Nice little tune-up

[gbullman]

My Corvair has been running very well since I got it in December but as I'm putting more miles on it was just seeming like it be a good idea to see where things are at. I suspected my carbs were a little out of sync because of the way it idled and I haven't checked timing or dwell since I got it.

This morning I checked all of those items. Carbs were in sync but left carb idle speed screw was not doing anything, dwell was pretty far off (26 instead of 31 to 34) and timing was about 14 degrees instead of the 18 it should have been.

So I set the dwell and ended up at a strong 34 on my meter, timing was a bit more of a challenge as I couldn't rotate the distributor any further to advance it. I'm planning to put a FAST XR700 in sometime later this year and intend to pull the distributor then, so for now I just moved all the plug wires 1 hole so I could get more advance. At 600 RPM the timing is now 18 BTDC with vacuum disconnected and plugged.

Hooked the vacuum advance back up and rechecked the carb sync as well as have the left idle speed screw at least touch the cam. Carbs in sync, idle is between 600 and 700 RPM.

Car seems to start a little easier but mostly I noticed I had more torque coming off idle, making it easier to start out in 1st gear. Drove it under all sorts of the loads that I've been driving it and did not hear any detonation so hopefully my changes didn't get me into that territory.

It is supposed to rain here much of the weekend but I hope I get out some on Sunday and Monday to see how it performs overall.

[JohnDB]

Sounds like a successful project. I need to do all the same on my car, but I need to get my idle speed down first so I can get accurate dwell and timing readings. Was hoping to mess around with it today, but the rain is pretty heavy. Forecast says it might clear up a bit tomorrow, have to wait and see.

[gbullman]

Sounds like a successful project. I need to do all the same on my car, but I need to get my idle speed down first so I can get accurate dwell and timing readings. Was hoping to mess around with it today, but the rain is pretty heavy. Forecast says it might clear up a bit tomorrow, have to wait and see.

I managed to get out for a short ride yesterday afternoon and I'm pretty confident my changes improved things without introducing issues (was mostly concerned that I'd start getting some pinging with advancing the timing). Under the same sort of loads I've been driving it with I heard no detonation so overall I feel this was a success.

I really do believe it is coming off idle better than it was. It has always come off idle smoothly but sometimes it would almost stall (if fact did a couple of times) from the load of getting the car moving. Both right after making the changes and my afternoon ride I felt it was easier to get the car moving. It should have slightly better spark from the dwell change and possibly a little more pep from the timing change so who knows.

Total washout weather wise today, may get a chance to get out a little tomorrow afternoon and possibly on Monday.

I'm definitely getting more comfortable with this car, very happy with what I have.