The water temp guage read dead center, but I am not 100% sure of its accuracy. When out driving, it usually stayed left of center. Center looks to be about 170 degrees.


No return line on the carb. I'm starting to think I might need to install one.

Today I went for a drive. The timing was set to a "safe" 30 degrees total timing. It pinged on the first full throttle run, so I backed it off a few degrees. It still knocked, so I backed it off a 3rd time. Now it idled so low it stalled. I had to raise the idle by the set screw. It ran weird, really lazy from idle to 2500. At home I checked the total timing at 2900...20 degrees! The headers were glowing red too. Do you think the detonation could be caused by an excessively LEAN mixture? I just changed jets and the PV from 85/92 to 86/93 and from a 3.5 PV to a 6.5.
What the heck happened? Wouldn't a higher PV give a richer condition at part throttle?

I bought an AEM wideband guage kit last winter. I also had bungs welded into each collector. Maybe Sunday I'll install the guage and wire it. I had figured that there would be some tuning needed to optimize all of this.