engine pinging

[ALX69RR440]

Instead of buying and storing a 55 gallon drum of racing fuel you might want to try a product called Octane Supreme 130. You can find it at many sites on the internet. It is real tetraethyl lead - the same stuff that used to be in gasoline back in the day our cars were new. The websites will tell you how much to add to a tank of gas to get to a certain octane rating when using 89, 91 or 93 octane fuel. It comes in qt. plastic bottles so it is much easier to store than a large drum of fuel and will stay fresh a very long time.
I personally used a product that used to be on the market called Max Lead 2000 which is very similar to the Octane Supreme 130. It too was tetraethyl lead. I am running about 10.5:1 compression and 36 degrees advance of initial timing. It pinged like crazy when I first bought the car but after a tear-down, some head work and a bigger cam it pinged less but was still there. After experimenting with the amount of Max Lead 2000 needed to make the pinging stop I found that all I needed was 6 ounces per tank of 87 octane! It did not take nearly as much as the website said I would need. Shop around and you may find that your price will be anywhere from 25 to 50 cents per ounce. I used to buy 4-6 bottles at a time but if you buy a 12 bottle case you can do even better price-wise. I had great success with the Max Lead 2000 and from what I have read online the Octane Supreme 130 is supposed to have tested better (gave more octane per ounce) than the Max Lead 2000 did.

This is great! I'll look into it. I have the room for the racing fuel but if I don't have store it that a bonus. Thank you.

 

[ALX69RR440]

You can measure the cam with a dial indicator.

If you have the octane to support, bumping timing up a few degrees to 34-38 may net some decent gains. The curve may need reworked as it may start hard with more initial. I like mine to start with just a bump of the key and little cranking.

Thank you. I'm going to bump up the timing today.

 

[ALX69RR440]

Ok so to recap:
More than likely compression on my car is above 9.5
Solution is to boost octane with race gas or additive
Timing 34 to 38 total is a good range
Sparkplug brand? (I’m assuming they are all adequate with in a particular heat range)
Sparkplug gap with MSD (50 is good)
Finding out cam specs without engine tear down (more trouble than is worth in my case)
If compression is unknown “Do a cranking compression test. Anything under 170 psi. Pump gas ready. Over 170. Better play it safe and run some race gas in it.” or appropriate additive.
Find a good dyno place to help dial in the car

Thank you all!! Great info.

 

[SomeCarGuy]

What heads do you have?

For stock heads, Autolite 85's were great when they were made here. The China crap ones suck.

NGK seems to be the hot ticket now, I don't know the number by heart yet.

You can measure the cam with a dial indicator either on the rockers/valve or on the lifter if you want.

That gap will be fine, maybe even a bit more. Try to index them if you have time.