Here's the scoop, pulled the 305, took out all emission stuff, and cut out all wires that didn't go to something important-previous owner had already taken care of some of the gutting. Bought a convertor off e-bay that "supposedly" stalled to 2800rpm inhis caprice. This is a Coan convertor for a 700r4 lock-up convertor in a 86 bird. New motor has bigger cam that requires some stall speed and I'm not getting it. We set the idle at 1200 rpm in park then when you put it in gear she drops to 500-600 and really pulls the motor down. I'm thinking the convertor is locked up from the time you put it in gear but don't know how to trouble shoot it since the computer is basically just dead weight in the car now. I'm posting this here cause I don't know if it's electrical hence something I can rewire and I'll also post in tranny section for flaming purposes on this board.
P.S. Man you can really hear that baby loping at 500rpm.

 

500-600 RPM is the stock idle for an auto car in gear (TPI) If you have a TPI setup and want the idle higher, you'll have to go through the minimum air and TPS adjustments.


~M~

 

I have a 305 with a 700R4 and a 1800 rpm stall converter, it also idles in park at around 900 and drops to about 600 in gear, the torque converter is not like a clutch that totally disengages from the motor, it will always put some load on the motor when the tranny is in gear.

P.S. I would lower you park idle to about 800 - 900 or you may have some dieseling problems when the motor is good and hot.

 

The cooling system I finally completed never lets the motor go above 180. In fact I'd say 90% of the time it holds steady on 160. As far as the convertor go that claim is bogus as far as race set-up is concered which is what this cars motives are geared towards. All the guys in our group we race with (granted they hav $400-1200 convertors) idle at about 1200-1500 then when they put it in gear it's like nothing really took place, still idles at 1200-1500,then when they putt away the revs climb up to 2200-4500 depending on the car. I took a chance and chinced on the convertor, now I realize I got screwed so the TH350 will get built and custom convertor will be ordered, I should have done this initially, but I seen $200 for 2800 stall and thought cool I'll save money here for now and buy motor goodies instead.