and stock verter, it had lots of torque. The guys at the speed shop were on me for months. They insisted that Edelbrock could do no wrong and I would gain earth pounding torque while losing no top end at all. Just like the ads said. Finally I did the swap and was sorely disappointed. The revs were lazy and the car felt weak after 4k. I am not saying it didn't rev with the RPM, just that it was lazy compared to the T289. I put a 2" open spacer on the RPM first, and did gain some top end back, but the hood clearance and practical issues sent me back to the T289. Even with the spacer, the RPM still didn't match the Torker. Our cars are so light and the SBF stroke so short that you really should let your engine breathe. Anyway, point is that my engine was not what I consider "mild" by any stretch. However, even when it was mild, the Torker still worked well. Dave
Exactly, every piece has to be part of a "system" to work together correctly. Pistons, heads, cam, intake, carb. Changing one item to something that doesn't work well with the rest of the parts doesn't mean the new piece is bad, it's just mismatched. You have to decide on your intended purpose for the car from the begining and build with that goal in mind. Or spend a lot of money to change everything later.
I had a Torker 289 back in the 70s, traded it to a guy for a 5-lug front brake setup. Several times since then I coulda kicked myself in the rear for letting it go.
Using this line of thought then... I was wrong for taking a very mild single plane from my engine and putting on a radical dual plane without changing everything to dual plane standards? This is what Edelbrock markets the intake to do... Swap onto a high rpm engine so you gain back the low end you lost by using a single plane, yet lose NO top end response. Your exactly correct if I was swapping stock heads on a stock engine with AFR 225s, then complained about how they suck on my engine. However, I did just what the manufacturer, the magazines, and marketing peer pressure told me to do. Also what some on this board insist should be done... Now I didn't get it right because I didn't change more on the engine to make the part appear to make power. Dave
I'm betting on the cam. Not that much of a cam to start with. Also, never underestimate the difference a little timing can do. Since you have a low compression engine, no pinging problems, make sure your total timing isn't over about 38*. I've gotten mine up pretty good (20* initial) and had plenty of low end power, when I went to test it out I was sorely dissapointed after I got over 2500rpms. btw, 5500rpms is on their baseline, average. 8.5:1 compression is the average for that cam. The camshaft rpm range is not a hard set of numbers, just a range. The 270H is rated for like 5800rpms max if memory serves, in my cousin's 289, it still pulls like hell up to about 6800.
Took the car out again today, cooler weather being the only difference (65 degrees rather than 85). I decided to hold the rpms high for a few seconds before shifting and got up to 6000 rpms. What appears to be happening is not that it is really "losing power" but that it feels like it starts to miss above 5000 or so. I can get to 6000 and hold it there a while, and it still wants to accelerate, but it "spits and sputters", which is why I am losing that quick acceleration. You can feel and hear popping through the exhaust, and the "hum" of the engine in interrupted and I lose that nice even sound. The pops are not loud backfire pops, but just multiple little pops, maybe 3-5 per second or so, sounding like the spark is not able to keep up with it and it is missing. Is it electrical or fuel? Or are we still looking at air-flow/cam? Just in case...I am idling at 10 degrees and full out at around 35-40 (estimated, since there are not notches that high up) at 2500 or so.
BUSTED!!! I was afraid it would come to this...(which is why I added that info on my timing) Here we go... Stock, with new-but-not-upgraded points distrubutor (AutoZone replacement), Accel Super Stock coil (not much better than stock), 8mm wires, and Accel shorty u-groove spark plugs gapped around .040. Do I need the MSD 6AL etc.? I want to get it, but just needed the "motivation". And the $$$.
