I was thnking about a problem I have with a new Accel distributor. With 12* intial timing at 3000 RPM I have 56*. I called Accel and talked to them. That was a waste of time. He had no answers. He said the distributor would do 56*. So why does my degree tape and timing light say it will?

This is without vacuum advance, right?

with vacuum advance. I have forgotten what it was with out, but it was out of sight also.

Soundss about right with the vacuum hooked up.
38° with 18° of vacuum advance. Check it without the vacuum, it should be 36 to 40°

I was under the impression it shouldn't be more than around 36* WITH the vacuum advance hooked up.

If you are not pinging under lite loads don't worry about the 56*.You always set initial,then see what the total is with the vacuum advance unhooked and plugged,then check with the vacuum advanced hooked to see what it will be under lite load.As an example mine is 18* initial,38* total,50* under lite load!

Under a light load over 3000rpm yeah you can be higher... but when you get on it, you shouldn't have any vacuum pullin on the advance canister unless the carb is too small... so the vac advance isn't doing anything.

thought 56º does seem a bit high.

What is your advance at at idle with the vac hooked up?

If you are at 18deg there... you shouldn't be at 56.... because you get your initial + vac. So say 6 plus 12.

At idle I don't have enough vacuum to pull the vacuum advance in all the way, so I have it on the ported port.

tune your initial and mechanical curve without the vacume connected. When it runs good then add vacume a little at a time untill she pings then back it off a tad. Most aftermarket performance vacume assemblies are adjustable with an allen wrench. Some engine combos won't like vacume advance at all.