[Broncowilly]

Boys and girls, on my 1984 with a 318 and all the Lean Burn crap removed, with Holley 600, Edlebrock Performer and RV cam what should I set the timing to?  12 to 14 BTDC  Engine is stock otherwise.  And with the vacuum advance disconnected??

Please forgive my ignorance on this most simple of tasks.  I’m a retired heavy diesel mechanic.  I didn’t mess with too many distributors on those 🙄

The timing light I have is over 40 years old.  I bought it for a 1963 Scout 😬. It works great and it’s the only one I have.  I’ll end up adjusting the carburetor too but diesels don’t have those either

Any pointers would be great!  TIA

 

[gremlinmt]

My 1984 came with a 318 (although it was gone by the time I got it).  The tag under the hood says initial timing of 16 btdc.  I've attached a snapshot of my emissions tag.

Anyway, the 360 I've got is running 16btdc with the vac advance hooked to manifold.  The vac advance canister is set up to start pulling in at 7" of vacuum and it's all in by 10" of vac.  This gives me 29 degrees of advance at idle without it kicking back against the starter.

Now, I'm running EFI so it's probably running a lot leaner than a carb will.  Most distributors have way to much advance on the plate to run 16 right out of the box.  Starting at 12 is probably OK, but listen close on a full throttle run, you don't want it to sound like a diesel. 

 

[Broncowilly]

Thank you very much.  I’ll hook a vacuum gauge when I set and see what it looks like.

Thanks again

 

[gremlinmt]

Be aware that vac canisters are adjustable for start point and how much they pull in.

 

[ToxicDoc]

The average distributor can will give you 20 degrees of advance. These small block Mopar trucks typically like mid 30's total mechanical advance at 3000 rpm. So set it to about 13-15 BTDC (vacuum plugged) at idle. if you can mark the balancer to an estimated 35 degrees, you can use your regular timing light to check. I have a dial-back model which makes it easy.

 

[KurtfromLaQuinta]

Make sure you run the vacuum advance after your done setting things.
It is for your advantage and performance reasons- both mileage and overall engine health.

 

[Broncowilly]

Had some good weather today and got it timed.  I also made a kickdown lever and all is good.  Runs really good albeit ill be rebuilding the transmission next.

 

[KurtfromLaQuinta]

Life is good. 

 

[dodge82273]

the kick down lever ... throttle pressure on transmission adjustment , makes a big difference .... too little , shift too soft/slippage early failure ... too much , late/no up shift , harsh shift ....

 

[Broncowilly]

the kick down lever ... throttle pressure on transmission adjustment , makes a big difference .... too little , shift too soft/slippage early failure ... too much , late/no up shift , harsh shift ....

What I did was measure the position of the Holley kickdown connection point against the original 2 barrel and made a kickdown lever adding that difference. I need to service the transmission and adjust the bands then work on fine tuning the TV timing. So far it's working pretty good though.

 

[SuperBurban]

FYI, there should be a light spring between the carbs throttle shaft stud, to the transmission linkage pivot bar, to keep the throttle shaft forward against the carb stud, but allow the trans to pull it back.

The scanned image is the older style linkage, but the theory is still the same.