You never know what you might find in a musty old suitcase (and the Two-Inch Rule)

[Duke W.]

Re: You never know what you might find in a musty old suitcase (and the Two-Inch Rule

I hope Duke and all the others with stashes of parts have laid out a plan for their collection and cars so they are not lost or scraped, I know I have instructed my spouse and in my will what to do with my stuff I deem worth passing on to those who would appreciate it. Of course hope this is many moons in the future for all, including myself.

A lot of us who haven't done this should be thinking about it. I hate the thought of trying to do a detailed inventory, but all my personal property that is not covered by a legal title is in my living trust by declaration, and Schedule A is a list of that property. I specifically mentioned new and used car parts, wheels/tires, and special test equipment and tools in addition to the family heirlooms I have such as my mom's sterling silver, Wedgewood china, and Waterford crystal.

My successor trustees are well aware that I have things that most people might think is junk, and in my letter of instruction I suggested that they bundle all parts, tools, and documentation associated with each car and sell as a package with a requisite increase in price to account for all the extra stuff. It would be a lot to ask of a successor trustee to sell all this property individually or in small lots.

The other thing that is creeping up on me is that my nominated successor trustees are two years older to six years younger than me, so if we all make it into our eighties they may not have the energy to do the job. I need to cultivate some friends from the post baby boomer generation.

I think Joe has made suitable arrangements for The Collection, but he won't tell us what it is.

Duke

P. S. Wayne - would you instruct your wife to contact me about the DR test spec book if you don't make it longer than me?

[Timothy B.]

Re: You never know what you might find in a musty old suitcase (and the Two-Inch Rule

Yeah, I think you 'fessed up to that one before, and you probably bought the fake ...163s before we knew much about the parts substitutions that went on over the years.

My original thinking was that the ...163 was fully out at 18-19" (like the B1), but given Rich's test data on a real GM ...163 maybe it was more like 15-16", which would make it very close to the B22.

I'm beginning to think that someone just screwed up by correlating the ...163 with the B1, and we'll probably just have to live with it forever.

As I've said here several times and in my San Diego National Convention presentation last year that there are a grand total of three currently available single point/TI distributor VACs, B22 (15"), B20/B26 (12"), and B28 (8"), that meet the Two-Inch Rule for all OE engines with full time vacuum advance and all through '74 that are converted to full time from ported vacuum advance.

BTW, all provide a maximum of 16 degs. crank advance at the specified inches Hg manifold vacuum, but production variance may be up to 2 degs./2" Hg. Those old mechanical analog engine control devices have considerable variation compared to very precise modern digital electonic engine control systems.

Duke

I think you guys are being a little hard on the MS 163 V/A control. It's certainly not a boat anchor, I have one purchased from GM circa 1980 for my 63 and can check the specs for exact vacuum levels, I seem to remember it being pulled full at 16" vacuum. I have since installed the original 201 control but kept the 163 as I think it's a good replacement for the manual trans 300hp cars.

A few years I installed a custom centrifugal curve on my 67 engine and used the 163 without any problems. Actually, the engine ran much better than it does now with the slow original centrifugal curve, I almost wish I had left the curve installed but I wanted the original parts with the distributor because these little parts seem to get lost in storage, see post #1. :-)

[Duke W.]

Re: You never know what you might find in a musty old suitcase (and the Two-Inch Rule

Measure how much vacuum it takes to pull the pin to the limit. Wayne listed the Delco spec of 16.25-18" in post #13.. The spec I have for the current B1 replacement is 16-18", and most that have been measured are at the upper end of this range or a little above.

Quickening the centrifugal advance will provide improved performance on most engines, particularly the low end, but the VAC has no effect.

It's critical to idle stability that the VAC is pulled and held at maximum advance at idle, but the amount of vacuum required can cover a range of up to 2", so that's the origin of the Two-Inch Rule using the nominal vacuum value to pull the pin to the limit.

It could be that a real GM ...163 is okay for a base engine with manual transmission. Idle vacuum is usually in the range of 17-19" at 500 in Neutral, but automatics idling in Drive at 450-500 pull less vacuum, which is why I recommend a 12" VAC for these applications, and that's probably the reason why GM finally settled on a 12" VAC in '66 after using different VACs for the previous three years.

The "boat anchor" reference is to the current B1 replacement.

Duke