[ta man]

Originally Posted by petes67bird

How do you find a good shop to tune everything and dial everything in? I spent a good chunk already at the other shop that got everything running smoothly to where I can drive anywhere with zero hesitation, only problem is it's feels sluggish.

Where are you located? There are old school tuners everywhere. Sounds like you just need the timing gone over. Its not hard to do it yourself, with help from this forum and the amount of youtube videos out there.
Your car should blow the tires off with 373's..may just be something simple. I would figure out what is wrong now before you start throwing money at it.

[petes67bird]

Originally Posted by ta man

Where are you located? There are old school tuners everywhere. Sounds like you just need the timing gone over. Its not hard to do it yourself, with help from this forum and the amount of youtube videos out there.
Your car should blow the tires off with 373's..may just be something simple. I would figure out what is wrong now before you start throwing money at it.

I am in Northern Illinois near the Illinois /wisconsin border.

[petes67bird]

I took out some spark plugs and stuck a bore scope in to take some photos. Do these look like TRW forged pistons? Also photo of spark plug



https://ibb.co/g3GvZdG
https://ibb.co/M6QQWtC
https://ibb.co/gyqqG3G
https://ibb.co/dkXGZ4P
https://ibb.co/WgWXLG3
https://ibb.co/RzXN6HD
https://ibb.co/WtcTRQt
https://ibb.co/ZHdPHBF
https://ibb.co/wRNDQ67
https://ibb.co/ckcDd5Q
https://ibb.co/6szt4Qw
https://ibb.co/BNn3wWj
https://ibb.co/zR8WNJ2

[petes67bird]

My quadrajet has 29268wf 0779 on it. It's also leaking from here from that gasket I believe or sprayover, it's also all on the top of the intake.

[Sprocket]

Laziness off the line with a 455, 200-4R, 3.73 rear combo means one of three things: (1) carb, (2) ignition timing, or (3) dead torque converter.

[pont3]

My money goes to timing curve, very easy to experiment with less than fifty bucks. Make sure the vacuum and mechanical advance are working properly.

[kyle_blake]

do a stall speed test to see where converter rpm goes up to... as well. not sure if that is documented. unless its been mentioned.

[chuckies76ta]

Originally Posted by petes67bird

How do you find a good shop to tune everything and dial everything in? I spent a good chunk already at the other shop that got everything running smoothly to where I can drive anywhere with zero hesitation, only problem is it's feels sluggish.

Cliff has mentioned your cam needs to be degreed. This is your issue with laziness off the line.
My first engine build 455 with 6X heads and a qjet. It was built without the cam being degreed. It was exactly like you say, lazy off the line.

I had the engine redone because of bearing failure and this time the builder made sure the cam was degreed. Completely different engine off the line. Yes, also your timing has to be setup correctly. I believe my initial was at 16 degrees.

[steve25]

I see a blocked off vacuum port in that photo of your Carb.
Do you even have the vacuum advance hooked up, because it needs to be to maximize part throttle performance no less other details like helping the motor run cooler and aiding gas mileage.

[petes67bird]

Some photos

[petes67bird]

More photos

[67Fbird]

I think everyone has stated the same 3 things you are looking at. That cam needs some advance to work. You definitely need to check your timing. I personally fear that the 9.3:1 CR is/could be the detrimental factor here. With #96 heads having 96 ish cc's would give you the 9:1 ish compression ONLY if the slugs are all the up to the DECK. Typical aftermarket slugs are made at varying compression heights/pin height. which in turn changes things ALOT. My ROSS dish pistons the CH was 1.480....THATS .020 in the HOLE! On a STOCK engine. The ICONs ch are 1.490...original stuff is 1.500. The 041 cam is really going to like some compression to work.
With all that said ...even a lazy 400 with 9:1 and 041 cam with a 2800 convertor and 3.73 gears ...would should and could blow the tires off almost at will during launch.

[i82much]

i dunno, man. even with a cam that isn't installed perfectly, low compression, and a bad timing curve .... a 455 with 3.73 gears and a 2.74 first gear ought to rip your face off in first gear.

[chiphead]

What sparkplug and what octane fuel is being used?

How much vacuum at idle, and what is idle RPM? Base timing? Without knowing that, we're at the point of guessing. The vacuum can under the brake booster points at low vacuum.

It does look like the carb may be leaking a bit. Without checking float height and knowing if castings are warped it's hard to say why it's seeping. Who did the carb?

What happens when you stomp the gas from a dead stop?

[78w72]

Others have mentioned advancing the cam or timing curve & Im sure that needs to be checked... but on an old 455 6X-4 heads ~9-9.5:1 comp I had in the 90's on a very tight budget build with a mild comp magnum 280 cam and cheap 2300ish converter... that cam was installed straight up due to lack of experience using a stock timing curve HEI... that car would smolder the tires off the line even with 2.56 gears & a TH400, I changed to 3.73 gears & you could barely do half throttle launches without the tires going up in smoke. Even a totally stock 455 has more than enough low end torque to smoke the tires at will from a stop.
I also have a 400 9:1 in a 78 TA with smaller comp XE cam that I installed straight up and using stock timing curve, that car also smokes the tires easily with 3.42 gears and runs mid 13's at 103+mph taking it easy on crappy hard street tires.

Many of todays modern cars, even V6 smaller cars feel super quick from a stop or 25-30mph roll, but that can be deceiving compared to a big heavy car with a slower revving big V8. Hope you can figure out the issue with some of the suggestions above, but dont throw a bunch of money at it from a shop that charges 100+/hour labor, if you have basic tools & mechanical ability you can check or do most the things yourself with some help here or other interweb sources.

Maybe consider a shop with a wheel dyno that can do some tuning or changes without getting inside the engine for cam work etc?

[ta man]

I would confirm that the harmonic balancer hasn't slipped. Timing can be way off.

[OG68]

Is this vacuum line going to the distributor?



If so, move the distributor advance to here.



I thought I read somewhere, probably on this forum, that vacuum from an intake runner is unsteady, pulsed.

Those more knowledgeable than I will correct me if I'm wrong.

[petes67bird]

Originally Posted by OG68

Is this vacuum line going to the distributor?



If so, move the distributor advance to here.



I thought I read somewhere, probably on this forum, that vacuum from an intake runner is unsteady, pulsed.

Those more knowledgeable than I will correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes it goes to the distributor. It was initially on the carb but they could not get it running properly.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by OG68

Is this vacuum line going to the distributor?



If so, move the distributor advance to here.



I thought I read somewhere, probably on this forum, that vacuum from an intake runner is unsteady, pulsed.

Those more knowledgeable than I will correct me if I'm wrong.

The 1st pic is manifold vac source that some prefer, the 2nd pic at the carb vac tree would still be a full manifold vac source... if ported vac is desired it would be one of the small front carb ports above the base plate that are plugged off in OP's pics.

[petes67bird]

Originally Posted by chuckies76ta

Cliff has mentioned your cam needs to be degreed. This is your issue with laziness off the line.
My first engine build 455 with 6X heads and a qjet. It was built without the cam being degreed. It was exactly like you say, lazy off the line.

I had the engine redone because of bearing failure and this time the builder made sure the cam was degreed. Completely different engine off the line. Yes, also your timing has to be setup correctly. I believe my initial was at 16 degrees.

Thanks, I am going to a shop today near me to discuss the cost of getting the cam degreed. Would you do anything to the heads, intake or carb? I have the opportunity to swap my quadrajet which is is 750cfm with a fully rebuilt 800cfm with electric choke. He said he can modify it to my iron intake choke system if needed. I do not know about quadrajets at all, so I am not sure. I was thinking maybe degree the cam, get a RPM manifold and a holley that I can adjust myself.