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Now that I've got my leaky carb situation solved I'm looking at fine tuning ignition timing. I managed to find the sticker that was on my valve cover and what caught my eye is that it says engine RPM at 550 and 6* BTDC. My truck is auto trans. Anyway, I've been reading guys setting anywhere from 10-14*.. this truck is fresh rebuild bone stock.
Just wondering your thoughts.
You could experiment with running more initial timing but the best setting to use depends a lot on the advance curve that's in the distributor. Also keep in mind that running more ignition advance does not necessarily give you better performance. Many times the opposite is true.
Thanks Dave this is in line with my thinking too... I understand if a new cam gets installed all sorts of parameters may change.. but I know I've got stock, so while right now it's running ok at 10* I think I"m going to retard to 6* and run. This motor is on a run stand right now so no trans load or "real world" driving. I think I'll time to 6 and drop it back in the truck and see. At least it's a good starting point I suppose
You'll just have to experiment. But in the meantime make sure to degree out the balancer to about 40 degrees and double check the pointer. What you're looking for is the setting that gives the best performance and that probably isn't the maximum amount of timing that you can run without pinging. I'd probably start out at around 35 degrees or to total timing without the vacuum advance hooked up and see how that does.
