Heat Soak or Not?

Ok, I've got a puzzle for you guys. In the time that I've driven my car as a daily driver, I've noticed that on the way to getting warm, my car has enough power to chirp the tires. After it reaches about 190* my car can no longer chirp the tires. I can notice the sluggishness, but the tire chirp is the easiest way to make the distinction. Well, I always thought it was heat soak, and that the air in the compartment was too hot, but lately the car hasn't had a hood, because I'm repainting it, and I'm still noticing the same "sluggishness" after it warms up. If driving the car without the hood doesn't draw the heat away, what will? Is the hot log heating my air, inside the intake? Or could the pistons be expanding so much that their friction actually robs my power? Or am I over thinking this?

Could a heat shield fix that?
Maybe exhaust coating?
What can I do?

Thanks,
Allan

How bout a lower temp thermostat?

It could be that during the first few moments of driving the cars tires are cool which makes them have less grip on the road. I used to have bias ply tires on mine and if i would step on the gas at any time from a stop i could smoke the tires for about 6-10ft since I got new radial t/a's it only happens when the car is cold or in reverse however with the new exhaust and carb i can do it on demand now but not as good as when the tires ar cold.

It could be excessively retarded timing, or a bad carb (mixture problems).

What car, what year motor?

I agree with Addo
Timing or carb
tim

Tire "chirpiness" isn't much of an indicator of performance. You're in Nevada, is it safe to assume that you are on hot pavement and your tires, therefore, would heat up (much) higher than ambient air temp?

There's a reason that most motor sports do something to put heat in the rubber.... less chirp.

I have read somewhere (now that's a good way to start ) that Ford engines run better when they're cold. Myth or fact?
I think it was in reference to drag times slowing down as the engine got hotter over consecutive runs.
I too notice my engine "seems" a bit more powerful before reaching a steady state temp.
Perhaps it depends on the build tolerances.

What year we dealing with here? What carb, what dizzy? Some of the later cars had a thermal switch that switched the timing between ported and manifold vac. Could be something easy like the choke is still on a bit and it likes the extra fuel.

Pretty common thing. Car feels faster when it's cold.

Im not sure what the root cause is - could be that the intake charge is a good 50* cooler before the motor warms up.

That's a significant difference in density.

My experience probably has no bearing here (since I'm driving a '98 Ranger with a 4-cylinder) but I know my engine runs much better when it's cold. However, it doesn't get as good of mileage. I'm running a Scan Gauge II and am constantly monitoring my mileage. When I first start out the engine has a lot more torque (I can accelerate in higher gears) and the mileage is better that way, but if I drive it like I would normally, the mileage is lower.

In my particular instance I know it's not heat soak (at least into the air snorkel) because I'm also monitoring the IAT sensor, which is always within a few degrees of outside air temp (homemade CAI).

I'm pretty sure Fords (most all cars, really) run rich when cold. If your car has an oxygen sensor, it won't work until it's warmed up. One-wire sensors depend on exhaust heat to get them working, while 3 and 5 wire sensors have their own heating element built-in.

You could be feeling the extra HP due to the rich mixture combined with cold air, which gives you more ignition advance.

I actually live near lake Tahoe. Up here the temperature never gets very high. You're lucky if it gets up over 100 in the summer. Right now we're just getting the first frost of the end of the fall season, so I doubt the cold tire hypothesis. I realize the tire chirp is not much of an indication of HP, but it was the easiest way to explain what I was feeling from the car.

Something just occurred to me. About 170-180* I would guess would be my sweet spot. My radiator is also an auto-tranny cooler, and my transmission also has a hard shift kit. When my engine gets hot, the transmission doesn't shift as hard. Could my tranny fluid be getting too thin at higher temperatures?

I haven't messed with my mixture in a while. I'll go through resetting that when I get home today. My balancer is very old, I wouldn't be surprised if the rubber slipped, and whenever I measure it with a timing light it comes out about 26* btdc (I think, it's been a while), so I just do it by ear.

My setup:
'60 Falcon
weber 38 dgev
'65 200ci
180* stat
C4 tranny
Old points style dist, going back to petronix soon :roll:

Which distributor - not a vacuum only unit?

vacuum + mechanical

Haven't done anything with the mechanical part though

I replaced the points with the pertronix unit, and WOW, I like it. I could feel the gain. Got the Plugs all gapped with 40k coil Woot.

Still have that loss after driving around a bit. I'm really beginning to think it happens once the the tranny fluid heats up.

Still have to play around with the mixture. We'll see how that turns out.

Allan

When I lived in Nevada (admittedly ages ago) they had a law on the books about "exhibition of power". meant to get those who would race in the streets and other such shenanigans (like my frineds all did then) . It really became funny when our friend Judy got a ticket for it in her stock VW bug when she chirped her tires shifting gears in front of a cop. Ther was no way she was exhibiting power, but the law was vaque and the cop was a meanie.

My first ticket was for "Exhibition of Speed"...10 mph in a 25 mph zone in CA. I chirped the tires after going around a corner.

I got an exhibition of power ticket 20 in a 35. The ticket however was because my shocks were worn out, no other cars around and I was showing my brother and cousin how I could make the ftont of the car bounce by timing brake and gas pedals..

-ron