First time at the track.....need help

[maydayneal]

Hey guys....

KCIR had a test & tune session tonight. Took the new Nova up there and made some passes. Did a great burn out....staged up and hit the gas at the green.

Now the gremlins appear.....so thought I would tap the experience and knowledge here for some things to begin checking on to figure this thing out.....

So when the car launched it almost immediately nosed over and sounded like I had a bad miss and would not climb above about 5500 RPM....in first or when I went to second. In park you can rev the engine to 7K with no problem....so the problem is under load.

Thought I might have a fuel pressure problem....we checked the gauge at the carb and it reads about 6.5 pounds...now that is in park with reving the engine up to 6000 rpm....again not under any load.

We checked the timing at 3000 rpm and it was at 28 so I adjusted it up to 34 degrees advanced.

Ran again and really no change.

The car is also having some difficulty starting and idleing....especially in drive.

Running a small block 358 with a PG.....Holley 4150 750 cfm carb..huges 6000 converter. I was foot braking the car at the line.

Let me know if you have other questions.

So what thoughts do you guys have?

BTW...even with the problems....loved it!!

thanks!

[vegaracer]

My guess would be a weak ignition system or the carb bowls are running dry when you leave the line.

[rusty]

does it pick up after you lift the throttle? I would start with checking the plugs/gap then check float levels on carb, I can't help but wonder if the primary float is to high and sloshing out at launch.

[J Murphy]

Do you have these in your carb? Jet Extenders
When you slam the throttle, the fuel sloshes backwards, leaving your jets "dry."

[maydayneal]

Dang guys.....I think I just figured it out. The throttle cable is a little to long and when you put the peddle to the floor the rear butterflies barely open and the squirter is not pumping......the front is wide open but the rear is not. So thinking about that would have me believe that the front half of the engine is getting plenty of fuel and the rear is not ...the engine is trying to come up on the RPMs...but the rear cylinders are crapping out due to fuel starvation.

Am I tracking??

Man...thats embarrasing

[hugger73hatch]

Make sure you have the right plugs in the head. I got my plug numbers mixed up one time and mine was doing the same exact thing. Also, timing can have something to do with that too.

[danniesaa]

Thats not as bad as what i did on my first car, put the fuel cell in backwards, talk about running out of fuel.

dan