69 Vette at Speedworks on Saturday

[Sixpipes]

Mark and I were waiting on a Vette before we could get on the dyno Saturday. Very nice black 69 convertible with a 454ci big block and three dueces. Had a real nice loping idle. It only cranked out 290+ rwhp and about 350 ft/lbs of torque. I was really surprised/disappointed. My stock Gen I puts out 218/310. I think the car wasn't tuned real well, but still, a 454 with three two-barrel carburetors. Does that make any sense to you guys? :confused:

[whitelightning'02]

"Does that make any sense to you guys? http://www.talonclub.com/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif "


Yep... In Old School days don't ya remember the 389 Pontiac with tri-power? had 3 duces on it and progressive linkage. Linkage was a b*tch to adjust and keep adjusted if ya wanted it right :rll: :rll: .

Lee
:beer:

[Logan]

Yep, having personally messed with a tri-power, they're an absolute bear to tune... That 454 is a easy piece to get 400rwhp out of without much thought. Definately a tuning issue there... Personally, I'd sell the tri-power and stick a dominator on top and be done with it...

[Wht95Lightning]

I had a 65 Goat with a 389 tri-power in high school and didn't learn my lesson and picked up a 69 Dart with a 340 6pack, what a pain in the arse that was. Still, I had nothing better to do at the time, and it had a BIG coolness factor. :d

[Ivanhoe_Farms]

Yep, having personally messed with a tri-power, they're an absolute bear to tune... That 454 is a easy piece to get 400rwhp out of without much thought. Definately a tuning issue there... Personally, I'd sell the tri-power and stick a dominator on top and be done with it...
Being really old school, I agree with Logan, the three twos setup is about as bad as it gets, and the changes of running really rich are very high. Additionally, the car may have had an old points setup which can really cause a loss of horsepower.

Probably not many people left that can really tune that kind of a setup:twitch:

[WA 2 FST]

Actually that is probably about right for the original 427/435hp (tri-power) that the car had in it. I know its a 454 now, but assuming it had the stock big-block hood, then it had a very low-profile intake and if he had manifolds on it and no headers... those things are choked pretty good (not even considering the aforementioned tuning issues with the 3x2 setup).

A single Dominator on top of the "pancake" intake isn't going to help, either. I have an old low-rise LS6 intake off a '71 BBC and its a joke. The intake runners actually have to go back _up_ to meet the intake ports on the heads. I was shocked when I pulled it off my car when I bought it and swapped the heads out. Again, when you're working under the confines of the stock BB Vette hood, you are _very_ limited.

Lots of the 427/390hp cars don't even make 250rwhp. Gross #s way back then were way overinflated, with the exception of the L88 which was rated at 430hp gross, but in reality was closer to 550-575hp.

I think people just assume big-blocks will make a lot of power (oftentimes this is the owner, too). Well, they don't. They have lots of potential, but if you lower the CR to run pump gas, and choke it with a low-rise intake and cast iron exhaust manifolds, it will be pretty slow.

<---doesn't have that problem. ;)

[L8 APEX]

They did have a LOT more energy in the fuel back then vs. gasolines today:hammer: