Not Quite Muscle, AMC Gremlin

[66FAIRLANE]

https://postimages.org/

[69JavelinMan]

Yes, I used postimage for a while and it did the job, then decided to do my own photo hosting so that I am not dependent on anybody else running a free service that might not be sustainable in the long run.

Anyway, I did get down to the Motorplex last Wednesday night and managed to get a few runs in before the heavens opened and they called it quits, this was the best effort:



It's picked up just short of half a second, but mph hasn't really changed, possibly a bit more in it with some timing adjustments, but I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the 2" twin pipes are just too small and probably the limiting factor now.

So I decided to pull all of this stuff back off:



Then dragged out the old headers that I mentioned previously, they have definitely seen better days:



I have seen the Engine Masters header bash episode, but still see no point having dents there when you can knock them back out with a bit of heat and bashing some pipe up the inside of the tube:



Then went thorough the hard fought battle of getting them installed in the car. One of the reasons I converted the car back to LHD was to be able to run off the shelf headers, but it was still no easy job getting them in there:



Just need to build the rest of the system now.

[Nev68]

Are you going to give it a run with straight headers?

[69JavelinMan]

Tempting to fire it up to annoy the neighbors, but can't race it without mufflers anyway.

Old vs new, can't imagine it being too quiet with the new ones:



Made a bit of a start on the pipework:



---------- Post added at 07:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:55 PM ----------

Tempting to fire it up to annoy the neighbors, but can't race it without mufflers anyway.

Old vs new, can't imagine it being too quiet with the new ones:



Made a bit of a start on the pipework:

[69JavelinMan]

Bit of a mad panic to get the exhaust finished for 70's night on Wednesday:



Made it to the track at the last minute and this happened:



Seems the shifter has gone out of adjustment, so no third gear, but still managed to pick up 6 tenths and 6 mph over the 1/8th mile and best ever ET despite the low terminal speed.

Did see 7000 RPM though and this happened:



Basically oil everywhere so it went back n the trailer after one run. Checked plugs and compression tonight fearing the worst, but it seems ok, did find loose rocker cover bolts were, so hopefully that is all it was and the alternator belt is missing in action somewhere.

[imamutant]

I've seen oil spray out the dipstick tube before from over filling.

[69JavelinMan]

Yes, but it's too much oil and too far forward, it's a bit hard to see in the photo, but that is a pool of oil sitting on top of the intake just behind the radiator hose, given the amount of oil, I was thinking catastrophic engine damage.

[chevguy]

No third and a drop in times of that much is wicked. Amazing how restricted it was. Looking forward to mid 12’s

[69JavelinMan]

I cleaned up the oil spill, got it fired up and didn't find evidence of anything wrong. Then adjusted the shifter so that it works properly again.

The old analogue tacho in the car seemed a bit unreliable, so I thought I would try something different this week and try using the Sniper display instead. It can be setup to display the tacho full screen during the runs, so a few cable ties later it was done:



Then it was time to hit the track again on Wednesday night, all I can say is what a difference a decent exhaust makes:



It picked up a full 1.2 seconds over what it did with the old exhaust a few weeks ago.

Happy days.

[Frenchy666]

wow, what an improvement a free flowing exhaust makes, good stuff mate!!

Have u had many issues with the sniper system?? am looking at getting one for my 502 but have heard mixed reviews....

[Nev68]

Great improvement & a testament to your perseverance.
Well done!

[69JavelinMan]

Marc, I've been really happy with the Sniper system so far and really love the data logging feature which suits my needs perfectly.

I think where the system gets a little more challenging for some people is if you want to use it for timing control as well as fuel. I haven't got that far with it yet, but it's certainly something I've been contemplating and will probably have a crack at when I can buy a new distributor for that purpose.

Bear in mind that my Gremlin is a strip only proposition, so I can't really comment much on general driveability of the system for normal road use. People often ask me what it's like in terms of economy and I just laugh because it's not something I even think about. That said, I would love to try the system on something that is regularly street driven because I think it would work well.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

Couple of data logs showing different things from the run above for people who might be interested:

[RAW454]

Brilliant! Great to hear the zorst allows you to now make the most of your hard work on the engine. Enjoy!

[70Chev]

Originally Posted by Frenchy666

wow, what an improvement a free flowing exhaust makes, good stuff mate!!

Have u had many issues with the sniper system?? am looking at getting one for my 502 but have heard mixed reviews....

Hey Marc. Thought I’d jump in here on the issue of using throttle body fuel injection. Sorry to hijack the thread Darren.

I just installed the FiTech mean street kit and I’m very, very happy with it so far. Very easy install and now no flat spots, cold starts are awesome and tunability is great. By the time you factor in the cost of a carb, a dyno tune etc the kits are pretty great value for money. Hope this helps.

Darren

[Frenchy666]

Thanks darren, i have always tossed up between the sniper or the fi-tech. I have heard mixed reviews on both (am on both their Facebook tech pages) so always hearing the things that go wrong. Still have to sort out my fuel system first anyway but always good to know of the success stories.