Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob
The compression should be around 9.3 to 9.4 and the timing got dialed on KRE's dyno at 9 degrees. It idles smoothly once warmed up, but the EFE/heat riser is vacuum operated and just won't get happy. I'm going to replace the 190 degree thermostat in the morning and will see what difference that makes. I'm sure it didn't help that it was 98 degrees here today and high humidity. Were you running stock water pump and radiator?
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My compression is a little higher (9.7) and it's happiest with initial timing at 12. I use a stock water pump and fan. I was using a factory 4 core radiator and it ran at just above the thermostat's 180 rating even here in the desert. I ended up ruining the radiator (crushed it by mistake after pulling it out to detail the engine bay), and replaced it with a stock appearing higher capacity aluminum unit. Overkill, but now the temps don't budge from 180 ever. I had a 160 degree thermostat in my wife's 68 FB after it's 400 was rebuilt…I had to replace it during the winter because I couldn't get much heat out of it (40 degrees is cold here).
I still can't get over how nice your engine bay turned out…of course, once you get your engine dialed in and you'll find yourself wanting to drive it all the time…the engine combo is just so nice--it's fun on the street and on the interstate you can just apply a little gas to accelerate in a way that seems effortless. I don't think I'll ever use a 3.75" stroke again when I rebuild a 400 that will go in a car that I plan to drive.