-
Hi Guest!
If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Timing Question.
- Thread starter Pythias
- Start date
Share this page
i'm not sure what the question is but if your asking will the 8* change from 600 to 1000 i don't think so. your best bet is to set it at the spec at 1000 and drive it. advance a couple degrees at a time until it pings then retard a little. i do it up a hill, car hot and leave dist just loose enough to tap it back and forth. hope that helps.
Online
Yeah, this is a perpetual dilemma. The shop manuals give an initial timing spec, with no centrifugal advance. Then, if you check the advance curves for the distributor, the normal idle speed gives a couple degrees of centrifugal advance! I suppose you could slow the sucka down to 600 RPM or so, but that's not really the point.
You have to understand that, even apart from that problem, the fuels we use are not the same as the ones in the 1960s, and this will affect the optimum timing. Also, in consideration of the fact that many engines are modified, the timing spec is not holy writ. Best thing to do, as Bob suggests, is advance it as much as possible without pinging. That cool little adjuster on the distributor makes it easy. That's one thing Lucas did right!
You have to understand that, even apart from that problem, the fuels we use are not the same as the ones in the 1960s, and this will affect the optimum timing. Also, in consideration of the fact that many engines are modified, the timing spec is not holy writ. Best thing to do, as Bob suggests, is advance it as much as possible without pinging. That cool little adjuster on the distributor makes it easy. That's one thing Lucas did right!
Hap Waldrop
Yoda
Offline
I do this back-arsewards, I guess, I normally time a vacuum advance distributor at full advance at 3000 rpms, by then all advance has gotten there. if the car idles fine, I'm done, if not then I worry about checking it at idle. On normal street engine I shoot for around 32 degrees BTDC, you may be able to get way with more, but this is a good safe setting. I think this a method you see alot of prefessional use, because it saves times, and time is money, some of the neatest tricks I learned were never in the manual, but taught to me by factory techs.
OP
Pythias
Jedi Knight
Offline
Part of it is that the timing DOES change from 800 to 1000 and from 1000 to 1200. I don't have a way to set the advance at upper register rpm. I like the idea of "power tuning" that is setting it a little low and cranking it up until it knocks though. Someone also said to not only pull the vacuum hose but to plug it to get the most accurate timing, but that seems a little much for my kind of usage. Thanks for the feedback. (and that little knurled knob IS superb!)