My 406 is running! I took it for a spin this afternoon. Been way too long smile.gif

At any rate, I've got a few questions regarding timing. I have a feeling the mech advance is to quick and weak-springed for my combo. I'm getting a good bit of detonation with vac advance, very subtle without it hooked up. Here's my combo:

406
5.7 rods
Spped Pro Hyper flat tops (~11:1 static)
492 heads, 2.02/1.60 valves
CompCams 292H
Holley Contender intake
Carter AFB Competition Series 625cfm carb
unknown headers (decent size)

Right now the car has a stock/OEM style converter in it as it stalls on the brake at roughly 1500-1700RPM. It also has a 2.73 Peg-Leg rear. Both of these are getting replaced with a Torco 3500 stall and a 12bolt posi with 3.9-ish gears.

The car detonates under load with vacuum advance hooked up. I can alleviate some of this by disconnecting it, but there is still a small amount of det going on. Timing is set at 6BTC with vac advance unhooked.

I don't know what the dist has as far as springs or weights go, and quite frankly, this will be the first time I've ever tuned an HEI setup.

What should my initial and total timing be? I don't mind figuring out the info, but I haven't found a good article on how to come up with the numbers you want yet. I see everyone mention different target numbers, but no explanation on how they decided on those.

I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time running this thing on pump gas unless I can get this timing issue cleared up.

Also, what about temps? Should I gut the t-stat or drop down significantly lower than the 195* I have in there now?

Thanks