427 not making the power that it should?

Guys,

I have just taken my GT-E out of storage after nearly four years (1 year in Afghanistan, 3 years in Florida). Fresh oil and filter, old gas removed, new gas filled, new battery. It is just not making the power that it should. It is all stock. Rebuilt in the 1990s, few hundred miles since then. Stock exhaust, stock Holley 4088, stock ignition. Drives very nice, but under load it just doesn’t give that seat of the pants acceleration that my 68 Shelby GT500KR provides. I have replaced the secondary diaphragm, so that is now activating. WOT provides a little more acceleration, more noise, and the occasional backfire. Not the slam-back-into-the-seat that it should.

Where to start?

Basic tune up stuff. Make sure the timing is set properly. Mae sure the vacuum advance is working properly. Make sure the centrifugal advance is working properly. Make sure you have enough fuel pressure.

I am with Royce, likely time for a good set of points and condenser if still equipped, and map the advance, see if it’s working. Maybe even consider a distributor recurve, stock Ford curve was pretty universal. With the engine off, open the throttle and manually open the secondaries, make sure they didn’t stick from sittting, make sure the accel pump is functioning and adjusted correctly, etc

If you’ve had a back fire through the carb and it does not have the fix done to it since new then you likely also have a blown power valve. That will show up in other driving not WOT