V6 at Dyno Day

[kmathis]

Well, my V6 wasn't quite ready for Dyno day but since it only comes by once a year, and for 40 bucks, I was there to give it a first run.
First off it was a blast to be there with some of the Tiger guys, and their cars are as varied as the Alpines that I have seen, and a great bunch of guys. One of them was an Tiger clone, and a good one.
I was second on the list and I ran 143 HP at the rear wheels, which translates to about 171 HP at the flywheel. (not bad concidering the stock HP was 105) As soon as the secondaries opened it leaned way out and the guy operating the Dyno said that there is at least another 10 HP just in Carburetor jetting alone, not to mention the fact that I am running the stock 1974 smog tuned distributor with points, and he thought there was 5-10 HP in that area.
I already have a secondary metering block on the way and I have a distrubutor ordered from PerformanceDistributors. I am going to run a DuraSpark II module box and coil with it.
When I get the ignition all updated and ready to go, I am going to take it back to Superior Automotive and have the Dyno guys dial it all in.
Putting a car on a Dyno was a new experience for me and it was quite amazing what you can learn from it, it was just a lot of fun.

 

[RootesRacer]

Great work.

I have been on that dyno at Superior many times, good guys there.

 

[Bill Blue]

Sounds like a great start! Could you give us some idea of the power/torque curve?

Bill

 

[socorob]

What mods have you done to your engine?

 

[kmathis]

Sounds like a great start! Could you give us some idea of the power/torque curve?

Bill

Here is the graph read out. I am not real good at reading these curves but it will be interesting to see the difference when I get the carb re-jetted and a new distributor.
The added HP will be an added bonus to an already strong running car. I was a little surprised that it wasn't more, because it sure feels like more.

 

[alpine_64]

Thats not to shabby, would sure make an alpine move along (should be a fair bit quicker than a stock tiger, not to mention better braking and handling!)

If you go to an electronic dizzy with a control unit like crane etc and jet the carb right you will likely gain a few HP but probably a lot better torque and throttle response down low and better MPG.

Either way, seeing the direction you need to go with the tunnig is what dynos are all about, now you have a nice datum to measure what changes you make in the future.

 

[kmathis]

Well, I went back to Superior Automotive to have my secondary metering block installed and jetted on the Dyno. Inside of an hour they had it all dialed in with #66 jets in the Secondary block and stock jets in the primary (don't know the size of those) I had 32 degrees of total advance and was pulling 148 HP at the rear wheels. Or about 175-178 HP at the flywheel.
Spins the tires going into second, not just a cherp either; full blown wheel hop going into second.
My new dizzy from PerformanceDistributors is on the way, I should get that on Monday; then I will have Duraspark II ignition with a performance twist.
If I never get one more ounce of performance out of this engine, that will be fine by me; this is one fun ride.
I am trying to down load the latest graph but it won't let me for some reason, if I figure out why I will post it later.

 

[MikeH]

So is the secondary metering block not a standard part of the Holley 390?
What does it do?

 

[V6 JOSE]

Hi Mike,

The stock 390 cfm carb comes with a metering block on the secondaries, but it has fixed size holes and doesn´t have replaceable jets, which is the reason Kelly´s carb was running lean on top. The metering block he ordered has replaceable jets so you can tailor the mix. He ended up with #66 jets, which are larger than the holes in the stock plate.

Jose

So is the secondary metering block not a standard part of the Holley 390?
What does it do?

 

[MikeH]

Thanks Jose. That cleared it up.