Mechanical Advance

[dedub]

thanks!!!! great response. just curious, your referring to removing the springs on the vacuum and then setting the 10 -12 degrees at idle. then knowing the 20-25 for mechanical and then the 16 for vacuum, correct?

I was referring to the springs on the weights. By doing that, you alleviate the need to rev your engine to get the springs to pull. That also takes out a variable because you never really know what those springs are doing under the cap. Once you do that, disconnect the vacuum line from the manifold vacuum and time it at around 36 ish ( you will have to play around but those are good guidelines). that equals the 10 to 12 base line plus the full mechanical that Chevy can give you. Once done, hook up your vacuum line and that will put the 16 or so back in the mix. Put your spring of choice on and now you have the 50 to 52 you want. Remember, you cant do anything over what Chevy designed the distributor to do mechanically and that's between 20 and 25. One more note, the flame thrower comes set at 16 on the vacuum advance. You CAN adjust that with a small screw driver and the directions clearly state how many turns equates to deg. in advance but I wouldn't mess with it for there really is no need to.
good luck

 

[adumb]

okay, i think i get it, with out the springs, it will have full advance all the time, so i can set to 36 at idle. it took me a bit. i was assuming that no springs = no advance.

thank you for your response!!!!! very VERY helpful.

 

[adumb]

so i had my timing advanced to 8 degrees at idle.

i got greedy apparently and advanced it to 11 at idle and 36 degrees with full mechanical advance. it seemed alright at first driving fine. after about 10 minutes it started popping into the exhaust and stuttering like its misfiring and at idle it is surging. i'm gonna check all the wires in a little bit.

anyone think i advanced to far or is this a separate issue?