Twisted

Oops, I meant to say "...going from 6-12 degrees--that's what I actually did. Thanks for the info though.

OnyxCobra

wow, how did ur timing get to 6 degrees?! that sux, congrats on teh fix. I think i set mine at 14 a few years ago, i should prolly check it this spring ^_^

Twisted

Any other guesses as to the hp/tq I gained, and what kind of fuel mileage I can expect?

To answer your guestion, Onyx, I don't know how the timing got so low. Although I did do some reading on the issue, and folks say that some GTs came from the factory with 6 degrees of advance. What a waste!

92hatchLX

Wierd, all of the 5.0s that I have set timing for have been at 8 degrees . Make sure that you clean off your harmonic balancer before you do anything, use just a wire brush and some paint thinner, wipe it off with a rag and mark the entire thing with chalk and SLOWLY advance the distributor. It's a lot easier for two people to do it, one turning the distributor and the other holding the timing light and telling the other person where the timing is at. It's easy and cheap performance. I've run 14 degrees of timing on 85 octane on a 90 degree (temperature) day and it's worked just fine with no pinging.

Twisted

Thanks 91. I didn't have any chalk, so I just wiped a little WD40 on the balancer timing marks. Worked like a champ. The timing was definitely 6 degrees in the beginning--could see it plain as day. Thanks again for the info.

ZeroSk8er823

I have my timing at about 16 degrees, I always run 93 octane though. Car likes it alot. No pinging either of course.

Suspect

fastfox86 is on the money. heres some #s for timing and some other stuff to check out.

All tests are on a foxbody stock 5.0L.

Short Belt:
Stock @ 2500rpm 117hp/245tq
Short Belt @ 2500rpm 118/247tq
Stock @ 4000rpm 195/256
Short Belt @ 4000rpm 197/258
Stock @ 5000rpm 203/213
Short Belt @ 5000rpm 208/218
Stock @ 5800 163/148
Short Belt @ 5800 168/162

Remove Accessory Belt:
Stock @ 2500rpm 117hp/245tq
Remove @ 2500rpm 118/249tq
Stock @ 4000rpm 195/256
Remove @ 4000rpm 202/265
Stock @ 5000rpm 203/213
Remove @ 5000rpm 217/228
Stock @ 5800rpm 163/148
Remove @ 5800rpm 182/165

Timing advance from 10* to 15*
@ 2500rpm stock = 117/245
@ 2500rpm bumped = 118/249
@ 4000rpm stock = 190/250
@ 4000rpm bumped = 195/256
@ 5000rpm stock = 197/207
@ 5000rpm bumped = 203/213
@ 5800rpm stock = 156/141
@ 5800rpm bumped = 163/148

Ice Intake (with flowmasters)
@ 2500rpm stock = 118/249
@ 2500rpm bumped = 128/269
@ 4000rpm stock = 202/265
@ 4000rpm bumped = 211/277
@ 5000rpm stock = 217/228
@ 5000rpm bumped = 223/234
@ 5800rpm stock = 182/165
@ 5800rpm bumped = 185/167

All stock car with flowmasters, modified it added quite a bit more.

Synthetic Lubricants added 2hp and 4-5tq.
Removed Air Silencer added 2hp/4tq @ 2500rpm and @ 4800rpm 6hp/8tq
Underdrive Pulleys added 2hp/4tq @ 2500rpm and @ 4800rpm 8hp/9tq

JD1969

You do know that not all detonation is audible right? Just so everone knows, running 14 degrees on 85 octane is a VERY bad idea. If you bump you timing much over 10 or 11 degrees higher octane is a must,.

Twisted

Thanks for the info everyone. I appreciate the chart, Suspect. Now I'm wondering if the same that is true going from 10 to 15 degrees is also true going from 6 to 12 (or say, 11 for comparison sake). It seems like there would be a point, as timing is retarded, where power would decrease exponentially. In other words, it seems like there would be a sweet spot in the range--something like: a five degree difference between 10 and 15 degrees yields 5-6 horse; whereas a five degree difference between 5 and 10 degrees would yield like 20 horse. I say this because it feels like I gained far more than five hp going from 6 to 12 degrees. Can you even feel five horsepower? Put it this way, with 6 degrees advance, my car would only light up the tires in first (just from throttle--no clutch) when the tires were cold. This morning, I had hot tires--fresh off the highway. I jumped on the gas (going in a straight line) at around 3k rpms, and the car went sideways! The old b*tch was all twisted out of shape from just a heavy throttle foot. I say all this to say that if five hp feels this good, I think I'll clean my k&N filter and see if I can't twist the rear tires right off of the rims! LOL. At any rate, thanks again for the insight.

Twisted

By the way, is an Ice Intake an intake manifold, or like a cold air intake?