Ok i have a question because i am kinda new a this. But at what rpm do you set the timing at and at what degree?I have heard 13-14 deg advanced but when the engine gets faster it moves. i know it is supposed to do this but at what rpm do you set it at 13 or 14 deg. I hope this isnt a stupid question because i cant get the timing right it keeps pinging a little. thnx

 

By the way i have gt-40 heads , tf stage 1 cam, 1.7 rockers. if that makes a difference. And it is a fresh rebuild about 600 mi on it.

 

on an 88 you have to unplug the spout connector first before setting the timing. and you set the timing at idle, about 600-700 rpm. the spout connector is a little black thing plugged into the wiring harness going to the base of the distributor. unplug it, set the timing at 12 degrees, which is 2 degrees advanced over stock, and then plug the connector back in and see how this does. if it don't ping, then you can advance it some more, if it pings, then move it back some until it don't ping any more.

 

What is "ping"? How do you know when a car is pinging?

 

Well my car idles around 8-900 and it has the cam so it isnt real smooth so when i am looking at the timing marks they are changing so i have no way to get a accurate reading unless i am giving it some gas then it stays in one place. is the any way to set the timing at like 1500 rpm like would it be a higher degree of timing so i can acuratley see what degree i am at? thnx though for the help i didnt know you had to unplug that little black thing.

 

Its jumping around because the spout connector lets your computer manipulate the timing advance for the RPM. So, when your rpms are bouncing your timing is changed by the computer er as well..

 

by pinging he was talking about what milky was saying, bouncing or jumping, not staying consistent.

 

14 degrees is a good starting point then try 16 this is about as far as you want to go

 

12 is a better starting point.

And "ping' is detonation not the timing bouncing around.

Detonation happens when the engine is advanced too far in the timing.

 

you beat me to the correction on this one! glad you cleared it up for them!