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Classic/Antique Car Repair/surges @steady speeds

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Expert: Paul Wilczynski - 1/12/2009


Question
I have A stock 1969 z28 302 camaro with a hotter cam and pertronics. The car had bad surges @ steady speeds until I restricted vacuum to the distributor vacuum advance with a coffee straw in the vacuum line.[old racer suggested this trick] It solved about 95% of the problem. Now I only feel the surges when going up hills at steady speeds. Should I live with it since this is the best the car ever felt or should I mess around with the distributor weights, springs or even try an adjustable vacuum advance?

Answer
Hey, Mike.

Sounds like you've made good progress.

You know, if I tell you to leave it alone, you will--for about a couple of days! I get the feeling that you'll run this through your head for months if necessary until you've tried everything and its just the way you want it, so I'm not going to tell you what to do--you know best and you like to fiddle with stuff anyway, if you're like me.

What I'll do instead is to suggest you look at carb float levels, check your needle valves, and make sure you've got no vacuum leaks. I tend to thing it's got less to do with timing than with your fuel delivery and/or mixture!

Good luck. Nice car, BTW!

--Paul

Classic/Antique Car Repair

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Paul Wilczynski

Expertise

Most questions involving vintage car restoration, mechanical and body, paint and upholstery. Parts sourcing. Extensive experience in wood-bodied station wagons, British and French cars of the '40s through '70s. Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Sunbeam Alpine and Tiger, Citroen Maserati, VW Beetle, 1955-65 Chevrolet (especially Nomad station wagons), Corvair.

Experience

Wide-ranging and long-term. I owned a restoration shop in the 1970s, continue to dabble in vintage exotics. At one time, had a seven-car collection of contemporary exotics which I had restored and maintained myself. When I was 18 years old, I designed a woodie kit for the VW Beetle, which I developed into a product which was featured on television and in over 100 magazines and 25 books at last count. I still own and drive one of my creations. I owned a design and fabrication consultancy from 1982-2002, specializing in show car fabrication for manufacturers including Ford, Mazda, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, etc. Since 2003, I have been a department manager in Industrial Design, and a full-time instructor in automotive design and fabrication at the university level. My students go on to design automobiles as staff designers for major auto manufacturers worldwide.

Organizations
Western Automotive Journalists, Industrial Design Society of America.

Publications
Long list of magazines and books, including Playboy, VW Trends, VW Greats, Hot VWs, and European automotive magazines.

Education/Credentials
I teach design and fabrication at university level. My education is in Industrial Design, University of Illinois (1966-1970).

Awards and Honors
Many awards for restorations in local concours and shows.

Past/Present Clients
Mazda, Ford, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, Mercedes, Porsche.

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