spark lead for the 195.6 OHV...

so i'm re-visiting spark timing for the 195.6 OHV i have in my roadster... its the motor i built for my '63 American; mild cam (from Galvin's), balanced, ported, exhaust equalized, Weber 32/36, and importantly here, a Ford EDIS-6 wasted spark ignition with a MegaJolt Lite Jr computer.

OMFG this motor wants a lot more spark than any distributor will give -- even my modified distro maxed out at 33 BTDC -- i am now happily running 34 degrees at highway speed and load -- 2500 rpm/65mph, 40-50 Kpa manifold.

the 63 American was stock, but the roadster is very very light, i'm hoping 2200 lbs, but will find a local scale to measure. at lower loads its running 36 - 38 degrees -- no pinging or ill behavior.

i'm driving to tucson (from los angeles) this weekend, i'll tune and measure mileage etc and report back.

am i the only one pursuing performance in this engine today? LOL

Tom,

just got back tonight. damn it ran well!!  had a nice surprise when i got home...

i'm running a Stewart-Warner electric speedo with a pickup on the driveshaft. calibrated it fine.

the drive from LA to tucson, 60 - 65 mph according to the speedo, i got 26.9 mpg. the car is LIGHT. in the 63 american, this same engine in got 24, 25 mpg best case. from tucson to LA, driving 70 - 75 mph, i got only 24.4 mpg. not bad!

i moved the tachometer into the roadster, from the '63, as well as the complete driveline, 3.78 axle, t96+OD, engine, etc. i have a spreadsheet that i've had for years, which calcs rpm vs. mph and it's very definitely tested to be within 1% of physical reality.

on the way home (Tucson to LA) i held it to 2800 - 2900 rpm as much as possible. got home in 7.5 hours elapsed, including three stops. in fact, 2900 rpm is 82mph! the little sucker was flying!

it was windy and the car is light. passing 18-wheelers, the drafting effect was substantial, i mean, pulling up alongside 20 feet from the nose pulled the car faster A LOT, engine revs increased. there was one instance, one VOlvo tractor, where i almost could not pull past the pressure front at the nose of the tractor -- engine at 2900 - 3000 rpm, throttle floored and for the first time in years, the engine pinging loudly. with cars behind me on an upgrade i had to press ahead. it pinged hard for close to a minute, once i broke the air barrier it shot ahead. that was the one worst-case situation.

so i found this engine's limit (and timing limit) but man, i'm skipping the idea for a 199/232 upgrade. unless i blow it up.

i drive with the spark map i left with, didn't want to mess with it, thoguht i'd get some real driving on it. it's fairly 'advanced' now; at highway speeds it's in the 30's (degrees). i'll do the tuning on the shorter runs to work, 35 miles.

All it does is take the pulse signal from your dizzy and holds it to the next timed spark . the same as new electronics do .  the thing I like is I can set the advance curve to match any engine cam fuel combination and set it where it works best  and has a wider range than any mechanical and/ or Vac advance .