Ok I lowered my timing on the mustang a few days ago. Ever since then it will jerk and hesitate around my shift points. Am I running it too rich, not rich enough, or is my timing still too low?

I first set timing at around 4 degrees and right now it is at around 10.

 

why would you mess with timing if it was running fine?...was there some issue?
what does the timing do when you rev the engine...where does it peak out?

-Gun

 

I changed the timing because it was at 32. It is recommended to be around 6 for a 200 I6 with a manual tranny. It also idles better when it is that low. I haven't checked what the timing does when I rev it. I will do that tomorrow.

 

you were 32 advanced at what rpm... 700??

so they recommend 6 adv at idle right?

-Gun

 

Correct on both of those.

 

you might want to consider some type of reading error....

I dont think your car could physically run at 32 adv at 700 rpm...that would make 50 to 60 adv at 3000 rpm i would think...this would cause serious issues.

-Gun

 

It ran really really rich. The idle lowered when I lowered the timing also. I might raise the timing to around 14 to 16 degrees and see if that helps.

 

timing doesnt really change mix...it changes the distance of the piston in the cylinder when the spark ignites the fuel charge. running that much advance of timing should cause the engine to knock and ping especially under load like hard acceleration

-Gun

 

So should I start messing with the fuel/air mixture? Last time I checked I was running around 4 1/2 turns out on the mixture. I should be running around 2 1/2 if tuned correctly and when the timing was high it was tuned correctly.

 

what made you think it ran rich?

If it were really 30 to 50 deg adv. the piston would be way down on the bottom of the stroke rushing towards TDC when it gets slammed in the face by the exploding fuel charge like running into a brick wall...Some adv is very necessary so that the burning fuel charge can best propel the piston back down at optimum efficiency...but too much is bad.

Again what indications do you have of a rich burn?

-Gun