Thats exactly my point. Whatever shop put the motor together, or put it in the car, basically just input whatever information into a computer program to come up with those numbers. Thats pretty hokey for them to even pass out as being legit.

Its hard to tell in your pics, but do you have headers in the car? if not, I suspect that your motor is not making those numbers, especially if you feel that it seems like a 14 second car.

 

If it doesn't feel pretty strong, or has a little miss you can't diagnose, check for wiped out cam lobes. The oil got way worse for flat tappet cams during that time period and if the previous owner did not go thru the trouble and expense of finding zinc based oil for it, you could need a new camshaft. And a wiped lobe or two would definately make it run below it's potential.

Comparing a BB to a modern engine by the seat of the pants dyno method is difficult without experience. There is so much more torque so early in the rev range, and the power curve doesn't have that steep climb that a hot small block or LS does. It's deceptive til you get used to it. It just plants you in the seat early and holds you there It doesn't need to increase. If it plants you in the seat hard, it may be faster than you think. I drove a well set-up Stage 1 Buick that would sqaush you in that soft bench seat like 3-4 inches just off idle, it didn't even seemed like it rev'd that well, but it ran 12 flat.

 

and build says stock heads, valves. desktop dyno says 2.5-1.88 valves.

 

Ya it has pro stock engine size intake valves, cant be done. What were oval port i forget, 2.06/1.72 valves.

 

exhaust is stock with exception of some mufflers added in at some point but nothing major.

it’s not SLOW but I am very familiar with very fast cars. This is not a VERY fast car. Had it out today and really got on it and it hits about 5k rpms in 5th gear at roughly 100-105. Didn’t want to go much higher because the car feels a little floaty at that speed.

if I were to launch it I think I could pull a respectable 1/4 in the mid 14’s so who knows maybe it does make more power than I thought initially. 2nd gear around 20mph gives me ALOT of torque. 4th on the highway from about 55/60 up to 80/90 is quick and very fun. 3rd is weird, still not used to a 4 speed since I have only ever owned 5 and 6 speeds.

I feel like the car just needs a good tuneup, this setup I provided pics for is at this point almost 20 years old... at the time it was done it probably kicked *** but now it just feels fun and moderate.

hell I drove my brothers 2019 ram with a 5.7 hemi today and hammered down just for comparison and I know my vette wouldn’t be able to keep up... it’s just different and older.

 

do you have the ignition timing dialed in? 38 degrees without vacuum at 3000 to 4000? if you timed it to 10 at idle you may be 10 degrees too low at full throttle. and 2 degrees is about 20-40 hp lost. maybe more. if you don't have a dial back light, you can use the 16 degrees on the timing pointer to add another mark every 10 degrees with white-out so you can see the full advance timing. both mech and vacuum.

 

i haven’t touched that because I don’t know how to yet haha.

is there threads on it or good places to read about it?

I had my mechanic go over the car a couple weeks ago and he fixed some stuff and it now idles at around 700/800 sometimes a little lower. I believe the carb I have has an electronic choke (not sure if stock Q-jets had that too) but it will idle around 1500 on cold start and then come down after a minute or so.

 

With 380-400 HP and BB TQ you should easily run mid 13s. If it doesn't check out the timing curve carefully. Then the carb jetting. That AVS can be jetted you just have to follow the Edelbrock procedure.

Do the timing first. It has a HUGE impact on performance if it is not "optimized". Assuming you do not have to pass a smog check, put a performance curve in it:

1. The main thing you want is 36 degrees total timing all-in at 3500 rpm. Set the timing to get that. No vac yet. You may need to change the weight springs so it is all-done by 3500.
2. Then check your idle timing and see where step 1 put it. If it is not 12-18 degrees you should consider changing the amount of mechanical-centrifigal advance in the distributor. This means modifying the advance weight slot and/or the stop bushing.
3. Once you get that set, then hook up the vac can to full intake manifold vacuum (with vac at idle) and see how much more timing the vac can gives you. You only want about 10-12 degrees extra with it on / off. It will probably be way more than that so you will have to reset it with a vacuum advance limiter (Summit has a Crane one) or even an adjustable vac can.

Best $20 and couple of hours you'll ever spend. Some engines respond with 50-80HP.

 

Without headers, this package is going to suffer.

Take it to the track and see what it runs, but I can guarantee the horsepower figures on that dyno sheet are quite inflated, because it's a simulation, not an actual dyno run.