53 Flatty tune up

S

Stdblk40

Junior Member
I am tuning my 53 flatty up and replaced plugs (gapped @ 30),wires,cap,rotor,points and condenser. set dwell at 28, timing @ 2 deg.
Now I set the idle speed @ 450. I got all specs from Van Pelts. This thing is barely running. seems a little slow. Got great vacuum. It has a little hesitation off of idle. Carb has fresh rebuild. New acc pump. With the hood closed I cant even hear or feel it run. Should I bump up the timing or idle?
I have acc pump set on the middle hole on throttle cam. Is this right?
 
You can't trust the timing mark on the damper - I found that out on my '50. I ended up setting the timing with the vacuum. Huge difference. Just my 2 cents.
 
I might suggest that you do two things,First, a compression test on all 8cyls. Second, send your distributor out to Chary or Bubba. This tells you everything is happy under the heads and the distributor is working properly. Also don't forget, the type of fuel your running today is quite different than the 75 Octane gas of the 50's. Unfortunately the Load a matic wasn't a very good distributor when new, but they did run very well when in proper working condition. Tuning can be very frustrating and takes time.
 
I set my idle up at 500 RPM. I'm running a 51 Merc. engine with EAB heads and a 3/4 race Isky. cam and electronic ignition. Runs very smooth and accelerate well.
Don in SC
 
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