Engine Upgrades

After being plauged with tons of problems due to a way too radical cam, I removed the racing cam and went with a moderate street cam that keeps my HP in the 300 to 315 range.
Original problems:
1- No vacuum pressure
2- No brakes because of low vacuum
3- Absolutely horrible transmission response due to wrong powerband for torque converter
4- Huge hesitation when you accelerate
5- Severe backfiring problems

The Changes

1- Spark plug boot covers- the boots were burning because they were so close to the headers. Plus the Taylor wire boots are HUMONGOUS! If they had been stock sized they would never have burned.

2- Vintage Edelbrock Torker Scorpion single plane air gap intake. Yes... yes... single plane. 3 reasons. A) It makes power in the higher RPM range and since I have a 2 speed Powerglide that I'm not intending to replace yet... well... that's where I'll live. B) It has a built in oil servicing neck that most new intakes don't come with and I need that because my original valve covers don't have a port... nor do I intend on cutting them up to make one. C) It was FREE... so bite me.

3- 750 CFM Edelbrock carb. I rebuilt it, tuned it with a kit and added an electric choke kit. The carb was 50 bucks plus what I spent for the rebuild and tunning kits and the choke. The carb came with the free intake. 750 CFM is a little large but since the secondaries don't open unless you're in full throttle and then only open on vacuum demand... odds are that my little 300HP engine won't be using all 750 cfm anyways. So it should be alright.

4- A newer larger air cleaner that will do for now. When I use up the first element I'll probably buy a high end cleanable... like K&N or something.

Modified Linkage

Just a quick shot to show the only 2 mods I had to make to the carb linkages having gone from my 2 barrel Rochester to the 4 barrel Edelbrock. Notice it was only a simple change to the Kickdown linkage and a re-routing of the throttle return spring. Now the spring hooks up to a loop hole on the thermostat housing.

A Quick BEFORE Shot

These two were taken so I can remember what it was I started with. Not too bad... just very dirty.

Under Driver's Carpet

SWEET!!!!! Not even a tiny speck of rust! Feeling confident now!

Under Rear Seat

SCORE!!!! No rust there either. This does NOT look like a 43 year old car's floorboards.

Under Passenger Side Carpet

Well... you can't win them all. On the up side, it's only surface corrosion... very very minor pitting, and then only in a couple of little areas.