[Dakar09]

A wideband setup might help but they aren't cheap by any means (working off O2 sensor and a small chipset). Guess it depends on how bad you want to know. I think you'll be able to tell by how the car performs when you drive it....and REALLY drive it. WOT, aggressive on-off throttle episodes, a good "spirited" blast down the road and then coasting, etc.

On the aforementioned Volvo engine I built, it had a ridiculous turbo, cold air intake, custom fabbed intake mani, and aftermarket fuel injection system (Megasquirt), and those were the situations you really saw what the AFR and overall tune of the engine were doing. It was a race engine, so I could push the tune a bit, but once you got into an "unbalanced" AFR you could instantly feel it, even without looking at the wideband.

With a carb'ed car, it should be much more evident in how the car feels and sounds, and whether you need to re-jet the carb to account for dramatically increased or cooler air flow. Just my 2 cents.

Gratuitous shot of that engine

 

[m in sc]

I used an autometer wideband setup when i tuned my carbbed car, was well worth the cost. Ive used it on fuel injected bikes as well. I wasnt data logging on the car.

was.. 225 or 250? cant remember.

 

[Dakar09]

I agree they are worth the cost, but not everyone agrees 😉. It's new school tech for old school builds...but it DEFINITELY has it's place

 

[m in sc]

i found it most useful for setting up secondaries and transition circuits. steady hwy cruise as well. I can tune by ear but its nice to -know-.

 

[cwazywazy]

A wideband setup might help but they aren't cheap by any means (working off O2 sensor and a small chipset). Guess it depends on how bad you want to know. I think you'll be able to tell by how the car performs when you drive it....and REALLY drive it. WOT, aggressive on-off throttle episodes, a good "spirited" blast down the road and then coasting, etc.

On the aforementioned Volvo engine I built, it had a ridiculous turbo, cold air intake, custom fabbed intake mani, and aftermarket fuel injection system (Megasquirt), and those were the situations you really saw what the AFR and overall tune of the engine were doing. It was a race engine, so I could push the tune a bit, but once you got into an "unbalanced" AFR you could instantly feel it, even without looking at the wideband.

With a carb'ed car, it should be much more evident in how the car feels and sounds, and whether you need to re-jet the carb to account for dramatically increased or cooler air flow. Just my 2 cents.

Gratuitous shot of that engine
View attachment 171898

Neat, is that intake completely custom? My 240gl is running stock manifolds and mostly stock head with a TD05-20g pushing 23psi-ish on megasquirt. It moves okay. I love being able to tune custom boost curves and everything while sitting in the car on my laptop.

14point7 makes good wideband stuff in my experience. The SLC free is an assembly required wideband that comes with sensor for 100 bucks. I run a Spartan 2 in the Volvo without a gauge.

 

[Dakar09]

I saw an old episode of RoadKill this weekend where they used a wideband setup on an old fort truck (think it was an F250 with a 390) to tune the carb with different jet sizes, accelerator pump, and vac diaphragm springs. The level of tuning you can do with those gauges is pretty amazing, and may be worth the cost in the long run.

NOW SORRY FOR THE HIJACK!!!

@cwazywazy I used a 14point7 wideband in that Volvo, too, but with the gauge. Excellent unit, and tied right into the Megasquirt system flawlessly. That intake was completely custom, made by some guy on Turbobricks. I think it was a bit much, honestly. I had a 19T on that car pushing 21 psi. It was based on a B21FT block, so compression was low enough for me to crank it up, but everything else was rebuilt to take the boost. We raced it in Targa Newfoundland, with our MS box dying on the last day (got water in it from a stage we ran in a hurricane). Car is long gone now. Enjoy the Brick!

 

[Touring919]

Thermo couples for temps. Some ohm/volt meters have the ability built in. The sensors themselves are cheap. The readers are where they get you.

 

[Shrive]

Spring outdoor projects have cut back on garage time, but the bad weather this last weekend meant some quality Galaxie time.

I've been driving my prototype setup around for the last 2 months, putting a few 60 mile around town trips and she's running fine. I noticed when I stomp on the gas there's a little delay so I leaned out the carb a bit, but overall I think the basic design is something I'll stick with. Now it's time to make the final version.

First up was to pull out the better air cleaner (no dents), transferred the design, cut the reliefs in the bottom for the carb and the 4" holes for the intake pipes.

A happy side effect was by cutting the relief deeper than before, I could remove a 1/4" carb riser and thus lower the air cleaner. I noticed on the prototype the top of the tubes had rubbed the underside of the hood - it's that tight. This gives just enough clearance with the hood so this shouldn't happen again.

While I was test fitting the new one I had an epiphany that if the tubes were welded directly to the air cleaner, it would remove the need for the inner air duct and reduce from two to one the number of hose couplers I needed. Simpler is better so I mocked this up and I'm trying this. I also created some templates that form a barrier between the engine and the cold air intake. The goal this serves two purposes: barrier for hot air and also support for the intake tubes. This will also eliminate the brackets I had coming off the radiator support to clean things up.

Next, I cut vents in the driver side radiator support to feed cold air from the grill to the driver-side air intake. The other side already has vents for the battery, so like @segeorge982 I cut these to look how they might have come from the factory. I'm exploring cutting a few more vents in the old battery tray to aid in pulling cool air, but this will do for now.

Based on the change in design the biggest hiccup is that I can't weld the current aluminum pipes into the metal air cleaner. So a little digging around turned up some 4" tubes of aluminized steel used for building big rig exhaust stacks, that I can cut down to length and weld directly to the air cleaner at the proper angle will do the trick. So that's the next step....

 

[m in sc]

i would strongly recommend a flexible joint at the air cleaner. maybe stub out an inch w the pipe, , then a silicone hose joint, then the rest thats a LOT of length swinging around off the air filter housing.

 

[segeorge982]

Good call @m in sc . @Shrive looking good!

 

[Shrive]

Thanks @m in sc - I took your advice and cut down two 2" sections of the steel tube. They work nice and I just had to shorten the aluminum tubes to fit. Much appreciated.

This week I'm going to get a friend's help to weld them and also close the other openings on the air cleaner so it's sealed up. Then to the blaster and finally powder coating.

Hey @segeorge982 - I really like those closeouts you made. Before I start with a cardboard template...if you'd ever consider making and selling a set I'd be a buyer. If not no worries but thought I'd check first.

 

[segeorge982]

@Shrive the ones on the firewall or the air cleaner? The aircleaner was just some exhaust tubing and the firewall flanges are these Aluminum Flanges For Ducting | Aircraft Spruce

 

[Shrive]

Hey @segeorge982 - I'm referring to the radiator closeout panels from your March 25th post. Between the grill and radiator support. I like the look of these and recall you fabricated them. Not sure if you'd be up for doing another pair for sale, was just inquiring.

 

[n2omike]

Nice!
Or if you want to take a shortcut, go here. I've used their stuff since the 1990's.

Ram Air Box

Good Luck

 

[Kenny nunez]

 

[Kenny nunez]

My 67 XL with the my semi cold air intake.
!st place at Pensacola Mustang all Ford show. “Special Interest“.
In other words, if it is not a Mustang I call it the Garbage Can Class.
Please excuse the double picture post.

 

[segeorge982]

@Shrive I totally misread, my fault. Ill send you a direct message about the closeout panels, might not be cheap to ship depending on where you are located.