Just wanted to update everyone on the rebuild.

Started the engine Saturday, broke in the 509 cam, dumped the oil, and now have about 5 hrs and 75 miles on it...mostly hard accel & deaccel under 5k rpms to seat the rings. So far so good.

Cooling was a big concern to head of detonation w/ an estimated 10.5:1 CR & 906 cast heads,, so I found a 1969 2949054 max cool 3 core radiator w/ shroud and 7 blade 18" x 2.5" viscous fan. Running a 185 degree, high flow therm, and she's running nice and cool, even with the Coan 11" 2600 stall converter & 3:91 gears.

With Sunoco 93, I set initial timing to 14, w/ 22 mechanical for 36 total by 3000 rpm (I may want to revisit this). Autolight 85's are gapped at 0.045" using a Mallory Hyfire ignition w/ Promaster coil and sidewinder wires.

Carb is a 4150 (700cfm) with 74 jets prim/84 sec (may also want to revisit this with a chassis dyno)


Decided to pull all 8 spark plugs this morning to inspect. I included a pic of cycl 1 (all 8 are close to the same). I'm pretty much just staying on the carb primaries at speeds of 30-50mph.

Would love some feedback on the spark plug. I'm thinking they look pretty good...maybe on the lean side, but I'm by no means an expert at plug reading.