Been driving my 67 for along time, and when the engine was new, it was "tight", and required a high idle so it wouldn't stall at idle. Now that it's broken in, I backed off the idle speed, and it was a little "lumpy", so I retarded the timing (rotated the distributor) just enough to get a reliable idle. Trouble is, now I've lost power at "launch" as well as through the whole upper RPM band. In the old days I remember "recurve kits" - hell, I might have put one in - but I'm really interested in getting the TOTAL advance to go a little further to make up for the mechanical "retard" I put in. It only adds up to maybe 5 degrees at the most. Can I rework the stops on the weights with a dremel tool to pick up what I lost?? I don't want to spend $500 on a fancy electronic contolled distributor with programmable limits and curves. I just want 5 more degrees of mechanical advance!

 

Here is some really good information on Ford distributors. It made a big difference on my 390. http://www.bob2000.com/dist.htm

 

Lopey... You have a lopey idle. Lumpy was Beaver's, brother's friend, for heaven's sake! (just kidding around )

Yes you can, just remember that centrifugal advance takes RPM. You will still have a slug off idle. Instead of retarding the timing at idle, you can open the idle mixture screws up about 1/8 turn (without killing the planet or people behind you at the stop light). Springs and weights change the curve at which centrifugal advance comes in. It is still a curve with the original start point. If you try to make it so light that you gain back all 5 degrees at 1500 rpm, you will have too much at 2000-3000 and it will ping like a hungry Woodpecker at cruise speed.

If you have an automatic with a stock stall-speed converter, and you really don't like the lope, I'd suggest changing the cam, or going to a higher stall converter and raise your idle.
This is American Muscle, and nothing says "Muscle" like a lopey idle! That's why we have spill proof coffee mugs