[SD455DJ]

Our youngest son went to UofA in Tucson, moved him out there in 2017 for grad school and his PHD. He got married up on Mt. Lemmon (8000 ft) the end of April 2021 and I recall it snowed and sleeted in the morning prior to their outdoor wedding. It was very pleasant that time of year down in Tucson...only in the 80's and dry. They moved to Durham, NC in 2022 for his post-doc work at the UNC. They went from the oven to the wet sauna, but they love the green and abundance of water!

Dennis

[HWYSTR455]

I'm in an area that varies rapidly in a 500-6000' range, and that can cause issues with carbs, especially if you are tuned on the ragged edge.

During the 2014 Power Tour, with the 442 fairly fresh, running a 670 Holley, going over the Blue Ridge mountains (Hills to some), many cars had issues. Some actually had to stop and do jet swaps to go over the highest points, the 442 included. I had to step up 3 jets sizes.

The Holley trailer stopped for many, and they provided jets to people for free. From previous stops and tours, they knew right away what needed to be done, and how many steps to recommend.

Aaaand, that's why i went efi on the 442. Being my daughter's car, that would be unacceptable for her to stop and swap jets. And some of the reason I went to efi on everything else.


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[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I'm in an area that varies rapidly in a 500-6000' range, and that can cause issues with carbs, especially if you are tuned on the ragged edge.

During the 2014 Power Tour, with the 442 fairly fresh, running a 670 Holley, going over the Blue Ridge mountains (Hills to some), many cars had issues. Some actually had to stop and do jet swaps to go over the highest points, the 442 included. I had to step up 3 jets sizes.

The Holley trailer stopped for many, and they provided jets to people for free. From previous stops and tours, they knew right away what needed to be done, and how many steps to recommend.

Aaaand, that's why i went efi on the 442. Being my daughter's car, that would be unacceptable for her to stop and swap jets. And some of the reason I went to efi on everything else.


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EFI sure makes sense in that 'hilly' country. It's pretty flat and consistent in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois where we do most of our traveling in our 'old' carb equipped Pontiacs.

Dennis

[HWYSTR455]

In the mid-70s, my dad took the family in a 24' Winnie around the states. It was used but low mileage, and he did almost everything on it before we left, including a new carb. We went south and across, up CA to WA state, and back east on the north side. We have lots of issues in the mountains, and in the low elevations too. I remember he had a pull-choke put on I think it was like in NM, and he would play with that thing in elevated areas, which helped.

I've always driven may cars up and down the east coast, and thru the 'mountains' of the east. I did carry jets with me, but if I knew I was going to be in high elevations I would start out a little rich before I left home, and just 'deal with it' if that wasn't enough. Usually didn't have too many issues, but there were occasions.

I'm pretty happy with my EFI setups, they work good to very good, with a set it and forget it type approach. Once it's right, like anything really, there's not much that needs to be done. The TBi setups are the least requiring 'fiddling'. I doubt I'll ever go back to carbs, but there is a simplicity thing that's attractive.



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[SD455DJ]

Sometime in the next several years is to check off a bucket-list item to travel Rt-66 to at least New Mexico/Arizona in our old Pontiacs. Being carbureted, we'll be taking our Q-jet jet/metering rod kits for the elevation changes.

Dennis

[Formulajones]

There is a Pontiac chapter out here that gathers and does the route 66 cruise. Usually every year. I've done it with them a couple of times. They come from the other side of the country to join, start in Illinois and go all the way to California. It's a really great time.

Might be the chapter in Tucson, I can't remember, but there are a couple of other Pontiac clubs out here as well and they all participate.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by SD455DJ

Our youngest son went to UofA in Tucson, moved him out there in 2017 for grad school and his PHD. He got married up on Mt. Lemmon (8000 ft) the end of April 2021 and I recall it snowed and sleeted in the morning prior to their outdoor wedding. It was very pleasant that time of year down in Tucson...only in the 80's and dry. They moved to Durham, NC in 2022 for his post-doc work at the UNC. They went from the oven to the wet sauna, but they love the green and abundance of water!

Dennis

That's cool. I think I'm done with the humid Eastern side of the country. My allergies were so bad out there I had to get off the prescription medication somehow or my kidneys wouldn't take it. The dry desert air is a huge relief. So that was a big reason for the move. Haven't had allergy medication in 20 years.

Mt. Lemmon is beautiful up there and the views are fantastic.

[Formulajones]

I typically don't have issues with the elevation and carbs. I've lived out here long enough that I've found a happy medium with fueling that works well at elevation yet doesn't get too lean near sea level. Usually that means letting it be a little rich up high and still safe down low and the plugs still stay clean enough. Each car is different and takes quite a bit of time to get it dialed in.
I did go EFI on the Chevelle a few years ago, primarily to experiment. It's nice to let closed loop comp make the necessary changes on the fly while driving from the mountains down to sea level and back. Dad did the same on the GTO and it's worked well on both cars.

[SD455DJ]

We got the machined engine block, heads, and rotating assembly back a couple weeks ago and yesterday Dan & I (more Dan than I) got busy and assembled the YZ short block with the dished (14cc) Icon forged pistons (+.030” over) and Eagle H-beam rods. The rods bearings have .0023” clearance and the mains are at .0026”. The cam bearings went in without a hitch and the original 068 cam spun easily without any tight spots or having to mess with the bearings.

You may have noticed that there are 2-bolt mains where there should be 4-bolt mains. When the engine was getting cleaned and magged, the shop discovered an interesting factory “issue” with the #4 main thrust cap. It appears the factory used a bad casting that had to machined further on one side eliminating the inset the thrust bearing shoulders sit in. The factory “repaired” it by spray welding (or some other process of building up metal) around the saddle so the thrust bearing still would fit and sit correctly. The engine has never been apart until now for this rebuild, so this main cap is from the factory. Why the factory didn’t replace the cap, or a new set of caps, is a mystery. It must have been cheaper to ‘fix’ it this way than to re-line hone the block for new caps (?).

The machinist was surprised to see a different material (metal) that appeared was welded to the cap face and had never seen anything like it before. He did scrap/blast some off with a bit of difficulty, so it adhered pretty well after all the years. After debating whether to reuse the caps, or just replace the ‘weird’ one, we went with neither and substituted a set of 2-bolt main caps we had on hand for the original 4-bolt caps and line-honed the mains for them. We have no fear of using 2-bolt mains as they are more than strong enough for the 3” main blocks. The original 4-bolt mains will stay with the car.

The pistons are an average of .013” in-the-hole after the decks were squared up, so we’ll be using a set of .027” Cometic head gaskets to achieve .040” quench depth. Dan will be cc’ing the heads soon to see where we end up with the static compression.

Dennis