[Sharps40]

This morings email report to Mr. Langdon at Stovebolt Engine Company....


----Break--------

Mr. Langdon,

A fine 38 miler to work this morning. The choke is adjusted well, easy cold starts on the current timing/carb idle & mixture settings with an initial 1400 RPM fast idle. Kick the pedal and it drops to 800 RPM and stays there until warm and the choke cam clears the fast idle screw...perfect. Hot starts are fine too.

Today's trip was 38 miles, about 50% city, 50% highway. Maximum average speed of 60 mph.

Bottom Line Up Front: I think we are at or have exceeded the 90% solution with this power pack.

While last night's first run on the new 155 secondary main jet was very much and attempt to force failure in the secondary system (and it passed with flying colors) today's ride to work was well aligned with my typical driving style....right lane, not more than 5 mph over limit and consisting of city and country highway operations.

1st gear: Feel is slightly improved...this could be imagination or it could be as we discussed, the secondary is not fully closed and I'm getting a bit of fuel from the larger barrel at all times and it's become noticeable with the 155 secondary main jet. In any event, the first gear acceleration and power is more closely aligned with what I remember of the Rochester B with HEI. Overall it is still somewhat slower to accelerate in first from a dead stop but I believe there is more power available and noticed it pulling uphill from stop.

2nd gear: Very much improved. Probably slightly better overall performance than the Rochester B with HEI. 1st gear will easily wind past 3000 RPM now and the power and rate of build in that power in 2nd gear is noticeably improved. In addition, several rolling stops in second verified the improvements with speedier 2nd gear acceleration from as low as 15 mph. 2nd gear also winds easily winds past 3000 rpm.

3rd gear: Further improvement from my state of relative satisfaction with a 140 jet in the secondary. With the 155 secondary main jet, any speed/RPM to WOT is smooth with faster power build. I note no spark knock/pinging below a hard pull up hill from 65 mph. (On the 140 secondary main jet I had an almost imperceptible spark knock/ping on a similar hard 3rd gear hill pull beginning at 50ish mph.)

- Transition in and out of the secondary very smooth and quick when the accelerator pedal is operated in any manner other than harshly. A hard mash of the pedal at 55 or so MPH elicits an almost imperceptible hesitation and then nothing but smooth power quickly building speed to 70 mph. I think the best analogy is aggressive opening of the secondary from 55 mph feels like the application of a passing gear on an auto trans....i.e. a tiny wait to get into the passing gear and then very adequate acceleration and power to pass.

- I am quite satisfied at this point in the testing that John Lee is fully capable of operating for long periods on the interstates at speeds appropriate for right lane travel and with more than sufficient capability in reserve for passing and maneuvering.

- Less accelerator input is required to maintain steady state over rolling hills. Less push on the pedal equals easier to hold steady at the desired speed. In fact, on several occasions I noted John Lee creeping to and past 65 MPH. The engine is not as loud/feels less labored with the larger secondary main jet.

Three items I'm thinking on...

1. A few tanks of fuel at the current carb and ignition settings are indicated....both to vet mileage, verify plug condition and listen for spark knock/pinging on my preferred 87 Octane fuel.

2. Given I am slightly outside the recommended setting of 2.5 turns rich maximum on the 140 primary main jet, I am considering bumping up to a 145 or so primary main jet and then retuning the mixture and idle speed screws (i.e. to bring the settings within Weber recommended tolerances of 1.5 to 2.5 mixture and 1.5 to 2 turns idle speed) However, I won't attempt this until I acquire a spare gasket and a couple extra of them lil tiny choke e-clips!

3. I wonder how this power pack would perform with the following additional modifications:

- Milling the intake manifold flat, opening the manifold throat as close to the size of the carb throat as possible and turning the carb 90 degrees (bowl to drivers side fender) on an appropriate aluminum spacer (tapered inside to port match the carb throat to the new opening in the manifold).

- Cast iron headers with 2 into 1 exhaust

I'll be working with limited communications for a bit, but monitoring my email at all times.

V.R.

Rich