How many here have locked out their advance, and set their timing at 32, 34, or 36, or what ever your running.. to see what type of throttle snappiness you could gain, or to make your engine run better down low?... Jus a question..:beers: Friday Night Boys!

Not to hijack your thread but for those who have locked out the timing do you need a device that retards the timing for hot starts?

Mine is locked at around 34-35, runs good and no start problems.

Locked mine out simply because with the advance springs installed that allowed full advance in by2500 would start to advace at idol. (1100) I love it have no problems with starts, acctually it is a bet harder to start when cold but no different when hot.

Locked at 36 deg. on Hypertec HEI. Crispy performance.

I have mine locked out at 40. Mine is a different animal though. It does need a start retard at 14-1 compression, but the idle quality is so much better. For once I actually got it to idle in gear at 1100 without stalling. I also don't have to wait for the motor to get hot before it will stay running.

How are you guys stopping the advance? I've heard of people spot welding the advance plates, but I'd prefer to do something that is totally reversable.

I locked mine at 37 degrees. I drove it sometimes around town and didn't want to start ,, hot. I went through 5 starters before getting a MSD 6al and MSD starter saver box. Best thing I ever did for my starter.

How are you guys stopping the advance? I've heard of people spot welding the advance plates, but I'd prefer to do something that is totally reversable.

You can take the weights off and just put 2 strong springs on there, or put a bolt through the mechanism to "pin" it.

I locked mine at 37 degrees. I drove it sometimes around town and didn't want to start ,, hot. I went through 5 starters before getting a MSD 6al and MSD starter saver box. Best thing I ever did for my starter.



How many CCA is your battery?

I have a stupid question... I have a 283, points dist., timing is suppose to be 4 deg. btdc. When you are referring to 34 degress 37 degrees etc. are you referring to the dwell degrees? Also.... I have a distributor on the motor with the vacuum advance locked, should I buy one of theose advance kits with weights and springs?

The degrees that are being spoken of are before top dead center. Not dwell. On a 283, assuming that it's mild, there really is no need for this modification. Most of us do it because otherwise our engines won't idle or perform well at low rpm due to long duration cams creating low manifold vacuum. How do you have you motor set up?

Locked mine out.36 degrees.Spot welded the plates.Use MSD 6AL and Starter Saver.Use a high torque Powermaster starter.No hard start issues.

Mine is locked too, my car only really sees track duty but have no issues. I have 6 AL ignition and an old steel nose starter.

Mines locked out also at 38 also ....No hard start issues when the motor is cold. When its hot though it will crank very slow if at all. I did it cause my car would not idle in gear.
http://www.msdignition.com/pdf/8360_frm%2023793.pdf At the bottom of page 4 they tell you how to do it to a MSD dist....this is what i did. It did clean up my idle a lot, and i did notice more of a crispness in the revs.

This link is posted in another post....but here you can hear my car start with 38 degrees locked out....14:1 compression...with a high TQ GM starter.....I dont even have a mini....just a normal stock starter. It does have a special nose but thats because my block is drilled incorectly :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4eHzyiBqek

Why do you guys go as far as locking it out on the street when you could just set the initial timing at a much higher level such as 20-26 degrees and have a little bit of an advance curve up to 36 degrees or so? It might help with the starting issues and help prevent detonation when lugging the engine at low rpms cruising on the street on pump gas.

how would one do that? Thats my delima i need about 24 for a decent idle but that puts my total up past 40 with the bushing supplied by MSD.


Shawn

It still doesnt work for me cause when i drop the car in gear the idle drops and lowers the advance and the motor will stall out slowly. I just need zero movement in the timing.

Dominate67,

please od a search and see my post on how to do this with an MSD distributor. MSD surprisingly will not help you. I found a shop that will sell you a custom 10 degree and 14 degree bushing that drop right in. With a 10 degree bushing, and 36 total, that would give you 26 degrees of initial timing.