The timing on my car has never been touched. How exactly do i go about advancing it and how much should i advance it? Does advancing timing really help that much and if so how much?

 

What year car do you have?

 

91 gt aod, mac shorty headers, mac off ride h-pipe, mac cat back exhaust, mac under drive pulleys, mac cold air intake, mac 70mm throttle body and egr spacer, trick flow track heat intake, and 3.73 gears. Future mods include c&l 76 mm mass air and 2500 stall

 

you need either a timing light or access to one. the you find the degree tape (not sure where it is) and hook the timing light up to the #1 spark plug wire. then start the car up and look at the tape and see where the white line on the belt is in relation to the tape. you rotate the distributor cap to adjust the ignition timing. i have heard of guys running around 12 DBTDC, give or take a couple. your car will have its own setting and it will run better with that setting.

 

mkspeed is part right with the hook up of the light . but the harmonic balancer has marks eched into it you should clean the marks with a wire bush, chalk a line at 12degrees there should be a pointer to line up the mark, line the pointer to the to the mark by rotating the distributer. I run12-14I'd stick with 12 unless you replacedyour timming chain. You also have to run93 octane al the time with it advanced.I got my car 1sec. faster by adjusting timming and droping temp to about 175 F on a cooler day.<IMG src=smileys/smiley10.gif style="HEIGHT: 25px; WIDTH: 17px" border="0">

 

i heard the car runs best at 14 degrees

 

14is great thats what i run but on a car with miles you cant get an exact reading because of timing chain streech <IMG src=smileys/smiley1.gif border="0">you don't want to have problems with detonation

 

ok hears what u do. first once u get a timing light make sure u can read the degrees on the balancer on the crank. the advance the timing 1 or 2 degrees at a time.after u advance the timing 1 or 2 degrees take it on the road and give it a full throttle test. keep doing this until u start to hear pinging. once u hear pinging then retard the timing 1 degree at a time until the pinging stops. start off with it set at 12-14 degrees then back it off if u hear pinging.turn the distibutor clockwise to advance the timing and counter-clockwise to retard.and also DONT go by what ur buddy has his timing set at. EVERY car is different. there u go<img border="0" src=smileys/smiley1.gif border="0">

 

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definately do it yourself, dont rely on a friends timing. if you had a dyno (dont we all?? *L*) you could test it with it and find the most powerful setting, but you most likely dont. but if you get dyno time in the future dyno tune the timing. until then go with theping test. </P>

 

if you dont have acces to a light just keep adjusting it by a little ata time to the car doesnt feel strong anymore or till you hear pinging then back it out.


if you use a light make sure before you try to set your timing to remove the spout connector. or you wont get and accurate timing. after you set it. shut off car. then reinstall it. then check it again it should be a little higher with the spout hook up.