65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

[Lane Ockerman]

I have finished rebuilding my 65 Corvette engine, 327 / 365 hp.
It has the original 4150 carb., intake, 2.02 heads, Fed. Mogual 30 /30 Duntov cam. (as original), orig. dist., orig. crank and water pump, the only real change is, I put 10.5:1 pistons in it instead of the factory 11 :1's.
It also has the factory 4:11 rear.

I am NOT racing the car but I want it to run GOOD / Quick.

Timing and carb jetting is the issue at this point. How should I set up the timing, Initial and Total to get the best out of the engine ?? Like several I have read, the vaccumn pot hits the intake runner and I can not seem to get enough timing in the engine.

You detailed answer and any other tips will me me greatly.

Thank you very much.
Lane
#38102

[Duke W.]

Re: 65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

If the vacuum can hits the manifold the distributor is assembled or installed incorrectly. Pull it out and verify that the dimple in the drive gear is indexed in the same direction as the rotor tip and not 180 out. Also verify with the '63 shop manual that your wires are indexed correctly on the cap, then with the balancer mark on 12 BTC #1, install the dist and rotate it until the points just open. If you can't do this before the vacuum can hits the manifold, your're a tooth off. For proper high rev performance an SHP distributor needs to be blueprinted - bushing clearance two thou with fresh grease in the upper bushing well, new wobble free breaker plate, high breaker arm tension points, and two to seven thou shaft end play.

Initial timing of 12-14 should yield 36-38 max WOT timing. The best way to set the timing is to bring up the revs until it quits advancing and time it at 36-38 with a GOOD dial back light or mark your balancer at 30 degrees and put this mark on 6 to 8 advance. Of course, all this must be done with the vacuum can disconnected.

Peak power will only fall about one percent if the timing is off two to three degrees from optimum, so you can't mine too much gold from timing.

Duke

[Joe C.]

Re: 65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

Lane:

As far as your List 2818-1 Holley is concerned, a good source of information can be found at www.holley.com.
The stock power valve will be a "65", which means it opens @ 6.5 in-hg.
Primary main jets are (I believe).073".
Secondary mains are (I believe) .074".

I used a Holley rebuild kit for mine, and I left everything as original. My 1965 L76 idles/runs strong using stock carb/timing specs.

Joe

[John H.]

Re: 65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

Original jetting for the 2818 on the L-76 was #65 primary, #76 secondary.

[Joe C.]

Re: 65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

OK John--I stand corrected. The ole noggin worked better a couple years ago.

BTW: Just went to that Holley website. It has been revamped, and I found it hard to navigate thru. I went to the "Corvette" section, but found nothing earlier than 1966.

Joe

[John H.]

Re: 65 Corvette 327 / 365 timing

Joe -

Use the "text" navigation format (it's more intuitive than all the Tokyo-By-Night graphics stuff), and click on "Carburetor Numerical Listing" - has everything you'd ever want to know; it's in microscopic .pdf format - just click at the bottom of the frame and zoom it up to about 150%.