Those who seek to be first on race day, without running out of gas an the last lap, do not test engines on a stand with no load.
I certainly am no expert. I am just trying use logic to try to understand. There is a lot going on when an engine is under various loads while going down the road.
If we just consider what's going on with the distributor, such as centrifugal advance curve, vacuum advance, while under various loads, you won't learn how these impact the real world MPG. It has been mentioned that the HEI automatically self-adjusts the dwell. What if the Stovebolt engine does not function optimally with these preset (I assume) parameters while under load?
Your no-load stand test may be a good starting point, but will not provide a definitive conclusion.
Carl
