408 W2 Stroker Build

[M_Body_Coupe]

So the fire-up took place...boy, I was in my glory, with a bit of trepidation (which is always there to be honest) b/c with this level of parts I have learned to never expect perfection!

NOTE: I have no idea how those of you who race cars manage to keep your wits about this stuff...I would be going a bit coo-coo!!!

Anyways...initial trip was good.

Fast forward to a couple more trips: the brand spankin' new Carter race pump is freaking leaking fuel!!! YEY!!! boo...boo you Carter...

So tonight I'm pulling it off, stripping to down, hopefully it's just a loose internal screw and back on it goes. We have that big Windsor, ON classic car cruise Satruday and that beast of mine better be ready!!! LOL

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

...Fast forward to a couple more trips: the brand spankin' new Carter race pump is freaking leaking fuel!!! YEY!!! boo...boo you Carter...

So tonight I'm pulling it off, stripping to down, hopefully it's just a loose internal screw and back on it goes. We have that big Windsor, ON classic car cruise Satruday and that beast of mine better be ready!!! LOL

Let's see, how do I explain this w/o feeling like a tool??? LOL

So the leaking pump "thingie"...took the pump out, pulled it apart thinking that maybe the pump halves do not have the sealing surfaces machined flat (or enough so) that when you re-assemble them and all you have is that rubber diaphragm in-between somehow the fuel leaks. OK, yeah, the casting wasn't of the greatest quality, I did remove the various machining high spots, put it all back together and re-tried....DAMN...fuel still leaks!!!

At this time it's about 8pm the night BEFORE the cruise and w/o any test'n'tune time I'm getting a little nervous.

Pump comes out one more time. I think: "OK, back to the basics" and I start looking at all the obvious things that - well - couldn't possibly have been overlooked, right???!!!!

So as I have the pump mounted in the bench vice I yank on the output port fitting (it's a 90 deg. setup so it feeds directly up into the fuel line, and therefore I have it clocked in just the right spot) and WWHHHAAATTTT...that thing is loose?????

Well, as it turns out, when I had initially setup the pump while I did thoroughly tighten the IN fitting, the OUT I probably left semi-tightened as I anticipated having to finalize the clocked position, so yeah, that never happened and while the thing wasn't loose to the touch, there just wasn't enough interference between the threads to really seal it up!!!

HOLY CRAP...man, what a doozy!!!

All good now though...the next challenge: figure out why I'm pulling 5" at WOT (and rising to 6.5" at 6500 RPM). The weird part here is that as I made a little ad-hoc 1/4 mile pass on the back-road the other day my ET was 12.74 with a boat-load of tire spin to start off with (enough so I had to let off the throttle), so it's not like the sever sized secondaries are not kicking in...but 5" at WOT is just wrong!

EDIT
===
Judging by Oldiron440's post, I need to clarify something: the "...pulling 5" at WOT..." is a reference to engine vacuum and not fuel line pressure.

 

[Oldiron440]

Back in the eighties I ran the Carter race pump on my 500hp 440 and it couldn’t keep up, I ended up with a Holley race pump at the tank pushing to the Carter. Later I removed the Carter all together. Now I use a Quick Fuel Pump and return regulator with 1/2” lines going both ways, it is so simple and easily effective. I’m plumbing my little 64 Fairlane the same way it has a 455 hp 292”/289 that will require fuel. One nice thing about the return line setup is vapor lock is something you really don’t need to worry about even with today’s fuel.

 

[Duke5A]

There has to be a restriction somewhere. How big is the filtering element? Secondaries opening?

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Duke5A!

There has to be a restriction somewhere. How big is the filtering element? Secondaries opening?

Yeah, I totally agree, but man I tell ya:
1) 16" air filter, drop base with 1.6" of space above the TQ vent tubes
2) secondaries open for sure, no way my impromptu run could got "12.anything" ET on the measly 1-3/8" primaries alone
3) my AFR is reading crazy rich 11.5 at WOT, so I re-programmed my LM1 & RPM Converter last night, re-calibrated the wide band O2 sensor and will hop out there later today to re-test
=> I will say this, of all things this is the most suspect: the jetting I'm running (0.137, which is the stock secondary jet on the 9800 series carb) just isn't fat enough to give me those results, so it very much feels like the air-door itself is simply NOT opening up far enough....but I've gone through the linkage multiple times, did the test run 'blip the throttle real dip' and it's all working

I actually dusted off my old Hero3 camera and should be ready to do a recording of what's actually going on with the carb as I do a run like this...ha ha, never a freaking boring day!!!