[F500] AMW Setup Advise Needed

[Sheldon Lemoine]

After struggling with our ill-mannered Kawi motor for several events, it suffered a significant failure a few weeks ago.  I will likely be seeking advise on resurrecting it in the future.  In the meantime, we have installed the spare AMW motor which came with the car when we bought it earlier this year.  The AMW had previously been installed in the car (several years ago), so most of the required bits and pieces required to mount it were included in the boxes of spare parts that came with the car.  Unfortunately, the previous owner doesn't have a very clear recollection of how the motor was setup or how various components went together.

We managed to get the engine installed and running, but we have a few questions (Note: car is being used for SOLO 2 only):

1. The engine seems to be running way rich.  We are at sea level and temperatures are 70-85F.  The carbs have 140 main jets and 60 idle jets (I think - kind of hard to read the number).  I leaned it out as much as I could using the adjuster screws, but quickly maxed out the high speed adjuster before getting anything resembling smooth running at the top end.  It sounds OK in the low to mid range, but sounds extremely rich at the top-end.  The EGT's never get above 850 or so, but are very even side to side (never more than 50 deg different).  I can certainly go to a smaller main jet, but I'm at sea level, I would be surprised if the engine was jetted for higher air density than we have here.  Does anyone have any recommendations regarding jetting for running at sea level or other reasons that we might be running rich at the top end?

2. We are currently running 94 octane pump gas mixed 40:1 with Redline oil based on the AMW manual's recommendation.  Is it better to run a higher octane?  Is it better to run leaded race fuel?  How about oil ratio?

3. The fuel system is currently setup as follows.  There is a line from the fuel cell to a Purolator electric fuel pump (I believe 2-3.5PSI output @ about 25 gallons per hour).  From the fuel pump it goes to the surge tank.  The surge tank has an outlet to the carbs at the bottom and a return line (with approx. 1/32" restriction) at the top.  The line from the surge tank to the carbs has a filter and regulator installed on it.  The carbs are plumbed in series (fuel goes into left carb, out right carb and back to fuel cell).  Does this the right way to set up the fuel system?  What should the regulator between the surge tank and carbs be set to?

Thanks for your assistance,

Sheldon
Pink '90 KBS Mk 5