SVDA results

Firstly, I just wanted to say what a great trip I had to Carlisle. It was really worth the 16 hour drive, to see all the great cars, and meet the SOC group in person. What a great group,, and a bunch of fabulous speedsters and spyders. After the show,, the raffle and dinner put the icing on the cake. Thanks to all who worked hard to organize a great event.

Back on the home front, I installed my SVDA distributor, on my 359's 1600cc dual port, a couple of days ago. Persistent rain prevented me from testing it,, until tonight. This is the Pertronix Flamethrower, with the 40kv coil, and the electronic points replacement. The engine now pulls much more smoothly, and the flat spot that my old 009 dizzy had. is gone. Initially, I timed it at 30deg with the vacuum disconnected, and then it goes to 40deg at 3200rpm, with the vacuum can plugged in. I think the advance curve allows the engine to develop a bit more torque, and then holds it a couple of hundred rpm higher than the 009 did. Stronger and longer,, so to speak. Tomorrow, I should be able to travel farther and fast enough to determine if the overall operating temperature is reduced by any significant amount. So far, I am pretty pleased with the product.

I bought this distributor package from CIP1.CA, during their "economic stimulus sale". I just wanted to do my part to help our sagging economies !!
Alan Maguire
;-)

Ok,, well having had a day to more fully test this distributor out,, I thought I would just post my impressions. While my engine does not exactly purr,,, (not quite the right word for this motor), it is a lot closer with this distributor/coil installed. It still has the old plugs in it,, but it starts immediately and idles smoothly. So that tells me the increased voltage is lighting up the old plugs. It was a cool weekend,, and it took a long time for the engine to warm up to typical operating temperatures. But my impression was that it took much longer than previous. Even cruising the beaches saw the temp's remain below what I normally expect (ie: 200F). So that tells me that it is running cooler, and, that I need to get my oil cooler by-pass installed.

Well,, I was having so much fun with it,, that I forgot to gas up at my normal re-fueling stop !! After slipping into conservation mode,, I found the next available gas station, and noted that it took about $3 less to top up than I would have expected. So, please forgive my lack of specific measurements. But,, I would observe that my largely stock engine is running smoother, cooler,, stronger,, and further, than it did with the 009 !! Bonus is that I no longer have any points to gap, and, it tolerates my old spark plugs.

Ok,, so I am now a believer in SVDA's as a good performance investment. Now,, it is on to my dual carb (Brosol 34's) installation, and see how that changes things. After that,, comes the 1.4 ratio rockers.

Where will it all end !?!?
Alan Maguire