peejay

Crappy day at work... it's been cold and drizzling all day, and people seem to be purposely parking their cars as far from the shop as possible. Need to unwind. Very grouchy, grumpy.

Unlock door, open, get in. Car boings when I step in; that little boing-oing that light cars do, to let you know that this ain't some barge. Buckle in, key in, on, flip kill switch on, crank engine.

rrr rrr rrr BRAACKA Brap Brap Brap Brap Brap

Engine is trying to idle at 1600. Sounds just like a bridgey, and this must be what it feels like, too... the sensations are too much for my sour mood and I start grinning. MAN I want to go bridge next year. Tach needle bouncing, hood shaking slightly, seat shaking slightly, shift lever swaying side to side, the engine's "evenly rough" idle forcing everything in the car to dance to its beat. Totally intoxicating.

I move out. It seems a shame to accelerate, so I surge forward in 3rd and let off. RIIIIIIIIIPBrapBrapBrap Brap RIIIIIIPBrap Brap... I pray for red lights. I get red lights. Really must go bridge next year. Blip the throttle often at the lights just for the sounds. Radio is off, heater fan is off, mustn't let anything sully the experience.

The road clears, and there are not more lights for quite awhile. Cruising at 2k in 4th gear, the engine will NOT run smoothly even at road load. The whole car is jumping, shaking, kicking my *** through the seat. Unreal. According to the tach, the engine is jumping between 1800 and 2100, about four or five cycles per second. This is my drug, and I'm an addict. I want more, I need more. Definitely pulling the engine next spring and going bridge port.

At the next and final stoplight, the engine runs smoother, about 2k idle. Then the choke kicks off, engine falling to a dead smooth idle at 700. Damn. Turn radio on, turn heater on; there's nothing left to see folks, keep moving. Until tomorrow morning, and the next cold start.

Yeah, this engine is getting PORTED again next spring!

- PJ ('80 GS, extend port 12A... for now... )

Max7

That is to funny, good writeup, people often wonder why I drive around with the radio off. nothing like the pure sound of a rotary.
so Bridge is in the work, why not go all out and just build a PP?
then you can have a REAL nice idle

Denny

Lived in Geuaga Co. for quite a while...Did Deputy work up there. Feel what you mean cold, drizzly, start 'er up....As my generation says, "move with the groove...."
Yep-per, time to consider them Winter-time projects....Start collecting parts, look for deals, etc....I wanna put a RB header on my Silver SE, now weighing to actuate, or remove 'em....Need some nice rims too....And a nose spoiler, got some ideas on that...And what about that headlight conversion, got some extra headlight buckets up on the shelf...Poly for the rear?
Whoa, hoss! Looks like I'd better stock up on the Kerosene to keep the 7th Heaven Garage warm....

Anybody want a Garage Kitten? Flash, my Garage Cat, had kitties in the footwell of my MG a little while back, and they've been helpin' me out on the upgrades and repairs...Know clutch-work real good. Good little Garage Guards, nothing mouse size or under gets away without being severely tortured and ultimitely eaten...A couple more weeks and it's find your own garage time.
Anybody want one? PM me...

Tryin' to keep from laughin' as the kitties crawl all over me!
Denny, from the 'ol corncrib/materity ward....

peejay

Everybody's trying to give me kittens. I'd LOVE to have a cat again, but I don't want a cat in this house. (Plus there's the problem of the roommate's pet rat and mice. The rat is trained... only "goes" in her cage, never outside of it, and she comes running up to you when you call her!)

I even saw a cat at Norwalk last week. Just hangin' out in the pits, just like everyone else while we waited for them to dry out the track. Wild!

Speakin' of wild... I don't want to go PP, nah. For one thing, that's too expensive. For another, I want to go half-bridge, so I get that lumpy idle as well as good low-RPM driveability. I'm paying tons attention to people like RiceRacing, he's one guy who really has his **** together... already learned lots. Like, for instance, he reinforces my thinking that increased overlap increases low RPM torque... it DOES if you have good tuning. If you have a boinger, the closer you put your lobe centerlines, the flatter the torque curve and more low-end and high-end you get, at the expense of poor idle. Expense? Hell that's a benefit!

But keeping the ports small, the actual port runners small, instead of making everything all huge. I'd almost like to start out with a fresh, virgin 12A, but unless one falls in my lap for next to free, I'll have to make do with what I've got. I did zero port enlarging on this engine, the only changes were to the top walls.

The next step would be fabricating a tuned-runner intake manifold. A what? Imagine half of a tunnel ram folded on itself, or maybe a better analogy is a factory EFI intake with a carb on the end instead of a throttle body.

This is gonna be GOOD.