violent_celerity

ive got a 1981 el camino with a 260 horse GM crate 350, a small cam (dont know specs), edelbrock intake, holley 600 carb(tuned pretty rich, out of the box), headers, true duals. Its running through a TH350 with a shift kit and stock stall, stock 10 bolt rear. I ran a 16.2 at 85mph with a leaky edelbrock 650, but it doesnt feel much better with the holley.

Is it my stock stall, my stock rearend, the holley, or what thats making this thing so slow? the DA was about 3000 that night but i figure i should be busting at least low 15's with nearly 300 crank hp.

cambirdracing

iTrader: (4)

Do you know what gear is in it?

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

without running the numbers on the rear, weight, stall, etc.
a crate 350 is notorious for having low compression, near 8.0:1 if not lower, which will be a fundamental problem. you do not have 300 crank hp, and you won't know what you have till you dyno it,
I think the main solution would be to upgrade cylinder heads,
at least with vortecs (will be the cheapest route) having 64cc combustion chambers which will get you over 9.0 on compression. And at that point, the crate cam would probably be ok but if you're going to the trouble and expense of new heads then it would be silly not to upgrade the cam while you're there.
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...ild/index.html
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te..._ii/index.html

AutoRoc

What is the timing and fuel pressure?

Make sure it has 5-7 psi fuel pressure and maybe 32 degrees total timing. Put new plugs in it, make some full throttle runs and pull them out, if they are black, take some jetting out of it.

big hammer

just an assumption--- you're likely running 2:73 gears...? are you still in 2nd at the end of the 1\4? whats your 60' ?

2:73 gears are absolutely brutal... swap in some 3:73's!

violent_celerity

no tach so idk for sure, but probably about 3200 or so across the line in 3rd.

i want a cheap fix, not heads or gears haha.. i think the 260 hp crate has 8.5 to 1 out of the box. the cam thats in it isnt what came in the crate motor, it was swapped out afterwards. i havent checked the timing because i dont have a timing light but i thought that might be one of the issues.. i cut a 2.3 60' with no wheelspin

big hammer

gears are likely a big issue. but also make sure your mechanical advance is working (when the weights get wore out they jam on each other) and also make sure your secondaries are opening

violent_celerity

the secondaries are opening, it just seems like theyre really late.. when they do it really wakes up.. like i said, the carbs outta the box, and im no good at tuning 4 barrels.

big hammer

is the carb new? if so it should have came with more secondary springs--- i believe the yellow one is the lightest. you can even pull the spring right out and try that too

Big D Mcgee

I would even change the springs in the distributor to give you more timing earlier on. Gears will have a big factor in your times.

To bad we dont know what cam your running. May have too much for your compression. Does it have a lope at all?

violent_celerity

no its a small cam, not much lope.. the guy we bought it from had all the work done and didnt remember the cam specs