timing marks

[jmt455]

You wrote: "the pulley mark was about a 1/4 inch completely about the tab...theres something to ponder"

Do you mean that the balancer timing mark was advanced all the way beyond the timing tab? (to the left when looking down from in front of the engine)

Did you check the timing with the EST (4-wire) distributor harness connected or disconnected?
Was the engine at operating temperature?
Does your car still have a computer-controlled distributor?

If your distributor has been changed to a conventional (non-EST or computer-controlled) distributor, the correct initial timing could be more advanced than 6 degrees BTDC.

 

[cutlassguy]

yep, thats what i meant. i also have a vacumm line for my advance so i disconnected that and plugged it. engine was at operating temp. how would i tell if its computer controlled?

 

[jmt455]

Does your carb have two electrical connectors? If yes, it is a computer controlled carb.
Does your distributor have a 4-wire connector in addition to the two wires for the Battery feed and tach feed? If it has that 4-wire connector, it is one of the computer-controlled distributors.

If you have a vacuum advance, you probably don't have the electronic spark timing system that was originally on the car.
If that's the case, you can pretty much ignore all my prior posts...

If you've got a distributor with vacuum advance, you need to set the timing at idle with the vacuum advance hose disconnected and plugged.

Most small blocks seem to like between 6 and 10 degrees initial advance.