I buried this in a previous post, sorry but I thought I would bring it out in its own to get better exposure. I have a lack of power on my 66 428. It has stock heads, 1.08 4100 carb, Edelbrock Performer 390 intake. It is a 4speed. THe cam is a Lunati 30505 - 228° intake, 235° exhaust at 050 with a 0.536 lift, 106° lobe sep. Seems awful weak for a 428. The original dizzy that was in it showed no mechanical advance when I mapped it up to 3500. Put a differnt dizzy in it, 13L supposedly recurved, but I got only 10° total by 3500, has stock log manifolds. My planned changes are a set of factory cast iron long headers (car is a 7Litre Galaxie), can change the intake to a Holley Street Dominator, degree the cam and see if I can get the mechanical advance to somewhere around 36° total by 3krpm. I also have an edelbrock 750 carb I can put on it. Do you think these mods will wake up this sleeping big block?
The motor was rebuilt by its previous owner, The pistons used were FED 354P40. I assume that means the engine is 0.040 over bored. I dont know what compression they are.
Wes Adams FORD428CJ
Built Ford Tuff With Good Ford Stuff
79 F-250 X-Cab 4x4 with a 6.9 Turbo Diesel
64 Falcon X-Ram 428
55 FORD Truck 4-link Rides on air with X-Ram 428
2000 Yamaha V-MAX VMOA#4277
2000 Yamaha 700 Mountain Max
2001 Polaris 600 Edge X
2001 Polaris 500 SP
Wes Adams FORD428CJ
Built Ford Tuff With Good Ford Stuff
79 F-250 X-Cab 4x4 with a 6.9 Turbo Diesel
64 Falcon X-Ram 428
55 FORD Truck 4-link Rides on air with X-Ram 428
2000 Yamaha V-MAX VMOA#4277
2000 Yamaha 700 Mountain Max
2001 Polaris 600 Edge X
2001 Polaris 500 SP
Start with one thing at a time. I agree with the others above. You must get the distributor working correctly. Having only 10 degrees advance will make it a dog! Fix that first. You need a total of about 36 mechanical degrees, all in by about 3000 RPM. With a 13L arm in the distributor, you can start with initial timing at 10, and you should have 36 total at higher RPM. If not, it's not working.
Your set-up sounds well balanced, and should be a good performer. But I don't like the Edelbrock carb either. They're not bad carbs, but a Holley will out perform it. Are the throttle blades opening all the way when you floor it? You should check when the engine is off.
I posted the question about 3 pages ago for suggestions for mild mod rebuild on my stock '66 7 litre. Don't know that there's anything there that can help you, but you might find it interesting to see what the guys had to say about rebuilding our old 428's. I am hoping to get started on a rebuild soon. I will be watching this thread. Good luck!
Should run pretty good as is, here are Gonkulator calcs
October 26 2008, 10:42 AM
The Lunati cam is not helping it yet, but if you have a good running 1.08 Autolite [440cfm, too small but will still run good] and 34-38 TOTAL timing with 10-16 intitial [GOTTA have that!] then the WerbyFord Gonkulator computes the following -
For your car, assuming 3.50 open rear, decent radials, 2" stock duals - with the stock 428-4v cam:
2.24 60ft
6.9 0-60mph
9.71 at 71.8 1/8 mile
15.18 at 89.8 1/4 mile
With the Lunati cam, same launch:
2.33
6.9
9.72 at 72.6
15.08 at 91.3
Note the Lunati cam is still about 1 bumper edge behind the stock cam at the 1/8 mile so it isn't helping on the street.
But either way, very low 15's is a fast car and it should feel that way. It might not break the tire[s] loose but this is how it should run.
Before modifying anything I'd see how it actually runs. But as Pippin said, if your rotor won't even turn, the mechanical advance is frozen up so it won't do more than idle to the grocery store and back. Gotta fix the basics first.
AFTER this, then yes better exhaust, the street dom, and a larger carb would help. I've heard the 750 Edel is kinda funny, works good sometimes and doesn't work other times. But it's easy to try that.
I didn`t see a gear ratio listed, but considering you have a 4200 lb + curb weight car, a 2.32 low gear toploader, that cam is too big for decent torque at lower RPM, the log exhaust manifolds and puny carb hurt you almost everywhere. If you have stock rear gearing, I would imagine it would be in the 2.75-3.25 range. All this combined with not enough ignition timing and you way below the potential available. If you just want a smooth cruiser, I`d go quite a bit smaller cam in, if you want stronger performance, I`d leave the cam, and change the intake, carb, install headers, and go with at least 3.70 gears, although with that much weight more gear or a wide ratio conversion of the trans would be a big help. Obviously the distributor issue needs to be resolved too.
428 powered Fairmont drag car, Best ET:10.03@132.11MPH, best 60 ft: 1.29
59 Meteor 2 dr. sedan 332, Ford O Matic
74 F350 ramp truck 390 4speed
I agree totally ,if all the basic's are up to snuff .... then a 2.78 1st gear or better yet a David Kee 2.90 1st gear would really wake it up ...especially at 4000 plus pounds , combined with it least a 3.50 be a real nice package
Thanks alot guys for your input. The car has 3.50 trac lok. The dizzy I put in it was supposedly tuned, but the previous owner didnt say what RPM it would be in by. I used a dial timing light, I'm wondering if the cam is not in correctly. I plan to degree it to make sure, plus the damper may be slipped as well. When I mapped the timing, it idled best at 0°, then mapping it up to 3500 at 500 increments it would only read 10° total. The car wanted to run warm during the summer, i was thinking maybe the cam was not installed right, but I'll find out. I also have a 1.12 4100 carb I can put on it. Its a good time to change the exhaust manifolds, as i've now got an exhaust leak thanks to those cheap coated exhaust gaskets the previous owner put on. I could consider changing the cam down. AGain, thanks much for your input.
A few suggestions that might help. Make sure the piston is at tdc when timing mark is at 0 deg.
Make sure vacuum advance hose is unplugged
set at 36-40 deg at 3000, rev engine to make sure mechanical advance is all in.
Reconnect vacuum advance to ported vacuum. That should take care of timing adjustment.
If problem persists check cam timing:
Remove rocker cover, turn engine be hand, watch #1 cyl. exhaust rocker closing, turn until intake starts opening,continue to 0deg./tdc, valves should be lifted the same amount off seats. Easy check is with a breaker bar rock engine back and forth between +20 and -20 deg., rocker arms should move the same amount, one closing,one opening.
If stock exhaust and OEM headpipe/s:
Check for obstruction caused by inner "ply" caving in and plugging pipe. I found a few of these back in the 60's
