quote:
Originally posted by BD:
...Could it be off as much as 10 to 15 degrees? The pointer is not bent or anything. Any good way to check it?...
One of the things we are taught in science, is the difference between precision and accuracy. One of those racy dampeners, with the distinctly stamped white numbers on a black background, is very precise. But that does not mean that the zero mark is accurately set at TDC of cylinder #1. You already mentioned one variable, the pointer. Two other variables are the keyways broached into the crankshaft snout and into the ID of the dampener. Each degree on the crankshaft snout is only 0.008” apart. If the errors of the pointer and both keyways happen to be additive in your motor, it would be very easy for them to be off by 15 degrees, or more.
When I rebuild a motor, I find TDC of cylinder #1 and accurately scribe a mark on the dampener in alignment with the pointer. I’ve never found a dampener accurately marked. So the weekend mechanic, who painstakingly sets the timing of his motor with his timing light to factory specs, is communing with his car, his Zen is wonderful, but his timing can be way off.
I recommend you connect your vacuum advance mechanism to “ported” vacuum, vacuum advance is only needed while cruising, not at idle. With the car warmed up, twist the distributor to just achieve the fastest idle or highest intake manifold vacuum. Regardless of what number you assign to this setting, it IS the proper setting for your motor. Unless you have a radical camshaft in your motor, the initial timing “should” fall into the 20 to 24 degree range, regardless of what your timing marks may read. Total timing can only be determined on a dyno, afterwards the distributor should be pulled, and recurved to take the motor from initial timing to total timing, and no further. If the dampener read 20 degrees at idle, and reads 30 degrees on the dyno when optimized for total advance, then you know your distributor should be calibrated for 10 degrees of centrifugal advance. When the ignition is dialed in like this, the motor runs much stronger, and the carb is easier to tune. Keep in mind; carb tuning and ignition timing are fairly interactive.
As cam timing gets more and more racy, a motor requires more and more initial timing at idle, until eventually the difference between initial timing and total timing becomes little to none. As initial timing increases, the motor can become harder to crank, especially a high compression motor. Ford manufactured a Duraspark module that featured “cranking retard”, MSD also sells modules with this feature. This feature electronically retards the ignition timing while the motor is being cranked, specifically to make it easier for the starter to spin the crankshaft.
There is a way to determine TDC on an assembled motor. Gut a spark plug and thread a piece of threaded rod into it, sticking out perhaps an inch or so. (a similar “tool” is available retail that accomplishes the same thing). Screw this contraption into the spark plug hole of cylinder #1. Turn your motor’s crankshaft slowly until the piston just kisses the rod sticking into the cylinder. Mark this spot on the dampener in alignment with the pointer. Next slowly turn the crankshaft in the opposite direction until the piston just kisses the rod from that direction. Again mark this spot on the dampener in alignment with the pointer. TDC will be ½ way between your two marks.
quote:
Originally posted by daleyracing:
... my ? is because of the cam and the Webers is that why my timing is so different from everyones.
...
Well Dennis, considering what I just wrote, can you be sure it is that different? He, he, he …
Several factors affect a motor’s need for ignition timing, the fuel being burned has the biggest effect, but there are several other factors as well; such as the combustion chamber design, the piston’s height in the cylinder at TDC, the cylinder head port design, the intake manifold design, the exhaust system, the carburetor calibration, the camshaft design, the material the head is cast in, the vehicles gearing, the weight of the vehicle, the intensity of the ignition system. Have I forgotten anything?
Follow the old guidelines, twist the distributor at idle for fastest idle, then determine the top end on the dyno & recurve the centrifugal advance, you can’t go wrong.
In times gone by, I’ve seen Cleveland motors require between 32 and 42 degrees. I’ve had some of the guys on the Cleveland Forum tell me recently that they are running 32 degrees total timing in their motors equipped with iron heads, determined on the dyno. I assume that modern gasoline and modern camshaft grinds combine to reduce the amount of timing required. The guys running CHI heads are running right around 30 degrees total.
Your friend on the DTBB