How are carbureted engines tuned?
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How are carbureted engines tuned?
This is a curiosity question but how did people back in the day tune their carbureted engines when they added alot of mods and stuff to them? I know they didnt have the sensors and ECUs like we have today, but I'm sure there was still a bit involved like adding bigger fuel injectors and pumps. On older cars, do you not have to worry as much about AFR, like with newer ones?
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Well, you could use a wideband, but generally shadetree mechanics smelled/watched the exhaust, listened to the engine, and pulled the plugs to see if it was running too rich or lean.
When I was adjusting timing on most my carburated cars they also had a traditional distributor so you adjusted timing by turning the distributor. I always advanced the timing until it started knocking under load climbing hills. If that happened, I would hop out and retard timing a bit. Most people used a timing light though. I had great luck with my method though and as long as I didn't IGNORE the knocking I never hurt anything and generally made quite a bit more power than when timed "correctly".
You can adjust or change the main and secondary carburetor jets, accelerator pump, and power valve, also change carburetors. A lot of cars came with small 2 barrel carburetors, so we would swap in a new 4 barrel intake manifold and put on a bigger 4 barrel carb. That would take care of the intake and fueling side of things and the internals and exhaust were the same as today basically. Turbocharging was a bit different, and a supercharger usually sat on top of the engine and drew down air and fuel from a carb or carbs mounted on top of the blower.
To fine tune a carb's idle, you adjust the idle screw.
I may not be 100% on everything, I haven't rebuilt or tuned a carb since 1998.
When I was adjusting timing on most my carburated cars they also had a traditional distributor so you adjusted timing by turning the distributor. I always advanced the timing until it started knocking under load climbing hills. If that happened, I would hop out and retard timing a bit. Most people used a timing light though. I had great luck with my method though and as long as I didn't IGNORE the knocking I never hurt anything and generally made quite a bit more power than when timed "correctly".
You can adjust or change the main and secondary carburetor jets, accelerator pump, and power valve, also change carburetors. A lot of cars came with small 2 barrel carburetors, so we would swap in a new 4 barrel intake manifold and put on a bigger 4 barrel carb. That would take care of the intake and fueling side of things and the internals and exhaust were the same as today basically. Turbocharging was a bit different, and a supercharger usually sat on top of the engine and drew down air and fuel from a carb or carbs mounted on top of the blower.
To fine tune a carb's idle, you adjust the idle screw.
I may not be 100% on everything, I haven't rebuilt or tuned a carb since 1998.
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along with what he said^^ most carbs have one or 2 mixture screws towards the base that let you control your fuel/air ratio.
What i would pay to swap the beta to a distributor/4bbl carb...
What i would pay to swap the beta to a distributor/4bbl carb...