[soupman]

I have posted in the street section previously on my 428 (actually 433) using icon pistons, pocket ported heads, 230/236 cam, SD ported iron intake, QJet, HEI and RA manifolds opened to 2.5”. This was in a 1987 Formula with TKX and 3.27 gears. The car ran really well, I used Cliffs recipe #2, but I asked questions previously on the forum for ideal timing curve etc. in a lighter car (3200lbs) it really accelerated well.
What I didn’t know if this was optimized, fuel & timing. The majority of people probably would have left it alone since my butt meter said it was pretty good, idled decent no stumble, plugs looked good.

I decided to sent the HEI and Qjet to Shaker455 (Jeff) just to have a look at it. Plus I was concerned when the secondaries where engaged was it too lean etc. Jeff first looked at my hei since I couldn’t get the advance like I wanted. He found that my rotor was out of phase. He has a distributor machine for testing, I like that he had a small hole drilled in the distributor cap to see the spark and alignment of rotor. Mine was off, even though it ran well. He also fixed my advance curve with the correct springs and sent me the new timing settings at various rpm’s. I did verify when put in the car with my dial back timing light and they where dead on. He also checked the end play and I had some metal filings that I never noticed attached to the magnetic reluctor ring.

On to the qjet. Jeff pulled that apart and there was some items I didn’t open correctly size wise. The idle down tubes where peeled over a little (not sure why it still idle well) but he fixed that. I also had air leak around the primary throttle shafts, plus the secondary plates where not opening to 90 degrees, even though I checked them and thought they where good. The secondary side took some work, Jeff was concerned I was going lean so he fattened up that side a little more. Other little details he did, plus after many texts and phone calls and my distributor and qjet was sent back to me.

I was really impressed with the workmanship. Everything installed perfectly, and fired right up. Set initial to 16, with 20 degrees total timing, idle mixture screws where almost exactly where they should be, very little adjustment there. Time for some road testing.

There was a noticeable difference in the car. It idled better, no trace of exhaust smell, acceleration was a little better. The secondary from 4000-5500 was noticeably better. I did have some accelerated videos from before and after and you can hear a slight difference. Mind you the car before ran very well. I would say all those little details Jeff fixed was probably 20-25% better overall. It really runs like fuel injection now. Very pleased with the results.

Thanks again to Jeff aka Shaker455. Great communication and knows his carburetors and distributors!

[GTOYANKEE1970]

Originally Posted by soupman

I have posted in the street section previously on my 428 (actually 433) using icon pistons, pocket ported heads, 230/236 cam, SD ported iron intake, QJet, HEI and RA manifolds opened to 2.5”. This was in a 1987 Formula with TKX and 3.27 gears. The car ran really well, I used Cliffs recipe #2, but I asked questions previously on the forum for ideal timing curve etc. in a lighter car (3200lbs) it really accelerated well.
What I didn’t know if this was optimized, fuel & timing. The majority of people probably would have left it alone since my butt meter said it was pretty good, idled decent no stumble, plugs looked good.

I decided to sent the HEI and Qjet to Shaker455 (Jeff) just to have a look at it. Plus I was concerned when the secondaries where engaged was it too lean etc. Jeff first looked at my hei since I couldn’t get the advance like I wanted. He found that my rotor was out of phase. He has a distributor machine for testing, I like that he had a small hole drilled in the distributor cap to see the spark and alignment of rotor. Mine was off, even though it ran well. He also fixed my advance curve with the correct springs and sent me the new timing settings at various rpm’s. I did verify when put in the car with my dial back timing light and they where dead on. He also checked the end play and I had some metal filings that I never noticed attached to the magnetic reluctor ring.

On to the qjet. Jeff pulled that apart and there was some items I didn’t open correctly size wise. The idle down tubes where peeled over a little (not sure why it still idle well) but he fixed that. I also had air leak around the primary throttle shafts, plus the secondary plates where not opening to 90 degrees, even though I checked them and thought they where good. The secondary side took some work, Jeff was concerned I was going lean so he fattened up that side a little more. Other little details he did, plus after many texts and phone calls and my distributor and qjet was sent back to me.

I was really impressed with the workmanship. Everything installed perfectly, and fired right up. Set initial to 16, with 20 degrees total timing, idle mixture screws where almost exactly where they should be, very little adjustment there. Time for some road testing.

There was a noticeable difference in the car. It idled better, no trace of exhaust smell, acceleration was a little better. The secondary from 4000-5500 was noticeably better. I did have some accelerated videos from before and after and you can hear a slight difference. Mind you the car before ran very well. I would say all those little details Jeff fixed was probably 20-25% better overall. It really runs like fuel injection now. Very pleased with the results.

Thanks again to Jeff aka Shaker455. Great communication and knows his carburetors and distributors!

Jeff has done several jobs for me, from building engines to custom carbs, his work is excellent, well thought out and done right. Wouldn’t hesitate to send him work.


Gtoyankee1970

[shaker455]

Thanks Guys,
Chris, If you decide to come out to your old stomping grounds on the seacoast, we can wideband and dial the tune in better.
Also we can hit street night @ New England Dragway which is only mins away.

[soupman]

Definitely will drive out, nice having the 5 speed. I also installed a bung for the O2 sensor. Curious to see how close we are, but I bet it pretty close a/f ratio.

[redhawk44]

Good to know there is someone out there that has this knowledge and expertise. Thanks for posting this Soupman!

[soupman]

Just a follow up on tuning for performance. Took the car out of storage and decided to drive it to Jeff’s (Shaker455) place. He was about 250 miles one way, but with the TKX and over drive, it cruised very nicely. I averaged 19mpg on the way out cruising at 70 about 2100rpm.
I pulled in the driveway and Jeff immediately brought out his laser temperature sensor to check everything and I was about 180 degrees., which Ed matches my guage. Next up was checking the timing, and it was good that his timing light and mine agreed and timing curve was still where Jeff set it on his distributor machine and stayed there from my reinstall. All good for now on the timing aspect, might play around with a little more vacuum advance in the future.

Now on the fun part, hooking up his O2 wide band. At idle my mixture had a pretty good a/f ratio, so the work Jeff did on the idle circuit worked well. I have full control of the mixture screws. We decided it was good where I had it set with the vacuum gauge, so we left the idle alone.

Next up we put the wide band meter in the car and went for some part throttle cruising, up some hills while adding throttle but without opening the secondaries. We ended up adjust the APT down from initial 3.5 turns to 1 turn out to get best a/f ratio. I could feel the response better, even though initially it was pretty good, but this tuning made it even better. We left it there at 1 turn.

Now on to the secondaries side, I had 44 rods with Jeff’s ra4 mods and under wot it was going lean. We played around with different rods to finally get the a/f ratio where Jeff liked it. A couple times under hard acceleration it went lean and Jeff yelled to me immediately to go off the gas! Had some fun rowing the gears and watching out for the police.
After all this tuning the car ran much better, but the proof was my 250 drive back home. I noticed that it took less throttle to go up hills while on cruise(thank god for cruise control). Car seem to cruise more effortless, plus I ended up getting 20mpg on the way back.

Very happy with the results. I car ran very well before but now is even better. If anyone needs carb work give Jeff a call or pm. Plus if your in his area near New England Dragway, get a tuning session with him. It was great to work with Jeff plus have piece of mind that the a/f ratio is optimized.

[redhawk44]

Sounds like a good day.

[grivera]

This is great to hear - nice work Jeff!!

Do you have a choke on the carb - if so, how does it work?

[73LeMans]

I cant say it enough either......the Shaker455 wagon is the place to be. Kickass results every time, super knowledgeable and friendly. I'm proud to be Pontiac with folks like that representing the brand. Friends wonder why I haven't fuel injected my ride. Why should I? When the carb and HEI work so good, there is no need.

He doesn't know it yet, (shhhh!) but I just got a new XP Dominator and I'm hoping to chassis dyno it with him later this year. Got a few more things to work out, but will be my first call when I'm ready.

[taktikian]

Jeff has done and still is working on my carb and distributor. The distributor he sent me made a remarkable difference. Just as the previous posts, vehicle no longer smelled of fuel and much more responsive. He rebuilt my Q _jet and I thought it was good but not good enough for Jeff. He is now finalizing the tuning. Same experience as others, lots of communication and explanation. If my engine builder cared as much as Jeff I would be in paint by now. Just a great experience

[shaker455]

Thanks Guy's!
Always' happy to work with my Pontiac Family!
Here's Chris's car!

[soupman]

Choke works great, I put an electric on on it. Had a great time tuning, I was surprised how much tuning made a difference in driver ability especially from where I started.

Correct 73lemans this runs like fuel injection, old school still works great.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by soupman

Choke works great, I put an electric on on it. Had a great time tuning, I was surprised how much tuning made a difference in driver ability especially from where I started.

Correct 73lemans this runs like fuel injection, old school still works great.

Good job!
Go to any car show or cruise night etc...I would guess 95 percent of the cars need a tune up. Many are missing out on fuel mileage driveablity and power.