maydayneal

Hey guys....

KCIR had a test & tune session last night. Took the new Nova up there and made some passes. Did a great burn out....staged up and hit the gas at the green.

Thats when the gremlins appeared.....so thought I would tap the experience and knowledge here for some things to begin checking on to figure this thing out.....

So when the car launched it almost immediately nosed over and sounded like I had a bad miss and would not climb above about 5500 RPM....in first or when I went to second. In park you can rev the engine to 7K with no problem....so the problem seems to be under load.

Thought I might have a fuel pressure problem....we checked the gauge at the carb and it reads about 6.5 pounds...now that is in park with reving the engine up to 6000 rpm....again not under any load.

We checked the timing at 3000 rpm and it was at 28 so I adjusted it up to 34 degrees advanced.

Ran again and really no change.

The car is also having some difficulty starting and idleing....especially in drive.

Car specifics:
78 Nova backhalfed on 9" ladder bar. Running a small block 358 with a PG.....Holley 4150 750 cfm carb..huges 6000 converter. Ignition is an MSD 6AL w/Mallory blaster coil. I was foot braking the car last night and not using the trans brake yet.

I plan to check on some things today....here's my thoughts

* Check carb - verify butterflies wide open at full throttle (peddle)
* Pull & check all plugs
* Check valve springs for any valve lash
* Recheck timing

Any other thoughts/suggestions about things you would check? I figure its a process of elimination.

BTW...even with the problems....loved it!!....and working out the bugs is all part of the game.

Thanks!