I am driving with my hood off right now, after just swapping out a door and fender, and figured that it might run cooler for the summer if I just leave the hood off (and I might pick up a tenth if they let me race with it off ). Anyway, I am borrowing a double-pumper Road Demon carb, and adjusted the floats a little leaner (which seemed to help, by the way) and when I had it on the highway and gunned it, I noticed a small puff of steam or smoke right in front of me. I didn't see exactly where it came from, but still worried that something might be wrong. No water or oil on my windshield, that I can tell. It was a small puff, maybe the equivalent to 1/4 to 1/3 a lung full (I grew up around smokers...this is a cigarette lungfull...not a Cheech & Chong lung full ). Drove a little more and saw it one more time. Then I tried to drive sitting up near the steering wheel to see if I could find another puff. No do. In my imagination, it looked like a small burst of steam escaping from the overflow tube on my radiator, but it cannot be since it runs into an overflow tank. The only other things on that side are power steering and (I am leaning toward) the breather cap on the valve cover. I know I have a breather problem, and there is usually a little oil on the valve covers from saturating the breather filter. Is this how it comes out...just a little puff at a time? Or is something else spewing that I am not thinking about? By the way, the Barry Grant Demon runs much better now that I have leaned out the floats. And, the car is much quicker with an empty door with no impact support, and no hood. I might try the track this weekend to see if I picked up any time. I am on my first glass of wine so sorry this question ended up so long.
I'd recommend that you straddle the motor while Mrs. Scooper77515 goes through the grears at WFO so you can get an up-close look at things. See "If it ain't broke- dont' fix it" thread. (The first thing I thought of was the valve cover breather) Glad to hear it's running well. I believe it's okay to run without a hood. I've seen cars at other tracks do it. Dunno why Angleton would be any different. Keep us posted (on both the 'puff' and your "new and improved" numbers). Gluck
Fix your breather problem and the smoke will go away. If that doesn't work check your exhaust manfoild gasket, retighten the bolts for the manfoild. Good luck racing.
Scott, my 6 cylinder does the same thing when running it down the interstate with no hood, looks like just enough smoke to be noticeable comeing up out of nowhere... It did it when the engine was in my '74 Grabber and it still does it in my '72. To this day I can't figgure out where the smoke is comeing from, but it hasn't had any negative effects in over 16,000 miles I've put on the engine.
Yeah, I notice no negative effects in the performance. I will look at the hood that I have been using and see if there might be a little oil buildup in the breather area. It is definitely coming from that side of the car, directly in front of my line of sight, so I don't think it is water from the radiator cap or coming from the top of my catch can (besides, teh water was only 170 at that time, not anywhere near boiling). I just swapped the breather cap because I had soaked the first one, then rinsed in gas and blew dry,and soaked it again. Finally decided to play it safe and spend another $7 for a new one. It HAS to be the breather cap... Only other thing in that area is power steering pump, and I don't believe a "small white puff" would come from there. I will double check the header bolts, but it has only been about 50 miles since I sinched them down last time, and they were very snug. I am just glad to hear that mine is not an isolated problem, and likely not anything dangerous.
most tracks allow no hood as long as there is a device on the carb to prevent siphoning of gas by air going over the carb at speed. ie air cleaner, scoop, etc.
