I'm just looking for a basic sanity check here, I have been dealing with tuning issues that have been anything but and want a clear perspective.

First off, probably should elaborate a bit on my combo. I have an L03 with ported 416es on it (done myself, no flow #s) felpro Blues, a ported TPI base/plenum with stock runners and a set of Cobra 39s. Exhaust is shorty headers into 2.25 that merges into a single 3" exhaust.I'm running Megasquirt II for my ECU doing fuel and spark. Cam is a 91 Y-body/"good" F-body cam.

I've had issues with everything from using a Cold start injector TPI TB on a non cold start injector plenum to burnt plug wires to bad injectors. FP is ~43 PSI and pulls down to ~34 PSI at idle, which comes to 17-19" HG idle vacuum which my ECU confirms. All the plugs are even, and white now. As in the porcelian is brand new looking after 30-40 mins run and a few pulls around the block. I do not have a WB hooked up currently but the plugs tell a ton without even going that far.

Ultimately my question boils down to this:
At below 1500RPM and at the 30-35KPA cells I'm in the low-mid 60s for my VE. Does this even sound sane? It's about 15-20% more than the cells around it, I'm wondering if all the other issues I had are forcing me to add fuel because I wasn't burning it well before. Power drops off like a rock after I leave these cells (it won't go above 1700 or so) and it's really making me wonder if I have other issues still or if I just need to dump fuel into it till she's good.

Pic of the plug. The porcelian looks like that all the way back. I was initially leery it may be that I was running Autolites, but at the same time I guess not. I stuck NGKs in there and I like them better if only because they are about 1/8 shorter which is awesome since my headers are tight around my plugs in a couple spots.

 

Exhaust leak? Headers not sealing to head or collector to ext pipe connection?

allows fresh air in and drive BLM upward.

 

Not running an O2 right now, just going off plug cuts. I was way way rich before, I didn't want to kill a perfectly good O2 sensor with dumb mistakes. Thinking it's seriously time for it to go back on.

 

So, I found 10 degrees of timing I was missing due to a misconfiguration of my Megasquirt II. After pulling a ton of fuel from the middle of the map at WOT, things are running quite a bit better. As a dumb question, what are you folks typically doing for all in timing on a 305 at about 8.9:1 compression (L03 short block, 416 heads with a .034 gasket) with a stock 91 TPI "non peanut" cam? I'm still getting some dry fouling on the plugs at this point, so I'm wondering if adding a few more degrees would help clean things up some. It has a bit of a stumble like it could use the extra timing, adding or removing fuel doesn't seem to help it.

 

I ran a stock LO3 timing table for quite some time. Worked fine just not as snappy as the blended LT1 iron and LT4 alum. If you have a stumble prob is fuel or mechanical/electrical. If you increase timing do plug checks and watch KC under load. some KC are not real ones.

 

Ok, I started pulling a lot of fuel out in addition to the timing I have added. What is really messing with me is it has a verified 31degrees of advance at idle. Just makes little sense to me. Far as i can figure out i have too much fuel. I am thinking try to pull some timing and then pull fuel as well. Thoughts? Could the Cobra 39s be doing this?

 

Seems like more than a stock vehicle would command. Make sure your initial SA is same in your .bin and at engine with plug disconnected.

I run 22dSA at idle. Works for me. I once had like 18 but idle is better at 22.