How much Vacuum?

[93TT]

Originally Posted by Jeff Chambers

An E-cam generally will produce in the neighborhood of 15 in-hg at stock idle and 10-degrees base timing, a little more as the idle is increased towards 1000rpm. As others have said, removing base timing will affect idle and hence vacuum at idle. Have you checked your actual base timing? With the 331, load calculation by the computer will be off a little which will affect things a bit. It really sounds like you need to have the car tuned by a professional to bring the combination together and get the best all around performance.

I have set the base timing with the jumper pulled out as well as advanced and retarded the timing with the jumper out. I agree that the car will most definitely have to be tuned by a pro but I *should* be able to get it to running better once I verify no vacuum leaks. Last night I pulled the upper intake off and put new O-rings on the fuel injectors. I noticed that the lower intake had an oily residue on the inside. I believe this to be caused by a bad PCV valve OR leaky turbo oil seal? *IF* it was the turbo seal than I would have oil in my intercooler and the entire intake system which I don't *phew* so pretty sure its my PCV valve? Not sure how old that valve is.

[93TT]

SO here is the update:

I pulled the upper intake and valve covers off, re-did all of the vacuum connections under the intake, put brand new o-rings on all of the injectors, installed an adjustable FPR, new PCV valve and re-timed it. I also did the redneck TDC check with a "probe" in the #1 spark plug hole as I turned the motor over by hand while watching the pointer on the balancer. I have a feeling that the balancer may be off a little though in terms of being aligned correctly with the crankshaft. Is it possible to install the balancer misaligned or would it just bind at the keyway? I was able to start the car and it seemed to be pulling more vacuum and seemed to rev better (gentle revs). My fuel pressure is lower due to the FPR. What should my fuel pressure be set at?

I'll update after driving in the morning.