Need some more power out of my 360...

[fordman]

i fthe enigne is over reving than it sounds like a gearing problem. lower gears do more pulling higher gears are fro the highway.

[fordjeep]

I don't really need lower gears - it's just that when I go up a steep incline (common in my neck of the woods), I either have to creep up it in 2nd gear or keep going back and forth to 3rd. If I stay in second and accelerate, the fuel pump can't supply enough fuel and the engine cuts out (the truck needs to shift anyway, so an electric or higher volume fuel pump isn't the answer). If I shift to 3rd, there just isn't enough power to keep gaining speed (or even holding it for that matter) and if the hill is long enough, I have to go back down to 2nd. The same thing happens between 3rd and 4th.

I'm looking for a way to get some more power so that I can shift into 3rd or 4th and at least hold speed on an incline. In other words, the hill is too steep for the next gear and the lower gear too low.

I just need some more ponies, that's all.

[ezernut9mm]

re jetting the carb??? idk. does it ping? advance the timing until it pings on acceleration and then back it off until it quits. just throwing out some random stuff.

[fordjeep]

Truck runs like a champ - just not enough horsepower for the Colorado Rockies and I'm curious if bolting on a set of headers will give me the extra umph I need. If not, maybe a new manifold? I'm talking going up Colorado steep grades fellas, sometimes for long stretches of road. I need more power so that I can at least sit on 3rd gear on a long incline as I'd prefer to go faster than 15-20 in 2nd.

By the way, I have (had) a 63 CJ. I got if from a buddy, tore it down for a rebuild and then bought my F250. Now, the CJ is back to my buddy and one day will likely get restored by one of us.

[swinn]

You could try re-jetting the carb for your altitude if it hasn't been done already. This combined with advancing the timing might get you some more power. I don't think headers will do much for you, your problem is the low compression ratio in the thin 8000 foot air, it just cant get enough oxygen to make power.

It might sould kind of wierd, but if you put a small 25-50hp system on it that would be enough to get you up the hills in third gear. However I don't have any experience with NOS so I have no idea if it would be reasonable to use it for any real length of time. I think you would want to avoid timing advance if you tried that.

A rebuild of that motor to turn it into a 9:1 CR 390 would really fix the problem!

[convincor]

stroke it.
http://www.survivalmotorsports.com/FE-Engine-Kits.html