fbekholden.com

Hi Drew as the others have said it is great to see you back, mate it takes a big man to vent his issues and I giver you kudos for doing so, in my younger days I went through a similar thing ended in a very dark place and keep it to myself, I had no one at the time I could talk to and I believe that is detrimental to our long term health.

As Spock would say "Live long and prosper" Drew

Thoroughly honest and tractable wagon you've thrown together Drew. I love it. Mephisto Red maybe?

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To calibrate the fuel gauge black box, I drew to lines on a board at a distance apart that was the depth of the fuel tank.
With these representing the top and bottom of the tank, you can lay the sender down and use the top, the bottom and half way positions of the float to calibrate. You can do this in the boot.
Full to half moves a bit slower than half to empty, but the three calibrated positions seemed fine.

Loved the grey build vidoes

Hey Drew,
Thanks for your text earlier today, it was good to hear from you and look forward to catching up soon. Life does get a bit full on at times and pleased to hear your on the improve.

Regards
Stephen

Good to see you back Drew.

A few of us have spent time in a similar black hole, but tried to tough it out. Too embarrassed to ask for help. Figured everyone on tv, movies and the internet had perfect lives, and that we were alone. Mates like those on the forum make a big difference.

Don’t listen to them though, your number plate is correctly installed in the “lower mounting position for wagons with high performance drivelines requiring maximum radiator air flow”

Cheers,
Harv

Harv wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 7:22 am Good to see you back Drew.

A few of us have spent time in a similar black hole, but tried to tough it out. Too embarrassed to ask for help. Figured everyone on tv, movies and the internet had perfect lives, and that we were alone. Mates like those on the forum make a big difference.

Don’t listen to them though, your number plate is correctly installed in the “lower mounting position for wagons with high performance drivelines requiring maximum radiator air flow”

Cheers,
Harv

Oh right I get it now, yeah the number plates a bloody huge, slim line lates would be a lot better.
I had to choose the best of the worst for the position.
Oh well its all good, im not fussed.

Yeah no one is perfect and we all have issues, onward and upwards.

sgo wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 6:51 pm To calibrate the fuel gauge black box, I drew to lines on a board at a distance apart that was the depth of the fuel tank.
With these representing the top and bottom of the tank, you can lay the sender down and use the top, the bottom and half way positions of the float to calibrate. You can do this in the boot.
Full to half moves a bit slower than half to empty, but the three calibrated positions seemed fine.

Loved the grey build vidoes

That's a good idea, I think I was dealing with a dicky fuel gauge. I will nut it out further at some time in the future.

So I’m here playing with the tune on this motor.

As a run down it’s got…

HSD Fully six head decked with no thumb nail showing
Harvs fancy head gasket which measured .060 thick.
Block zero decked to pistons
Compression of 145psi across the board
Clive 82 grind cam - valves set to .014 as per cam card.
Crank balanced complete with Ross balancer, flywheel and clutch as a complete unit. Piston & rods balanced also.

Dizzy is XE EFI HEI unit - unsure what vacuum advance springs are set at.
Coil is Bosch HEC716

First thing is choice of 3 types plugs
BP4, BP5 or XR51X iridium - all NGK brand

Being HEI I thought the iridium plugs would be the choice for a more powerful spark.

What is the general opinions on plugs and preferred plug gap for this engine and dizzy set up?

Also what is the learning for me in regards to choosing the correct dizzy advance and how to set it up correctly?

In regards to carbs it runs twin strombergs.

Timing is set at 12 degrees at idle
Idle revs approx 600 - 650 and lower and it starves of fuel
Carbs balanced with bubble tool to suit ideal revs.

Venturies fitted
48 main / 70 power jets
Float levels even at 17mm (just under 11/16 & within spec)

Accelerator pump plunger stroke is even on both carbs at 5mm. Book spec is 17/64 (6.7mm) to 19/64 (7.54mm)
- desirable stroke is 9/32 (7.1mm)

How much of a concern is the 5mm plunger stroke when the book say 7mm?

I know SunnyTim refuses to use NGK plugs in grey motors - I use Bosch , cant remember the number off the top of my head - and set them at 0.060" gap with the HEI setup same as yours in my ute.

As we discussed the other day , a bit of dyno time can be an excellent investment for working out optimised advance curves etc.

Pump shot is tuneable to some extent using the three pump arm holes.

When you rev the throttle, does it:
a) miss, then catch up again (too little pump shot)
b) bog down and poof black smoke (unlikely - too much pump shot)

If the answer to these is no, I'd be happy with the pump stroke.

The Clive 82 cam is fairly hairy for a non-race car. Comparison table here:
viewtopic.php?t=22653&start=180

I put one into Grace's ute... it is waaaaay overcammed with a standard head and single strommie (dammit... did I just say that?) There are trippples and a worked head to go onto it, but haven't found the time yet.

Cheers,
Harv

You won't get a stronger spark per se from the iridium? More about longevity, I thought. I happened to get bosch plugs because they didn't have NGK. I was running BP5EY. Tuner told me to use 6s. Supacheap only stock bosch or autolite so I got bosch WR6DC. Gapped to 0.060" or 1.5mm for the Commodore dissy.

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Must say I’m confused on the general consensus of hot / cold plugs in the NGK BP range.

This chart shows the lower the number the hotter.

Can’t work it out…

Yes, that is my understanding. With higher compression you generally run a cooler plug setting. If the plugs are getting too hot they can pre-ignite the intake charge,detonation, pinging, not good. So a higher number plug is more efficient at dissipating its heat to the head. If it is too cool it will foul up up. It needs to be warm enough to smoulder off oil deposits. If it is too hot it will ping.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

I have 5's in the rattler at the moment, the tuner asked me to buy a set of 6's and a set of 7's to bring with me on dyno day so I assume he is worried the plugs will be too hot .

Dunno if that helps you any ......