One thing I noticed is that I have pinging. I need to get rid of it. Still pings when I ran it on 100 octane.

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Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

Advance your timing to at least 10 degrees BTDC. And take it on a long trip to get the carbon build up burned off the head and valves and out of your muffler. Sounds like it is carboned up pretty bad.....from running at zero degrees initial.
Your pinging should stop, if not, your distributor needs help and or your muffler is plugged.

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

You really think it is because of the timing?

_________________
Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

One other scenario I've seen with severe pinging was an extreme case where, due to lack of valve stem seals (petrified/cracked) and excessive guide wear allowing a fair amount of oil to get sucked into the chamber (which does not help knock at all...)...let's say that 383 was way past it's rebuild by 150,000 miles...

-D.Idiot

When I got my 74 Dart it was well used by one family and many of its siblings through the years.

The oil looked like a bad milkshake, no thermostat, but it idled well with no bottomed knocking so I took a chance and bought it. The trunk was full of water and the rear had sunk in to the ground because the springs gave out.

On the road it knocked like a bad dog when it got up to temp. After timing it to stock settings it got much worse (74 specs have 0 degrees initial at 750 rpm) ......so I got help from Doc on this board and started learning. To get rid of the knock it took resetting to a longer lash .012 .022, lots of Rislone and Seafoam and a 195 stat and many long trips to clean it out. I ended up running it a 16 degrees initial for a number of years until I rebuilt the engine. It did clean up never pinged again and served me well for nearly 180,000 more miles up to the rebuild. I was driving 120+ miles a day to work and back.

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

So the timing is set to 12° BTC. Idle is at 700 in N w/ high beams on. I took it on the interstate and did 30+ mins of driving at 60-70mph. Now mileage is in the toilet at 15.5mpg. I mean a 383 can get that mileage without trying, now what?

_________________
Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

Bump

_________________
Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

100 octane at 60 to 70 on the freeway, with a Holley 1920, with those gears, 15 miles to the gallon? ....... your engine is shot and needs a rebuild.
It must be burning oil and the rings are plugged with carbon and are not sealing resulting in very low compression and power to enable it to ping. If your planning on driving it like that start adding a quart of Rislone each oil change to start cleaning out those ring lands. I had an engine like that once, and after a few years of running Rislone it cleaned up and mileage came back into the 20's.

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

One thing is I inflated the tires from 25 psi to 32 psi. It was correct before I left. I will report back what happens. I filled up with 89 octane and it was at 10 mpg. I was doing 90 miles on a half tank. Timing is back to TDC engine runs much smoother and seems to be much happier.

_________________
Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.