Here's the setup as it is currently:
Stock L03 bottom end
Stock Cam
Stock Torque Convertor (3.73 in rear)
Ported Al L98 heads
Torker II intake
Holley 650 double pumper

The damn thing leans out something fierce when you stand on it. If you stand on it fast enough it'll quit. It doesn't do it in neutral, only under load. I've got the most enormous pump cam in it (factory shooters), it took that much just to rev in neutral. I've got an Accel HEI vacuum advance dissy, but I'm not sure of what the timing is set at right now.

The damn thing hasn't ran right in quite a while now. It ran okay with a 670cfm Holley TBI and a chip from Ed Wright, but it wasn't perfect. The carb went on in an attempt to get it closer to right. Needless to say, I went backwards.

I think the problem is from a mismatched combo, single plane intake and dp carb with small cam and tight convertor. Does this sound like a good guess? Could this cause the symptoms I'm experiencing?

I'm debating between one of the two following choices:
COMBO #1
Holley Street Avenger 570cfm 4-bbl
Edelbrock Performer dual plane intake.

COMBO #2
TCI Street Fighter torque convertor
Crane 2032HR camshaft

Any recommendations are more than welcome. I'm desperate for help.

 

You are guessing right IMO.The first problem I see is a puny lo3 cam with a huge single plane,one is running out of steam the other is just starting.Completely different powerbands.Been there done that on my old Monte Carlo.Bad mismatch...start there.That may cause the lean condition (large plenum)and will cause it to be a dog with that intake.The Torker II is old technology.That is also why you need to run a huge pump cam to mask that intake.No signal to the boosters..low velocity.First thing I would do is get a dual plane intake..650DP carb is more than adquate for it..don't go smaller there.Get a Weiand Action plus or Performer if staying 305.Do you plan to go 350 in the future?..if so go with a Weiand Stealth.I prefer that over a Performer as do others.The other problem I see is the lo3 is a low compression motor not helping the situation.You need to get a cam to help mask the low compression..try the Comp XE 262 but in the roller version.Nice for a 305.Then look into a looser convertor and you should be happier and more impressed with the performance of the car.Start with an intake swap.The lean condition can easily be a fuel delivery problem..what pump ya runnin?

 

The LO3 itself isn't a low compression engine, but unless those heads have been shaved, it's been turned into one.

"But," you say, "the Al L98 heads have 58cc chambers, just like the LO3 and every other 305 engine." Exactly - the Al L98 heads are 58cc in order to maintain the same effective compression as iron 64cc L98 heads on a 350.

Okay, the intake/cam mismatch is the bulk of the problem, but the ported heads are contributing to the low intake charge velocity problem as well. More cam, more stall, dual-plane intake. The Crane cam will help maintain low RPM vacuum with the larger LSA.

 

Yeah..it's a mismatch..but it can be tuned around.

You have no idea what your timing is set at...and you know it's lean but you've made no attempt to even change shooters to get it tuned and now you're talking about changing parts to make it work? You gotta put at least a little effort into it before you can expect it to run halfway decent.

 

I'm with Jester. It may not set the world on fire but you should be able to neutral-rev the damned thing!

Did you replace the distributor with a non-computer controlled one? If not, that's a big part of your problem right there- you'll get zippo timing advance once the ECM sees the FI setup isn't there and freaks out over it.

I also suspect that there is a problem with the carb. COuld be many things, accelerator pump being just one of them. You sure of the carb's condition? Have you tried different accelerator pump discharge nozze sizes? Are you sure the secondary acc pump is working correctly? Are the floats set right?

 

you need to increase the shooter size, thats all there is to it assuming your timing is close



on a related note, why is there a seemingly natural human tendency to go hysterical when posed with simple problems. Its like people want to be faced with the most outrageous scenerio possible "Well it HAS to be the coriolis effect that is at the root of my car not running right!"

 

This motor really needs a dual plane intake.... But....with some work and a few bucks you can make this work suprisngly well.

Hear is a something you can do to greatly improve the low rpm response
of your single plane Torker II. Make a PLENUM DIVIDER.
It should fully divide the plenum . You could make an effective one out of a 1/2" 4 hole carb spacer (Not an open spacer) with a piece of sheet alumium or something simular attached (glued , epoxied) to it then sealed, epoxyed to the manifold plenum floor and sides. The divider must be completly sealed to the manifold plenum and spacer to work. Splitting and Isulated the two sides.
Seal-All or JB weld will do (epoxy better). Degrease the surfaces first with PRO-brake cleaner. This will greatly improve low speed air velocity in the manifold and make it much more responsive in the low- mid range. Combine this with some larger accelerator pump shooters and a healthy ignition advance curve will help a lot.
Set the timing with a advance timing light to 36deg at high rpm
4000+ (vacuum advance disconnected) this should result in about 14 deg initial at idle. ( don't try to guess here) Then Plug the vacuum adv into ported vacuum. This will never be as good as a dualplane intake but will be a much better *street* single plane. The stock mini cam has to go, but don't get a big one either. Something like 204@.050 .420 lift will do nicely.
Check that the 650dp carb has the stock jetting in it. If not reinstall the stock jetting for that model carb. (good starting place)
It may/will need quite a bit larger accel shooters here. Don't be shy. Remove the manifold and block one side of the exhaust heat
path while leaving the other side partially open to ex flow.
(Manifold gasket)
Other wise the manifold will get too hot after warmup and hard to tune. Set the idle screws after the motor is fully warmed up
and buy/a a manual choke cable and hook it up so it works.
Any thing you can do to raise the stall speed of the converter will be a step in the right direction. A 9" lockup converter would be the best. 3000 stall+ (700r4) Ya almost can't have too much stall in this case. the more the better Get new spark plugs!!!
And new ignition wires if nessessary!!!!. Many carb problems are actually ignition problems. Are you useing the Stock TBI in tank fuel pump? if so replace it with a inline carb type fuel pump or get a fuel pressure regulator. You want 6-8 psi at idle.
I hope you have headers on this motor!!! If not , get some.
Check to see if the head gasket used was a thick composite one
when you bolted on the Alumium heads. (.040" thick)
If so, your already low (Lo3) compression ratio will be in the toilet
(less than stock) consider shaveing the heads and running a thin.015" head gasket to get the cr up to a true +9.5:1.

Try it...

 

I went ahead and ordered Holley's Accelerator pump tuning kit so I'll have the shooter assortment. I'll try that first.

onebad82z
I'm running the stock pump with Mallory's return style pressure regulator. I've already got a Crane 2032HR that I haven't installed yet.

five7kid
Yeah, I know it would probably be better to have shaved the heads. I'm hoping to use them on top of a larger short block some time down the road, so I didn't want anything less than 58cc.

Jester
I'm gonna double check the timing when I get home from work this afternoon. I was gonna do it last night, but it was my birthday and my friends kidnapped me, took me to the bar, and force fed me drinks all night...bastards.

Damon
Yeah, it has an Accel vacuum advance HEI distributor. It's a fairly new remanufactured Holley. As far as I know it has no mechanical problems.

Pablo
I hope your right.

F-BIRD'88
I'm gonna try tuning some more. If that doesn't work I think I'm just gonna buy a dual plane intake. I'm not really strapped for cash, at the moment, and the thought of making a plenum divider for the Torker II isn't exactly a pleasant one.

I'll let you all know how everything goes.