How to Get More Horsepower (& Torque!) Out of Your Classic Car Without Expensive Modifications!
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Learn more about how to tune your classic and a few tricks of the trade by watching me discuss a few items on my 1970 Chevrolet Caprice.
A friend of mine had a 68 Impala. 427 travertine he would try to bury the accelerator the 2 back jets never kicked in. We couldn't figure it out. All afternoon we tried everything. Then his little 88 yrs old grandmother came out took a look and told him not enough travel in your accelerater. She took a wrench made a couple of moves and wala, the back jets jumped to life. She was a mech in the WACs during WW II
A fine car too. And it probably beat my dad's 67 dodge Polaris if he still had it.
An 88 year old grandmother! Wow awesome woman.
@@robrobster9148 I pay her to fix my mom's 1977 chevrolet Caprice classic
@@LightningTheLMS3FJinty2020 Really? 👍
Good on Granny. My mom built B29's during ww2 and if you don't think women can do any job men can you can ask those poor Japanese towards the end of the second world war, they will tell you that moms planes delivered.
I have one item that you did not mention that is very important to HP and mileage. The distributor vacuum advance on almost every old car has a ruptured rubber diaphragm inside and is not advancing the timing when needed. You can easily test this just by blowing on the vacuum line that goes to the diaphragm and see if it offers resistance. Or put a hand operated vacuum pump on the line to the vacuum advance and pump it up and see if it holds vacuum (it should)
Vacuum advance does absolutely nothing for horsepower although under really light loads it might appear that way. Under WOT the vacuum advance becomes a useless part as you're relying on the mechanical advance (curve) that's built into the distributor. Also, anytime you advance the initial timing on a stock distributor beyond what the factory engine specs call for you should always check total advance. That's the important part of timing. I've seen stock distributors keep pulling and pulling until they're beyond what you should be running. Bad things happen when you run too much advance. Most engines will handle 8° initial and 32° to 34° total without having to worry about anything. What Adam is talking about (a couple of degrees initial) is generally fine as he's not out there thrashing on his classics. Still wise to check total though.
@@remingtonwingmaster6929 You are correct that at WOT the vacuum advance is not operational. I stand corrected and agree that vacuum advance does not affect horsepower which is measured at high RPM. However, when the engine is operated under a steady part throttle cruising condition such at a steady 40 mph on a level road the vacuum advance and the centrifugal advance work together to provide the correct and most efficient advance which results in the best mpg at these speeds. The engine's torque is what is important at slow cruising speed and will be affected by a defective vacuum advance. A bad vacuum advance unit will impede acceleration and part throttle performance in addition to increasing fuel consumption. (That last sentence was taken directly from Lincoln service manual) I bring up the vacuum advance being defective because all of these collector cars are many decades old and many have a ruptured vacuum diaphragm in the distributor. The more knowledge that people have about their old car the better. If Wade, or anyone is giving advice on how to tune old cars I believe that all aspects should be checked and corrected.
@@jeffsmith846 The main purpose of vacuum advance I believe was supposed to be for fuel mileage economy. Possibly helped lower heat that had to be handled by the radiator.
The air cleaner trick worked like a charm on the family Oldsmobile. Don't know what HP increase it yielded, but when you tromped down on the gas, it sounded cool as hell!
We used to do that just for that sound.
A bog beautiful, yet powerful enough to loosen all the fillings in your teeth!
Oldsmobiles were the most throaty sounding to begin with. I did it with my Cutlass.
Simply a taller element with the proper diameter would hold the bottom of the air filter cover off of the base plate giving the same restriction relief without as much extra noise.
@@LlyleHunter I think the older high compression 330 would outrun the newer Chevrolet 454 smog motor.
Saved the best and cheapest trick for last. I remember when this car was in the Oshawa area, I’d see it at local car gatherings. It is a stunning example of cars of this era and is as beautiful in person as it looks in this video. I’m glad Adam took the chrome Canadian Tire exhaust tip extensions off of it and made it look more stock. It was the only downside of the car and it’s been corrected.
Exhaust extensions aren't pretty but they help prevent rust on the rear bumper. That was the only place the '68 Skylark we inherited had rust until the 90s, when my dad parked it outside for a year or so and the rear window began leaking.
The good old days, big V8 engines in big cars.
Excellent tutorial.
Love that interior too, you can tell only clean people rode in it.
Yah, def not a grimy mechanic’s car. 😝
The 390 horse offering was the LS5. The LS6 had 450.
So were the factories sending these cars out the door with the compromised throttle linkage adjustment, or was that something mechanics did during the gas crisis?
Love the fender skirts on there!
Also, if installing a dual exhaust, consider a cross-over pipe to balance the flow. BTW, beautiful car!
Also called an 'H' pipe.....integrated into both exhaust pipes just aft of the transmission.
For some reason I always come away satisfied from watching your show. Appreciate your hard work.
We used to love the "shooomWaaa" from flipping the lid on the QJet!
Such a great car, and some good tips on proper running. I had a '68 Impala back in the 70's, and would love to have a new one !
Hi Adam,
I think very highly of your channel - all the high-quality history lessons & perspective. However, let me suggest if you're bringing attention to power & efficiency upgrades, please don't forget BRAKE upgrades.
As a friend in the Plymouth club once said, no matter how well-maintained your antique cars' brakes are, in today's modern traffic, there will always be someone in front of you who can stop sooner.
As someone who can attest how inadequate certain Mopar brakes were, please relay your knowledge of disc-brake replacement kits.
I can speak favorably about ScareBird, if you don't mind.
Horsepower was massively underrated in the late 60's, plus HP dropped when they went from leaded to unleaded gasoline.
Not unlike my dad's dodge which he managed to wreck on a county road. Had too much power if I am being honest. But eh it was the best drag racer in Barton county kansas
But only for a very few select engines; and usually those that had some sort of homologation or regulatory cap - 426 Hemi, 427 L-88. IME, as sorta implied in this video, most engines did not make their advertised horsepower, since they were fairly hard to keep in a consistent state of tune.
All I can say is turbocharger 😂👍💯
It's kind of the opposite, on the dyno the rated SAE Gross HP results in 30 to 50% less SAE Net HP. Still much more powerful than the early 70s and up engines, but not "massively underrated" by any stretch.
Some engines were underrated for insurance and/or marketing reasons.
@@Raptor3388 That’s all BS Boomer crap. It was the HP wars, if anything the manufacturers overrated the output. Gross HP ratings are engine on a stand with no accessories and no exhaust. They tried every trick in the book to up the HP ratings.
I was happy to see this in the garage during your last Lincoln video. Great info as always and thanks for keeping the classics alive.
Good tips here. The throttle linkage can definitely be an issue, though it is not necessarily as easy to fix as shown here depending on the car. I have a Cadillac with an Olds 307, and that engine needs every ounce of power it can produce. After buying it, I discovered the throttle cable had stretched and wasn’t really adjustable, so I used a spacer at the gas pedal to tighten it. It made a huge difference once the secondaries could open up all way and the transmission cable was also adjusted. I also did a timing adjustment, which also helped greatly. That engine will never be a beast, but it was much more enjoyable to drive with nice low-end torque and could actually pull uphill decently with no trouble keeping up with traffic.
a true dual exhaust upgrade on my 66 Mustang GT was stock but when I upgraded to smooth bend 2.5 inch flowmaster pipes over the rear axle I picked up 5 ! mph in quarter mile trap speed, also a multi spark ignition box on a 427 boat engine I worked on made it start instantly a huge improvement over the dual point mallory set up, highly recommended and cheap . one more thing you didnt mention was these cars all had huge rear gears and a redline synthetic differential lube change will give a noticable improvement . really noticed it on my Ranger 2.3. reason is gears like these have sliding friction and lots of it .
Pre catalyst unleaded cars often had stiff advance springs with a high travel vacuum advance. Softer springs and an older short travel advance can can add a lot of midrange pep to the low compression 72 to 75 models.
Yep, recurving a distributor is a very good idea, especially on later 70's and 80's cars.
I remember doing all this to my 73 Caprice coupe when I inherited it from my parents, along with disabling the EGR and stupid air pump. Absolutely made a difference, although flipping the air filter covering just gave it more of a throaty growl when you hit the gas, the little 2bbl carb had this engine choked down pretty good when you hit the throttle hard. I remember your discussion about the throttle linkage on this car when you first got it, great advice which I'm sure is often overlooked, especially these days. The best technicians of modern day cars know little or nothing about one of these "simple" classics. Hoping I can visit your museum someday, this would be the first car I would want to see, or ride in.... Don
Wish I had inherited the our 69 Caprice, it has a 396, but was the base model choked down with the 2bbl as well.
Amazing find! I love the old Caprices and the 70 IMO is the last good looking year. Who knows what GM was thinking in putting single exhausts with a tiny little snorkle intake on any car with a 4 barrel. I treated a 67 Chevelle 327 4 barrel to dual exhaust and an open air cleaner and the results in power increase were amazing! Thanks for sharing that amazing 70 Caprice! I'd love to find a car like that.
A 454 Caprice ! Stunning, just stunning and rare. This is a nice addition to your stable Adam.
Very sage advice, Adam. I think your suggestion to check the throttle linkage in particular is a really good one, as I've had the same problem on a car.
Flipping the air cleaner was a Saturday night trick when you borrowed the parent's car. Just remember to change it back before you drove home. Ah, good times.
This is a very helpful video Adam. The timing comments I learned over time on my 68 Imperial (I wish I would have seen this video a few years back). That Caprice is beautiful!
I bought and restored a Sun distributor machine. I can now easily recurve distributors for my cars, friends and clients. Makes a very noticeable difference in performance. Thanks for the great videos.
Exactly! Centrifugal advance can be altered with lighter springs which allows the fly weights to advance the timing earlier in the rpm range. Base + centrifugal + vacuum = total advance for the engine. Having the centrifugal come in earlier really pops the mid throttle response.
When i was a kid, my folks bought a 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport with what our mechanic called the "American" 350 2bbl (we are in Canada so most Pontiacs until then had Chevy engines). He asked my Dad if he wanted a bit more pep and advanced the timing as outlined here and told him to run premium gas. Ran it like that until the advent of unleaded when many stations took away premium as they needed the extra pump for unleaded fuel.
My buddy had a crafty machine shop steal his '70 LS6 heads, he bought the LS6 in pieces and took it to them to assemble. Year or 2 down the road he misses a gear going downhill and floated the valves with the expected results.
So in the process of inspecting the damage I pop the intake off expecting to see those beautiful huge rectangular '70 LS6 intake runners, imagine my shock when I was confronted by oval "peanut head" passenger car intake runners.
He was a hot rod user not a builder so I actually had to explain to him and argue with him that he's been robbed. When I finally got him up to speed he calls the machine shop and ofc they are closed.
My opinion for the HP increase is a head swap and tighten the nut behind the wheel.
A common and unfortunate theft occurrence for many years. Always make secret scribe marks on your pieces, and photograph everything before sending to a shop. A little caution might save a lot of grief.
That Caprice is such a pretty car. When I wasa kid some neighbors bought a brand new 1970 Impala two-door and it was a stellar car.
Hi Adam! I must say I enjoy your channel immensely. I cannot wait for the next review. A lot is learned from your videos. Thank you!
I have a 1969 Fleetwood Brougham, 1970 sedan De Ville and a 1981 Seville . All of them low mile cars and perfect in every respect .These were the cars of my youth. Hence the fascination.
Believe it or not I live in South Africa and these cars were among the most unusual imported cars at the time. Typically Mercedes-Benz and in later years BMW ‘s were the preferred luxury cars.
I do however I find it perplexing that on many classic car clips the cars that are original like yours have one glaring oversight….Stant radiator caps. It’s a pet hate of mine. It detracts from otherwise 100 point cars. There are some great ACDelco reproduction caps available. Just my two cents worth in observing an overlooked detail on an otherwise flawless example
Eloquently explained. Amazing engine and car. Perfect lighting. Kudos!
Reminds me of the old days, we did all these tricks as well, & it always made a very noticable difference
That's a beautiful car Adam and very helpful advice buddy 👍 you are very smart man my friend I love ol cars I recently bought a 62 Ford galaxie 500xl it has a factory 4 speed in the floor.
My dad had a '68 Impala 4 door with a very hot 396 V8 that he bought used in 1971. That car was fast.!! Thanks for posting the great videos.
LS5 was 390HP hyd cam, 2.06 / 1.72 valve, oval port, 2 bolt block. LS6 was 450HP solid cam, rec port 2.19 / 1.88 valves 4 bolt block.....I think...If a solid cam motor was ever put in a Caprice, I would say I just learned something.
Great advice here. Can’t wait to try it. Major Garage and yard envy !!! Thanks Adam
All old school tricks! Thanks for the reminders. On the flipped air cleaner, make sure the hood will clear the jacked up lid. It can be tight on some Fords of the 60s and 70s
Gorgeous, rare car and great video. I had a one owner, ‘72 Ford F250 pickup w/390 and 70K miles, all original. I investigated why it didn’t have as much power as it should and it was the accelerator rod. I did exactly what you just explained and adjusted it and…viola…instant power. So simple and somewhat primitive but effective. Gotta love it!
Love this car, my favorite of Adam’s cars that he’s shown us. I don’t think I’ve seen one like it in any media (or in person) in the last thirty years.
Everything you said we would do when I was in High School and College. We would also add a weight to the "secondary air valve assembly" so it would open sooner.... Thanks for posting.....................
This is the top shelf from Chevrolet and gaining on Cadillac in the coming years. If ordered with Posi and a performance gear ratio and some easy mods that you suggested would really improve acceleration.
The Q-jet carb. I still say that's the best carb ever manufactured! Can remove all the bullshit vacuum crap n set the tensioner on the vacuum secondaries. Gutted out, they r awesome carbs!
One of the Crown Jewels of Adams collection along with the 1977 Caprice police car both my favorites
I can't wait for the tips and tricks for mid 70s through mid 80s cars.
Mid 70s was easy since they downgraded everything they could. You could get an easy 100 hp from what used to be called a "towing cam", headers and dual exhaust. While the intake is off installing the cam, you could go for roller rockers and an upgraded intake manifold as well. You could also get into aftermarket carbs but then you start getting into real potential driveability and mpg issues.
It's mostly the same
Mid 70s were basically the same engines with reduced compression, more pollution controls that basically didn’t work except to sap power and less aggressive cams. I remember seeing an article in a car magazine years ago where they had a 75 or 76 GM colonnade car where they hacked off the catalytic converter, put headers and duals and picked up 50 HP. On the GM cars 75 and up it’s best to find a double hump transmission crossmember from a 73 or 74. Or you can modify the existing one or twist the driver’s side pipe to fit under it but you lose some ground clearance.
@@mikee2923 I'm no fan of the big regulators but catalytic converters are a good thing and shouldn't be removed. They can be replaced for new units that flow better, though.
@@HAL-dm1eh They and all the old pollution controls did nothing. When I was in high school in the mid 80s I had a 1975 Pontiac Grand Prix with a 400. I lived in Pennsylvania and tailpipe emissions testing had been around for a few years. That car with nothing more than the EGR valve still hooked up, all the other pollution controls removed, headers and dual exhaust with no catalytic converter not only passed the emissions test but it would have passed for a brand new Ford Crown Victoria at the time. As long as you keep old cars tuned up they will burn remarkably clean. They are totally unnecessary on any car with electronic engine management systems. I also read years ago that the way a catalytic converter burns unburned fuel in the exhaust causes pollution in ground water.
I was afraid you were not going to mention the air cleaner lid flip but you did not disappoint. Note the cross section of the opening of the snorkel. It is barely larger than just one of the secondary butterflies of the spreadbore Q-jet. That snorkel just can't flow as much as the carburetor would like to. Made quite a difference on my 72 Centurion 455 powered ragtop.
My dad's last car was a '70 Impala w/ 400 engine. Single exhaust, he had it tuned, it took off! I see your Caprice has optional skirts, nice.
we always flipped the cleaner over lol ! great video love the car had a 68 2 door loved it !
Wow that's a great looking car. I had a '70 Olds 98 with (I believe) the LS4 engine. I wish I had known these tricks back then.
Hey Adam, thanks for sharing the inexpensive helpful hints!!! 👍👍🙂
I really like these rare 454's 1970 model full size Chevy's. I had a '70 2 dr hdtp Impala Custom (fender skirt 350 car) in triple gold, but with a 350. It was traded in by a distant relative at the Chevy dealer where I worked. Around 1975. 40K miles. It sat in the back of the new car lot and never taken to the used lot (several miles away) and told my Dad (next door at Coca Cola where he worked) about it. I was graduating high school and was going to sell my '67 Chevy Caprice (327 2 dr hdtp console 400 turbo trans). He got it for $1K. Sold my '67 and had the '70 immediately. I ended up having it repainted in dark green metallic keeping the gold vinyl top. Under trunk, hood, door jams, all changed too. Nice car, I really enjoyed simple yet driving like a luxury car. Gas mileage not so much. Lines at the station followed shortly after getting it.
Good tips.
It's not something anybody would want to do on a nice car like that one, but one of the ways to make any car faster is to lighten it.
I think the beauty of the Impala and Caprice are Stunning for this year because 69 and 71 look nothing like them and they are very unique and the rear bumper is so beautiful, I used to flip the breather on my 70 Impala 2 door I love the sound it made such a deep Growl like it wanted to eat up the pavement 😂.
And don’t forget the throttle spring- replace it with a new one. You taught us that too.😀
Thanks for the tips! Old cars always need something adjusted or fixed. Its just part of ownership. You just gotta know what and be prepared. These are not modern fi computer controlled vehicles.
Very cool. I love the free or low budget power upgrades finding hidden horsepower/torque. That final thing you said about the air cleaner reminded me of my late dad.
When he would take his father's 1970 Impala coupe for the night, in the mid 70's, dad told me his father always knew he took it because the radio was left loud and the noise from the inverted air cleaner.
Thanks Adam, I never knew why someone would turn the air cleaner around.
I had a '69 Impala custom coupe with the 4 bolt main 300 horse 350, set up to pull horse trailers and dominate the 1/4 mile with the turbo 400, 3:73 posi traction, engine oil and transmission coolers. I had an 8 track tape deck too!
Of the cars you own this 70 Caprice is one of my favorites.❤
Maybe I am fooling myself on this but.. I built up a 69 chevy malibu with a higher compression engine and a bit more cam. I equipped it with an MSD knock detector and adjustable timing when I went on a huge tour of the western US and the system worked great. This was 25 years ago and at that point it was very hard to get premium unleaded but it handled regular unleaded fine.
Very informative. I wished someone knew how to get more power of the 1980's cars like the Oldsmobile 307 V8 and a few others. The cars were underpowered in the 1980's with a focus on fuel economy. I guess it is a different story dealing with fuel injected cars or some of the technology on carbureted 80's cars. Thank you Adam.
YES! I asked the same question.
@@michaelwhite2823 The 307 from 1980-1981 had a 150 hp. I recall. Then it dropped down to 140 for the rest of its run. Then there was high output 307 was used in Cutlass Supreme 442 in the mid 1980's. It had 160-170 hp I believe. I do not know why they did not use that in the: 98,88, Toronado and Custom Cruiser wagon. The 140 hp 307 was used in everything up until 1990. I know all the wagons used it. I was shocked to learn the Pontiac Parisienne used it too. I know Buicks( LeSabre,Park Avenue/Riviera) and Cadillacs used it too. The 305 from Chevrolet had some power. I know because Pontiac used it and then Cadillac used it also. By 1991 model year they used Chevrolet 305 at 170 hp and the Chevrolet 5.7 liter 350 in Caprice, Roadmaster and Fleetwood. Thank you fir sharing.
That Chevy is to die for and my kind a car as I like off breed vehicles. I Like your videos and am wondering when is that second interview with Bob Lutz happening.
Okay, now please tell us how to get more torque and HP on those cruddy early 1980s 5.0 liter engines in "full size" cars.
Do crate engines work out well? I saw a beautiful 1981 Bonneville with an LS1 engine replacing a 4.9.
Having watched enough of these featured cars... know I shouldn’t be shocked but for some reason the under bonnet view- its literally a BIG block..yet looks like a teeny little v8 compared to vast amount of fresh air around it (& even ground visible below) in that massive engine bay. Lovely car though!
great year of caprice. i always wanted a caprice wagon.
Great looking car Adam, brings back a ton of memories!
Another quality video, it’s funny but what grabbed my attention is that your truck has the 2.7T engine. I would have pegged you as a V-8 either 5.3 or 6.3 under hood. No judgement just surprised.
1:30 Guy from Montréal Québec Canada here! Why they needed a big block engine for funeral car you ask? I have absolutely no idea but I am glad I am aware of it now 😂
Man 1970 was a killer year for the full size Chevy. This 4 door Caprice is especially stunning, I really love the black/blue interior treatment. 1971 full sized GM cars were a total step backwards in terms of quality and design IMO. Also just replacing the old points distributor with a later model HEI unit will make the car run better and give you one less thing you need to fuss about.
Adam , lovely video thank you , it’s amazing to think in the case of the 454 that the inlet trumpet was so small on the air cleaner, but cleaver of GM to design it so you can flip the lid and get more all be it warm air, plus great inlet roar 😅
I like to convert the single snorkel air cleaner to dual ones or if hood clearance allows, get a air cleaner from a medium duty truck with a gas engine cause they use large air cleaners with a large filter and snorkel.
Adam, Wondering if auto mechanics were changing the linkage for the carbs back in the day. I am sure customers were complaining about fuel economy. Disengaging the 4 barrel would help diffuse those complaints due to the fuel crisis in the 70's?
I wonder this too.
Could've been the factory though too - in the late '60s, you could get the same 400 in a Firebird as what was in the GTO, but in the Firebird it had less power, mostly due to a limiting tab impeding the full opening of the secondaries. Simply breaking off that tab was a very easy way to increase acceleration.
I think the Firebird might've been saddled with smaller or less effective exhaust manifolds as well.
I love the BB Chevrolet and those monster valve covers.
And, if the classic car has a heat riser valve on one exhaust manifold, make sure it is free and opens properly when warm.
My first car was a 1970 Impala Sport Sedan, 350ci with 2bbl carb. Plenty of get-up-and-go.
You can usually get away with loosening up the flaps on the back barrels a bit on the carburetor. Just loosen the screw and turn the shaft with a flat blade until you feel it bog lean when driving and then tighten it back just a bit.
my grandad's mid life crisis car was a Caprice with the ls 6 454
Great tips.
Use later 4bbl air cleaner assemblies with provision to attach cold air duct to feed cool air. Open element when sitting in traffic in heat no fun. Also filters get dirty quick.
Oh finally in winter it sucks as well as no preheated air.
I suppose replacing the standard air cleaner unit with one from a high performance model with a larger inlet or dual inlets would improve the performance and noise.
Interestingly the cars with stricter emission controls seem to have larger inlets with a cold air intake pipe.
Have you ever tried replacing a standard sized single exhaust with a larger diameter single exhaust? I would expect it would flow better, sound better and use the stock routing.
The funniest thing about horsepower ratings from GM cars back then was nothing could be more powerful than the Corvette. Even though some muscle cars from the GM divisions definitely were more powerful they downplayed the ratings. Like come on a Buick GS 455 Stage 1 or a Oldsmobile 442 with its 455 W-30 package definitely put out way more power than the advertised 360 and 370 HP of these engines. I would say both easily made north of 410. Pontiac was the worst with it's rating system. The GTO was their flagship performance car but then in 67 the Firebird was unleashed to the public. Funny thing was both cars could be sold with the top 400 H.O V8 but for some reason the Firebird made like 20 horses less. The truth was on the 4 barrel carburetor on the Firebird the secondary barrels weren't allowed to open fully because there was a tab that stop it half way. All you had to do was bend it backwards. Took a few seconds to do and alot of gearheads did exactly that.
My first car was an 83 Impala with the "powerhouse" LG4 305. I flipped the lid on it, didn't go any faster but I never got tired of listening to those secondaries open, and my fuel mileage shrank.
I run 12 degrees base timing on my stock catyliitic converter equipped 32,000 mile 76 MonteCarlo with no sign of spark knock. I use 91 oct no methonal gas that fortunately is available in the grain belt.
Sure would be fun to hear that Quadrajet howl on that car Adam lol ,for me it'd be addicting.
This definitely works best from 1970s and '80s cars.
I totally forgot I used to flip the lid on my 68 LeSabre with its 280 hp 350 GS engine. In the car the intake sound was way louder than the exhaust. lol
Nice livery car, in traditional funeral livery colors.
Hard to find any decent condensers today- new ones are mostly junk. Does anybody know a source for quality condensers today?
Hi Lou, sorry I personally don't know about good tune-up parts outside of genuine OEM parts.....( which may be worth the money considering how infrequently we need to tune-up ).
However, I wanted to back you up on something you said....when installing a 'new' condenser on a Chrysler 383, the lead-wire FELL-OUT of its crimped end terminal.....total junk made in China.
I bought it through Napa, who never sold me a bad electrical or electronic part besides that one time.
So your observation is right, sorry to say.
See "Shango o66" for electronic condensors. Don't know if they can be used in cars. He overhauls engine computers among other things. Lawn mowers still use condensors. See Briggs and Straton.
In my mind 1970 was a banner year for General Motors and one of my fantasies would be to see both four door hardtop models of each B body car from the different divisions, Caprice, Bonneville, Delta 88 Royal, and Wildcat.
This was probably not the reason for the issue with your linkage since in yours it was probably done to minimize hotrodding a funeral car but on some GM engines of the era, the Pontiac Ram Air IV as an example, the throttle linkage setup was how the factory manipulated the max hp rating on the 1969-70 engines. In the GTO, the Ram Air IV was rated at 370 hp while in the F body, the otherwise exact same engine was only rated at 345 hp. When I was young the carburetor linkage was the first thing we adjusted. They were almost always out of adjustment it seemed.
Thanks for those great tips Adam, by the way when adding a second exhaust pipe on a small block 305cid do I also have to replace the exhaust manifolds with headers too?
You can just an H-Pipe or X-Pipe on it to add dual exhaust and that alone will give you some extra HP without adding any headers (even though headers does help).
@@CJColvin Thanks CJ. Would it affect fuel economy?
@@danielestrada1850 It would probably give you better MPG as well.
Check the vacuum lines. Number one loss of power I recall in that era was just a line splitting or getting knocked off. You can hear them hiss sometimes. A few feet of new rubber line from the parts store was always cheap. A bit of "dry gas" now and then as condensation would contaminate the fuel. They used leaded fuel so you will need an additive for an original car. The engines did not last half as long as they do now. If it were me I'd look into a throttle body to replace that 4bbr carb. It was often commented that when the secondary opened on a q-jet you could watch the gas gauge drop... not quite how it was but very close. You could get 8-10mpg if you drove them hard... big car big motor. Not that fast but they cruised at speed like a dream... land yacht.
flipping the air cleaner lid totally works, but the downside is longer warm-up time and a rich condition while it's slowwwly warming up. For a classic that you drive occasionally, might be better to wait until the engine is warm, then flip it over.
Only AC spark plugs, tighten screws and bolts on the top of cab,and get a rag with a little oil on it and wipe the inner fenders and air cleaner down.The last one won't make it go any faster but all your friends will bring their friends over to see this car.
Cool funeral home. I remember flipping the breather lid on my grandma's '75 Cutlass 260 V8 lol. I wonder if anything can be done to perk up those 265hp 2-bbl 396s. I hear they're really gutless.
In '70, the ONLY LS6 was in a Malibu SS Chevelle. This 345hp/454 was the LS5. The LS4 [in Chevelle SS, & Monte Carlo] was rated @ 360-hp.
My 71 Impala Sport Coupe is rated at 245hp. This is the 350 2bbl single exhaust. I want to mount 4bbl intake and dual exhaust. The same engine in this configuration is rated at 270hp (L48 option). Both engines have same compression. Would be fun to see if there is a significant diffrence.
Love the channel btw.
I would guess the L48 with a 4bbl probably had a more aggressive cam.
@@mikee2923 I doubt it. The 2bbl and single exhaust is not doing it any favour.
@@olds394 Actually the heads may have smaller valves also on the 2bbl vs 4bbl.
@@mikee2923 The L48 and L30 (327) share the same heads,block,intake and exhaust manifolds,carburetor and camshaft. Only diffrence is the stroke.
LS4 345 (ish) LS5 390 LS6 (Chevelles)450 HP
My Grandmother had a '67 Impala two door fastback with the 396 Tornawanda in it. Car would MOVE. Black vinyl over Cream. Brocade seats. Pop ran AvGas in it more than once.
Nice look with the skirts!!
Minor addition to your "advance the timing" comments: On some engines, if you advance to timing too much the starter has a problem, particularly with a warm engine. It's not fatal. You just back up the timing a notch back towards where it used to be.
Or do the two-person start. Have someone on the key, disconnect the coil, and have another person reconnect the coil after the starter is whirling.
Another thing you could probably do is do away with the points and condenser and make it electronic ignition. They make kits nowadays that let you do this and still retain your factory distributor plus you get a little hotter spark
Pertronix III works awesome, installs in an hour or less. A bit longer on cars (Fords) with resistance primary coil wires.
I used to flip the air cleaner lid over on my dad's new cars before we left the dealer lot.
Good video. Beautiful car!
That little coil spring for the chokes on some Quadrabogs can totally blow up the engine if it's not working properly. The engine gets all gunked up. It was like a 2 dollar part.
Attached to the intake manifold - those kind. The engine gets warm and it heats up the coil and should open the choke. They wear out and don't open the choke all the way.
Great video!! 👍👍
Great video but I would recommend dispensing with the points and installing an electronic unit like Pertronix that fits within the distributor, keeping a stock appearance. Looking at the 454 engine shown here, even back in 1971, it's surprising that this, the most luxurious model, there is no air conditioning. (no compressor)
Canadian car. Many buyers didn’t opt for AC back then.
@@RareClassicCars - In the late 1960's AMC made a/c standard equipment on their top of the line Ambassador. I just figured it was optional on the Impala but standard on the Caprice.