[njsteve]

Spoke with Dave from the Performance Years website (necb3) who has the 72 4-speed T/A that parked with me at the MusclePalooza show back in September. He mentioned that my TCS emissions system seems to be running backwards. I checked the manual and he was right.

This was from page 6D-9 of the 1972 repair manual:

"TCS solenoid energized, providing no vacuum advance in all transmission ranges but high gear during normal operating temperature (between 85 degrees and 220 degrees)."

"TCS solenoid de-energized, allowing for full vaccuum advance in high gear during normal operating temperature and all modes of transmission operation. (below 85 degrees and above 220 degrees)."

So I checked the wiring and it turns out I had the two-prong wiring clip hooked up the wrong way, of the two possible ways to connect it to the TCS solenoid. So I flipped the wiring terminal over and reconnected it.

The good news is that the TCS then worked properly as designed.

The bad news is that the engine ran like crap with no vacuum advance within the above factory parameters. Couldn't even get the car out of the garage for a test drive.


What the heck were they thinking back then? I guess it was their drastic attempts at making these monsters somehow emissions friendly. Gotta love the early 1970s - the engineers figured if they could make the tailpipe emissions somehow cleaner, then all was wonderful in the world. They didn't care that the cars barely ran, they just had to make the EPA happy and the customer be damned.

Anyway, I rerouted the vacuum line from the carb T directly to the distributor and then reset the timing as per another 455HO guys' recommendations (Lloyd: 12 degrees initial with the vacuum disconnected and plugged). The car definitely picked up some power and wasn't falling so flat in the upper mid-range anymore. Currently waiting on some new jets and primary rods to arrive.