It’s Just A Pickup

[Bruce88]

Happy New Year to all

A change to this build thread. In this build thread in the past I was showing you what I did to put all the parts together in the build and my approach to overcome some of the problems that I’ve run into. All the parts are together and now its time to get them to work together, what I would call tuning to what I have.

I’ve learned a few things over the years regarding tuning what I have sitting in front of me with a fare amount of success. As there are very few if any that have the same parts put together as I do, any specific information that I may give regarding what I have sitting in front of me may not be of value to others trying to tune there engine or setup.

With that being said, why would you want to follow this thread and what benefit is there in it. I’m going to try to show you an approach that I would take to tuning the engine and setup sitting in front of you. There has to be some limitations and there might be some crossover information that would be of benefit to other setups but you’re going to have to figure that out yourself.

Limitations
A normally aspired engine V8 or 6 carbureted (not computer controlled, supercharged or turbocharged) this is a engine that’s not expected to exceed 5000 – 6000 RPM
Street performance (not all out racing or to meet emission standards)

End goal
Good performance and reasonable fuel economy thru normal street RPM of 600 – 5000
I look at every engine as it has potential and I’m working to get 90 – 95% of its potential out of it. As there is always a give and take between performance and fuel economy and drive ability I try to shoot for a middle ground and striving for 100% potential is not practical or you would be in perpetual tuning 3 or more times every day.

Emission standards and this tuning approach don’t work together to reach the potential of the engine that you have. Every state has there own approach to emissions for 1972 & older cars and trucks and it is to your benefit to do the research and find out what’s expected of you by the state that your in before wasting your time and effort and then finding out that you don’t pass the requirements to drive on the streets in your state.

Where to start
First you need to find out everything that you can about the engine sitting in front of you. I know that is easy to say, but some times it’s almost impossible to gather all the information. Any information that you can gather together will make the tuning easer and will end in better results at making every thing that you have work together. This is not the time to think about changing parts, rebuilding, upgrading, or going to a more performance oriented item (where working with what you have). This is not to say that you won’t be rebuilding or making a decision to change parts to achieve the end goal just not at this time and hopefully we will find out as early as possible if that might be necessary. Most of tuning is checking that all the parts are doing what they should be doing and optimizing them to work together.

If you’re working with a crate motor or engine built by a reputable supplier you should have the build sheet and a lot of the information is on that sheet. If the engine came with the car/truck or you bought it from someone, don’t trust what was told to you or a sticker on the valve cover or on the air cleaner (things might not be what they seem to be). You need to start checking block and head part numbers and figure out what you have, plus any parts that you can identify that have been changed such as carburetor, manifold, or distributor. You’re not disassembling the engine or parts you’re just gathering what information from what you can see with everything together.

Thanks to the internet and search engines in aiding in gathering information. Sometimes it’s as simple as imputing a part/model number and manufacturer and you can get the information that you want, other times you might have to go to a web site that has the information in it. (Example) Chevy Mania http://www.chevymania.com tipped off to by bruceman1968 (a forum member) aiding in deciphering stock block, head, manifold and carburetors.

There’s too much information and variables to list. I think that most of the engines out there in your trucks have been modified from stock in some way. When your tuning you don’t want to be looking around for the information and having it in one place makes it easer, plus the next time you stop down to the parts store needing a part and they start asking you a bunch of question as to year/model size or part number for there crossover chart you have it. I’ve included three pages of a blank form (Engine Specifications and tune up guide) that you can copy and print and then fill them out. There might be other items that you think should be added, it’s your sheet add them this is just a generic form. If you want to see what kind of information you’re looking to include on the form I think the crate motor guide by GM is a good example of the type of information. Hear is a link to one in a PDF format (Adobe Acrobat). http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/_r...ngine_Base.pdf Any information regarding when a part was used and its intended operating range in RPM, PSI or vacuum is definitely a nice thing to have on the form.







The next post is going to be dealing with some basic tools that you will be needing and possibly some not so basic tools that you might consider.

Enjoy Your Build