As you all know the 454 is finally running, and the speed shop who built it has been a total pain. Anyhow they set the timing but didn't tighten the dist. The dist. slipped so I have to set it again. They have a white line marked on the 0* on the timing cover and another white line on the balancer at about 30*. They told me to set the initial timing on the lines but this puts my total at around 50*. Way too much. I set it at 16* initial and it seems to run good. They also said to not hook up the adv. on the dist. Should I ignore their marks for timing? Should I use the vacuum advance? Sorry for the long post.
Thanks
Dan

Your timing is very dependant on your cam and compression. If you have much of a cam at all, 14-16 degrees is a good place to start. Total of not more than 38 .degrees. There is much info on this site about this, search some and you'l likely find the answers you need.

Devin

As you all know the 454 is finally running, and the speed shop who built it has been a total pain. Anyhow they set the timing but didn't tighten the dist. The dist. slipped so I have to set it again. They have a white line marked on the 0* on the timing cover and another white line on the balancer at about 30*.

Sounds like a very odd speed shop. I'd say your best bet would be to find TDC and mark THAT on the bablancer. Then set your timing from there.

When you set the timing, your vacuum should be disconnected and plugged. In your sig., you say mild 454, so yes you should have the vacuum advance hooked up for driving.

Speed shop is horrible. I have gone round and round with them. They built my motor but can't tell me what the compression is or what the timing should be. They also made a number of stupid mistakes. None of my buddies will be giving them any business. They all keep telling me to go back and make them fix their screw ups. I'm afraid they'll just mess up more. I should have done it all myself. I set the initial timing to 16*. Idles a little rough. and as far as I can tell the total timing is around 45-50*. BTW My distributer is a new MSD HEI. Shouldn't it ping if the timing is too far advanced? I ask because it seems to run good. I just don't want to damage the motor.

SIdles a little rough. and as far as I can tell the total timing is around 45-50*.

As far as you can tell? Total is 45º-50º? Why can't you tell?

It's not unusual for timing marks to fluctuate a couple degrees but not 5º unless there's a problem (like a stretched timing chain). Total is measured with the vacuum advance disconnected. If you're getting those figures without vacuum advance, you're WAY too high and need to back off a bunch before you drive the car.