|
On the carburetor, I would agree a 2bbl stands to offer improvement. Wouldn't necessary say you want spread bore on a 2bbl though. As long as the primary isn't larger than your 1bbl and you can set up the secondary so that you're next to never opening it you can jet your primary a little leaner and use the richer secondary to fight ping at WOT. Fix your vacuum leaks and cracked hoses, then look at your idling. A "loose" lash setup is noisy but tends to increase idle speed independently of carburetor stop and idle jetting due to improved torque from reduced valve overlap.
Why drop a sought-after muscle car axle in? The 7.25 has a (undeserved IHMO) bad reputation, but that came from much heavier cars. I know a guy with a tube-frame, glass-bodied, blown 350 SBC T-bucket that's running a 7.25 he got for $25 because he needed "something" to get the car on the ground. He's still running it last I checked; the car weighs so little it breaks traction before it could possible break the axle. Your car isn't as light as his, but it isn't as wild as his either (he refuses to dyno but estimated 800 hp based on his jetting).
Anyway, even a truck 8.25 could work; I have one in a Ramcharger that's running 3.21 gears and I had heard a numerically lower gearset was available for that axle. Pre-84 should have the small bolt pattern your car has also.
Getting the timing set updated may help, but you might want to consider a new camshaft. I've seen older engines (305 chevy) wear down cam lobes to be visibly different than a "stock grind" replacement.
If you acknowledge blow-by and are losing oil without identifying a leak, look into a compression test and even a leak-down test. Figure out how badly worn your engine is; you might want to do a hone/re-ring or even an overbore to clean things up. Pull a plug and see if it's fouling also.
__________________
|