Hello: I don't know if you are hot-rodding this motor, or it is stock. Another good question is: what is the condition of the motor in question? Is it tired? Anyway, here is the answer: to get the best performance from any motor, you need to experment to find the optimum settings. A good place to start, is the initial advance. Move it two degrees, and drive it for a couple of days. Observe how it starts, idles, and off idle performance. Record that number. Next, look at the centrifical advance. Buy a kit to modify this. Find the best rate of advance. Then tackle the total advance. I had a hot rodded small block that I assumed needed fourty degrees of advance total. I went up in timing, and the performance went down. So I went down in timing, and the performance went up! I went down, again and again, in two degree increments. The power of that motor just got better and better. I tested all the way down to twenty-eight, but the best power was thirty-two. You can also get adjustable vaccum advance cans. So don't forget to adjust the vaccum. With the change of gasoline over the years, the original specs may not be the optimum specs for today.
Nobody said: Hot-rodding is easy! Enjoy, Rob '67 Malibu '67 El Camino (still in a basket) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Fischer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 6:03 AM Subject: [Chevelle-List] Increase timing? > I have a 71 454 and have recently been told that most big blocks like > 38�-40� of timing and that 38� would be a good mark. The decal under the > hood calls for 30�. What is your experience with this motor? > > > -- > Jeff Fischer > Lake Elmo, MN > '71 Chevelle SS, 454, 4 spd > http://home.attbi.com/~addss/chevelle.html > > > ----------------------------------------------------- > To Unsubscribe please visit www.chevelles.net/list.html > To start a new topic, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe please visit www.chevelles.net/list.html To start a new topic, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
