Best Ignition Timing?
05-25-2012, 07:11 PM
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Racer
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Best Ignition Timing?
My engine is a 79' California car with the dual vacuum connects on the distributor. All of the pollution control gear has been removed. I am running a S /C sport cam, 1 bar spring and K27 turbo. The manual states 5 degrees ATDC for California engines and 10 degrees ATDC for USA models at 950rpm. The timing at 4000 is also 5 degrees different between the two models. Where would you guys recommend I set this engine? I currently have it at USA specs and it runs great.
Last edited by Handy930; 05-26-2012 at 09:06 AM. Reason: more detail
05-26-2012, 12:24 AM
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Burning Brakes
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If you're running "a little extra boost" - as in greater than stock .8bar - then I would leave the timing at stock settings just to be safe.
There is a pretty good safety margin built in to the factory settings in my twisted opinion, so you could probably get away with adding a few additional degrees advance, but you may not notice a marked improvement in performance at the top and could be risking detonation.
Rather, add to the static timing to gain some improvements in the low to mid range, then shave it off back to factory (or a few degrees more) as boost builds for safety sake. Of course, to do so, you need programmable ignition timing, or at the very least something like MSD's boost timing retard module.
There is a pretty good safety margin built in to the factory settings in my twisted opinion, so you could probably get away with adding a few additional degrees advance, but you may not notice a marked improvement in performance at the top and could be risking detonation.
Rather, add to the static timing to gain some improvements in the low to mid range, then shave it off back to factory (or a few degrees more) as boost builds for safety sake. Of course, to do so, you need programmable ignition timing, or at the very least something like MSD's boost timing retard module.
05-26-2012, 09:09 AM
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Racer
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Thanks Mark, what difference was there between California and USA models other than pollution controls and a different distributor? I assume that my engine is more like a USA model with all the gear removed. So I wonder if I should be using the USA timing spec.
