Thread: 86 3.5 With a Lack of Top end Power HELP

Cockie55 When you said Fuel pressure at the rail should be 36 - 39 psi (not 5 psi) with no vacuum connected. I assume you are talking EFI, my Rangie is Carbed with a Holley 4BBRL. So it reads five at the carb intake.

I love it when people give you little bits of info.

Could it be that the secondaries of the Holley are not opening because of an internal fault?

Twigman, it appears you are a bit out of your depth here, so I would take it to someone who works on modded cars.First they should be able to rotate the dizzy if the timing is actually the problem, and check out the Holley eg gas analysis.
Maybe a Holley guy on here can tell you how to check out the secondaries, if it is as I presume a vacuum secondaries unit.You should post up the model of the carby.
Regards Philip A

Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

I love it when people give you little bits of info.

Could it be that the secondaries of the Holley are not opening

Onya Philip ...

Yeah Mike 90 RR , I can certainly help him ! From the very little info he gives , id guess at 84-85 RRC , low comp , and a 4 barrell holley ,(a 465 Vac sec ?) its going to be gutless with that setup anyway and 32's ?. He can have my 88 EFI flapper when I rip it out LOL . He's probably got no compression and no Cam/lifters . Allways wet and dry Comp check before wasting time and money . Wonder what PV and Jets he' s using ?

Originally Posted by 400HPONGAS

Yeah Mike 90 RR , I can certainly help him ! From the very little info he gives , id guess at 84-85 RRC , low comp , and a 4 barrell holley ,(a 465 Vac sec ?) its going to be gutless with that setup anyway and 32's

That is exactly what the car is running.
It is as I bought it some twelve months ago, I have added the 32's and a 2' lift. I know bigger tyres can kill a motor but I did not think just going from 29's to 32's would have such a dramatic effect.

Originally Posted by 400HPONGAS

He can have my 88 EFI flapper when I rip it out LOL . He's probably got no compression and no Cam/lifters . Allways wet and dry Comp check before wasting time and money .

I hoped to pick up a compression tester this weekend, was also going to check my leads as it all seemed to start when I changed them. But I did fit the tyres, lift plugs and high flow air filter at about the same time.

EFI flapper? there is a EFI conversion avalible did not know that.

Worst of it is the car does real highway speed driveing only every now and again. So I am not 100% sure at what stage the problem started, but I do know when I fitted the plug leads, plugs and new air filter it knocked the fuel air mix out of whack, have now got that tuned to max vacum 15 units on the dial. And from what I have researched on the interweb the dail readings are doing what they should when I rev the engine.

Still not sorry I bought it, have wanted one of these for a long time but in the UK try to get a good one and even better try to run it.

400HPONGAS Thanks you for the offer of help, once I am able to get away from the house I would like to take you up on that offer if thats Ok.

This is what I get for selling up all my tools when I left the UK, have had to start over.

Twigman , if you had a 1986 RRC , then they usually were Flapper EFI type engines .Has yours been converted back to Carb style ? (Just check where the fuel pump is) Im saying you can have the Entire engine complete if you want or need it!!
My 88RRC runs 33 x 12.50's so 5th gear is totally useless as is yours !
Also 15inshg is way to low unless your running a big cam or more than likely a nicely stretched timing chain / worn timing gears / dizzy stuffed etc.
When you Compression check make sure the throttle plate is wide open and the secondaries are jammed open,(put a brick on the accelerator , dont pump it !)disconnect coil , and fuel , remove all plugs before starting comp check . Record each comp both in dry and wet mode . Alot can be told from reading the plugs so keep them in order and observe the heat line , the burn line, the gap ,the colour , and that they are the right plugs . If you have time , find out what idle and main jets,what power valve rating,and what the spring rating in the VAC diaphragm is .(it would work better with a 350 Holley 2 barrel if you can find one !!)

G'day Twigman

If your dizzy touches the water pump, I would say that it is 1 tooth out,as the dizzy on my 3.5 (1985) sits with the vacc advance unit at right angles to the w/pump with the 3.9 type (vac advance/vacc retard) vacc unit tube connected to the front, the rear left open or capped and it is timed at 8* BTDC vacc disconnected , that gives me 2500rpm @ 100kph in 5th, the motor has 220,300klms on it runs 175CD carbs on gas, it averages 4.75/5.00 klm to the litre on gas


cheers