[Don Quixote]

Here is my 292 build. It's not too pretty but it is functional.

I'm running Tom Langdon's headers, Offenhauser intake with water heat, Edelbrock 500cfm with manual choke, mid-70s stock HEI dizzy. The engine is bored .040" over and an RV cam installed. I gapped the plugs at .045 but I am considering opening them up to .055.

Problems I had were the Edelbrock 650cfm I pulled from the small block I pulled out was simply too big, hence the 500cfm. The Proform dizzy I picked up turned out to be a wobbly, barely functioning POS. The Edelbrock choke cable was also a turd so I found the stock cable with correct handle from SOKY. I also had an issue with it dying on the road but that turned out to be a bad 5psi oil pressure switch I have for the fuel pumps.

Problems I anticipated but did not have were the manifold mounting. I used the small hold-downs where they would fit and double stacked washers where they would not. I pulled the outside studs out and I used Grade 5 bolts for the install as they expand with the heat better than Grade 8.

I started the initial timing at 8* but I have since advanced it by ear. I may be at 10* or 11* and no pinging. I keep the idle set at about 500rpm and there is no movement or vibration.

The tube off the valve cover goes to an old external oil filter that I gutted and filled with steel wool and activated charcoal and rednecked an evap system together as I run dual tanks and the tank in the rear does not vent through the cap. Now, neither does the in-cab tank and the smell in the cab is all but gone.

Current problems are few, mainly it likes to mark its territory out the back, I think it's the rear main but I haven't really ventured into it.

I am on the road a lot and this engine has 10,000 miles since I installed it this past April. I cruise no more than 3,000rpm but typically 2700-2800rpm which puts me at about 62mph. A Gear Vendors would be really nice. My mileage, regardless of what I am doing, loaded, pulling, empty, shut off, it hovers around 10mpg and no change to that with a 15,000 pound trailer. No change pulling my Indian to Arizona from Tennessee either.

Cold starting I found it to be rather warm blooded and even at 20* I have never used full choke. Once warm, it will start with no more than a blip on the key.