Here's a mystery for someone to solve.I have 2 56 Club Sedans,a Fairlane and a Customline.The Customline is a low miles original totally stock 272 automatic,except for dual exhaust.The exhaust system is all new from Mac's,standard 56 size.The Fairlane is a driver built from various parts cars.It has in it a 55 272 that has never been opened up,because it has only 32,000 original miles.The exhaust system is new factory size exhaust pipes, but the tail pipes are 2 inch,although they are in the stock position.Both cars have the same mufflers,Thrushes from NAPA.The mystery;The Customline sounds just like the 56's sounded 50 years ago,which is what caused me to fall in love with these things.The Fairlane sounds like my brother's 57 283 brand x.Very sharp and real loud.The Fairlane also has a later distributor and 2 barrel intake.Could that cause the dfference in sound or is the 55 engine different in way that causes the difference?

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Paul:

It's the distributor.  The old load-o-matic on the Custom makes the engine sound "flat".  Sounds to me like it's struggling.  The later distributor wakes it up.  And, no, it doesn't sound like a scrub, it sounds like a Y with a decent advance curve.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

It sounds like you guys are probably both right.I had thought that the later distributor might have something to do with the sound.There are no heat risers on either engine,but the Fairlane does have the crossover restricting intake gaskets.The Customline has never had the intake off,so it still has the factory gaskets.

Thanks

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

If you really wanted to know for sure, you could swap distributors and see what happens.  My suggestion would be to put a later distributor in the Custom and leave the Fairlane alone.  Then both would have the benefits of the centrifugal advance.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Paul:

Sorry.  Swithching distributors is a bad idea, you would have to switch manifolds and carbs to do that.  But you could try the Fairlane distributor in the Custom.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John,

I tried the later distributor in the Customline today and it does make difference in the exhaust tone.It's still not as sharp as the other car,but that could be,as Tom said,because of the blocked crossover gaskets on the Fairlane.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO