Originally Posted by Maximo

A little tidbit....

Idle quality......I see some guys commenting here that idle quality doesn't matter.....I have to greatly disagree with this as I feel idle quality is extremely important......and feel that if your engine can't idle your chances of a flameout are dramatically increased......

Very important Test !!!!!! when you are done your qualifiers have your pitman leave your car idling so you can test how stable the engine will idle after it has been heat soaked.......... many times (especially a Nova ) the idle will drop substantially lower once the engine is fully heat soaked.....So often times guys will have no issues during the qualifiers, but in the main the engine starts flaming out after the first refuel........... So After a qualifier I demand that my engines are capable of sitting and idling for a few minutes without any trigger blipping or interference,..........And if a engine will not idle after a qualifier I will adjust it so it will...and if even after adjusting I can't get a stable idle I will not trust the engine in the main......If your engine wont idle after a qualifier, its likely going to cause you trouble in the mains if your not extremely careful

So in the end check and set your idle speed after the qualifiers, ignore how it sounds when you start it cold...as often many engines will sound lean and high idly when cold......but when fully heat soaked after a qualifier many engines experience a huge drop in idle RPM..which is where a big amount of flamouts come from.......Hundreds of times I have seen guys ace the qualifiers only to have all sorts of flameouts issues in the mains...........

this is something we have started doing more this season, and the results have been excellent.....On some engines the amount of RPM drop the idle goes thru when the engine is hot is quite big...A engine that runs perfectly for the first tank will barely want to run after the second tank........Its crazy, but when cold you would swear the engine is very lean with a exceptionally high idle..yet after 15 minutes on the track that every same engine will idle so low it will barely run.......Heat soak dramatically affects how these engines run and idle...