It’s so bad, I have talked to Van twice in May, including today.

I replaced the intake manifold gaskets, with the thick ones, and put the smaller carburetor on the car, after a good cleaning and a new kit. I also did the same thing to the Holley 1250 Ultimate HP carburetor. I installed a new set of NGK-7 plugs. These are one step hotter than the old plugs.

Had to replace a toggle switch for the alternator. It was undersized and failed after about 10 years of use. I put in a new, higher amperage switch.

New water hoses were installed. Waiting on a new filler neck for the outlet of the intake manifold which will change the angle of exit and make the hose straight to the radiator entrance.

I did put the Lucus 20w-50 Racing Oil in the engine. Filled up with water and charged the batteries.

Double checked as much as I could remember and hit the starter button. The engine started one the first try!

Now the problems begin. It would not idle very well. After all my adjustments, I had a lot of more idle screw adjustment than ever before and it would just idle at 800 to 900 RPM.

Let it warm up to 140 degrees engine temp. and it would not do any better in the idle department and would not Rev. up the way it nominally does.

Like most racers, I blamed it on the carburetor! Off comes the 1150 and on goes the 1250 that I had been running for the past 4 years. It ran exactly the same! Very bad idle, would not Rev. up.

I checked the temp. of the header tubes at the exhaust exit. All tubes were approximately the same, except my old buddy, #8. It was at around 140 degrees F, and the others were in the 250 – 350 degree range, at idle.

I had checked the spark plug wires for correct ohmic value before I put the distributor back in. All of them were around 45 – 50 ohms/ft, like MSD recommends.

I rechecked the Crank Trigger to make sure I had set it up correct (watched a f MSD You Tube video just to make sure).

Removed all the plugs and did a Compression Check on all 8 cylinders. All were within 20% of each other and #8 was next to the lowest. I had run the same test in Oct. 2018 and I guess, due to ring seating, they are all a few PSI higher than before.

I checked #8 plug and put a different plug in it’s place.

Due to the time of day, I did not get to start the car again. So I called Van.

Van suggested I check for vacuum leaks around the carburetor spacer. After reading some information about spacers, I have decided, I do not need one.

Van also suggested I look at my Distributor cap and rotor. So, I just happen to have a new cap and rotor, still in the bubble wrap. I swapped them out.

When I get up tomorrow, I will replace the plugs and start the car too see if that makes any difference. If not, them I will remove the spacer.